Southern Vietnam's Only Stop = Saigon. HCMC.

So when I decided to come to Vietnam, I had very little knowledge of what to expect. All I knew was their food (ex. pho, bahn mi, spring rolls), Tet is their version of Chinese New Year, and what they call the "American" war is what we call the Vietnam War. Does that sound bad? Probably does, but I blame our lack of cultural introspection within our school system.

My first stop was Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City. That place is insane. Though I suppose after a 15 hour bus ride from Cambodia, and getting dropped off randomly in what appeared to be the heart of the city, I was overwhelmed. I never thought I'd say this, but the traffic was worse...way worse than Bangkok's. The amount of motorbikes exceeded my expectation. There is this constant stream of bikes, all weaving and honking down the crowded streets. While there are "street lights," they are merely guidelines than anything else. Crossing the street I've learned is a skill. It's cross the street and move slowly so that they can swerve around you. Safety is something you hand over to others which is quite scary to think about.

To help our transition after checking into our cute guesthouse, we went out to a market and took in the sights. And eating delicious fresh steaming hot bowls of Pho, some fresh spring rolls, and the best iced coffee ever (though I think I'm biased since I hardly drink it at all). Yum!

While in Saigon, we also decided to take a day trip to see the Cu Chi Tunnels. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was extremely interesting, and the things I learned about it vastly vary from what I've learned. 

The tunnels is an underground network that spans about 250 km. It has 3 levels, the third being over 10m below the surface. All the tunnels were dug by hand, and the tunnel itself is made strictly of clay soil, which when hardens protected the Vietnamese from water, floods, bombing, and even American tanks rolling over them.  There were over 16,000 Vietnemese who lived in the tunnels for almost 20 years to avoid being killed by the American soldiers, but only 3,000 survived.

On our tour, there was a small section of tunnels tourists were able to visit. I would have walked by the first entrance if I didn't notice a sign. Walking through that section of the tunnel amazed me. I couldn't believe how small the whole area was. And then when we were given the chance to crawl through the tunnel which lead to the "headquarters," I took up the opportunity. This part of the tunnel definitely for sure was more difficult. Where the other had more giving room for me to at least lift my head comfortably, this was didn't. There were little dead things all around, the smell was horrible, and there were no lights, but the light from my cell phone. I'm small, but it hurt my knees to shuffle for about 65 km. How they did it for so long amazes me.

With only 2 weeks in Vietnam, we had to move quickly and so we hit the road. And while we were ready to get out of this big city, and ready to try something smaller, we had no real desire to try a beach town (since none can truly compare to those in Thaland) that wasn't even high on our list of cities to visit. Well...off to the beach town of Nha Trang and onto our first overnighter On Off bus.

Opening in the Tunnel

Air Hole

   

Sleeper Bus