Cu Chi Cu Chi Cu

Having made arrangements with the others to have breakfast around 8.30, probably at the expensive Highland Coffee next door, I decided to head out earlier and get some pastries so I wouldn't have to pay that price. When, however I told the others about this, they wanted some too, so I took them to the place I had been in the backpacker district. The patisseries here display a very obviously French influence, with their beautifully decorated cakes and delightful looking pastries - however on closer inspection the pastries resemble more of a Japanese bakery in flavour. Curried chicken donuts, sweet potato bread - flavors that you would not normally put with sweetened pastry - but here they do. I tried the hotdog, which was a frankfurt in a soft sweet roll - it was nice, if not a little unusual.

We headed back to the hotel and as anticipated, Shanty and Sophie were not actually ready, having been out til 4am the night before. They didnt seem to see the issue with making us wait either - what was it to them, they've been in Ho Chi Minh for a few days so they'd already seen everything, unlike Francois and the Norwegians who hadn't. We eventually set off though around 930 in our private minibus with our guide Lee.

The first stop was to a government run handicap factory, which aims to teach victims of Agent Orange skills that they can use for their livelihood. It was quite interesting to see them creating bamboo plates with egg shell inlay and glazing - but when we got to the souvenir shop, we could not believe the prices, which were fixed quite high. Suffice to say we didn't buy anything.

Lee then took us to the Cu Chi tunnels themselves. Used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam war (or American war, depending on whose side you were on), the tunnels were a way for the VC to survive the bombings of Agent Orange in this area, and the bombings in general. It was a quite intricate system for living underground, including creating passages for smoke from cooking to escape such that the Americans didn't know where it was coming from, and using American cologne around the entrance and smoke / ventilation holes so that the dogs couldn't sniff them out. The traps the VC created to ensnare a a yankee were quite intense too, and very clever and cruel. We managed to go down one of the tunnels which had been widened for tourists - I myself found it terribly claustrophobic. At one point we trapped Francois in a Vietnamese size tunnel also. After the tunnel there was a shooting range which Erik had a go at.

The street sellers are everywhere in vietnam and this certainly was no exception. Erik and Francois bought a beer from them to enjoy with lunch on the coach on the way back.

We got back around 330, dropping Erik, B and Francois off at the War Remnants museum, whilst the girls and I headed back to the hotel. My plan was to go back to Ben Thanh and have another look, or find a barber and get my hair cut. We'd arranged with the hotel to use Erik and Bs room to freshen up later - Sophie and Shanty hadn't wanted to go in on this as it was deemed too "expensive" but when we returned they were so tired that they went and lay down on the bed anyway, thus needing to pay up also.

I wandered the streets marveling at the sights and particularly smells. The Vietnamese sit in a peculiar squatting fashion (on haunches but on heels) and then conduct all their business and so on from the side of the street. Or from the seat of their bike - I saw quite a few sleeping on their bike actually. It really is another world.

As part of my wanderings I came across a hairdresser and the next thing I knew, I was having a quick trim for $3.00. Not bad eh?

We had arranged to have the use of a room until 6.00pm, so bearing in mind we were going on an overnight train, I went back and had a shower at the hotel and got sorted out. Then met with the others and Vaughn took us to a pho (pronounced "fur") restaurant in Ben Tranh market, where President Bill Clinton had had a bowl - so it was called Pho for the President. It was really delicious, and I enjoyed my meal - chicken pho (aka chicken noodle soup). Yum!

All too soon it was time to head off to the train station. Vaughn informed us that we had been upgraded to first class - and if that was first class, I'd hate to try second! Actually it wasn't too bad - 4 beds to a room, a small table, bin, pillows and a blanket. Everything you need I guess. So we sat around singing songs and having a mini party whilst we ventured on to Nha Trang...