Jillian's Travels

Vietnam, Part 5

Day 29, January 26

At 7am bright and early our little karaoke guy was downstairs blaring his boombox and “singing”. I tried to go back to sleep but it was pointless. It was so loud that it sounded like it was coming from inside our room.

I made myself get up, get ready and go up to the roof for breakfast. Our breakfast consisted of a banana and 2 pieces of bread. But the view from the rooftop was pretty nice.

After breakfast we decided to head to the War Remnants Museum first thing because we weren’t sure with the Tet Holiday if they’d be closing soon. On the way to the museum we stopped at Starbucks for some much needed coffee.

We got to the museum a little before 10am. The first thing you see when you turn the corner to enter the outside area are massive helicopters, Skyraider attack bomber and M48 Patton tanks. It was really cool to see those huge machines after watching Oliver Stone’s movies, Platoon and Born on the 4th of July. It gives you some context as to the size of things.

I then entered the building to start exploring the museum. The first room I came to was a room dedicated to the aftermath of the war and how the Vietnamese people are living and surviving. After that room I can’t remember the exact layout because from there on it was all pretty intense. There were a lot of very graphic pictures of the war and there a whole room dedicated to Agent Orange and the effects. There are some 4th generation Vietnamese people that are still dealing with birth defects stemming from Agent Orange. It was all very, very depressing. Towards the end of the museum exhibits there are some pictures and descriptions that show how the relation between America and Vietnam is slowly mending.

Even though it was incredibly heavy, this was my favorite thing that I have done so far in Vietnam. Leading up to this trip, all I knew about Vietnam was the war so to see this exhibit and the real account of the war and not something in a movie was a really educational experience. I had no idea the amount of protests going on around the world with this war. I only knew of the ones in America. So seeing all the anti-war posters from Budapest to the UK to Sweden to just about everywhere was really eye opening.

After the museum we needed to do something on a lighter note. We headed to the Ben Thanh Market. It is basically a huge flea market. When we first walked in, the foul smell of fish hits you. I looked to my right and saw these small kiddie pool things filled with live fish. To my left dead fish cut open. I quickly walked away from that area. There wasn’t really much we wanted to explore in the market. We just wanted to see it and then we were ok to leave.

Across the street from the market is the Street Food Market. We walked up and down the aisles and each found something to eat. I wanted chicken tikka masala but it was way overpriced so I settled for a salad, spring rolls (with no seafood) and a Heineken.

After lunch there wasn’t much else that we really cared to do. I wanted a massage so I found a place across the street from the food market and got a good deal for my sister and I to get a 60 minute massage.

The massage was very interesting. They lady doing my massage couldn’t speak English so she had to type things in her phone translator and show me. That was fine but I knew it’d be too hard to communicate with her during the massage so there were parts where I felt like I was in pain. Other times I thought she was the best masseuse. But overall I’m glad I did it because now I have had a massage in every country on this trip.

After the massage we walked to this temple that I wanted to check out but some guy, who really didn’t look like he worked there, said it was 10,000 dong to get in. I decided that I’d wait to pay for the temples in Thailand. Those are the ones I really want to see. So my sister and I continued to walk around the block and came across a travel booking place. We wanted to see if this tunnel tour was going on the next day since it’d be the Tet Holiday. Luckily it was, so we booked a half day tour to visit these historic tunnels that were used in the war.

We then decided to check out one last thing before it started getting dark, the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon. This was built by the French as a place for worship for the French colonists when they controlled Saigon. It is across the street from a McDonald’s now.

After we saw that we walked around looking for a money exchange place. I went into a bank to ask where the nearest one was and the lady instructed me to go to the Central Post Office. We walked around the block and were back to the cathedral. The post office was right across the street. I ran in there to exchange money and take a few pictures. The architecture is pretty amazing.

Once I had money it was time to eat! We didn’t venture far from that area to look for food. We stopped at the first place we came to which happened to be right beside the post office and across the street from the cathedral.

I got the chicken avocado salad specifically for the avocado and an order of the cashews. It was literally a plate of a handful of cashews. I was thinking there was going to be some kind of twist to it but there wasn’t.

After we ate my sister wanted to see if the McDonald’s here sold McFlurry’s so I hobbled over next door. My sandals were killing my feet. She was in luck they did have an Oreo McFlurry so she got that and I got a small order of fries. The salad and cashews didn’t cut it for me.

As we were leaving McDonald’s headed back to our hostel we came across the first weenie dog I’ve seen on this trip. It was a little Vietnamese weenie dog at that! He barked at me for taking pictures but he was too cute not get one. And I knew I had to show my mom and brother.

Then it was time for the mile walk home. My feet were hurting so bad I had to do the unthinkable and take my shoes off to walk barefoot through the streets of Ho Chi Minh City. It was not a proud moment but I had to. We finally make it back to the room and I collapse on my bed for a minute before summonsing the strength to shower and scrub my feet.

After the coldest shower, I was ready for bed. We have to get up early for the tunnel tour and I want to try to get to sleep before our little karaoke singer starts up for the night.

Day 30, January 27 

My sister and I woke up early to get ready, pack up, check out and eat breakfast all before 8:30am. A tour bus was picking us up at our hostel to take us to the Cu Chi tunnels.

We went upstairs for breakfast and today they were serving noodles. There was nothing special about them, just plain old noodles. So we ate that in a hurry and went downstairs to wait for the bus.

Our bus came and loaded up. We left our big bags with the hostel and just took my backpack since my computer was in it. It was about an hour and 45 minute drive to the tunnels. There wasn’t much traffic today because of the Tet Holiday. A lot of things are shut down so not many people out and about.

Our first stop was an area where a lot of the Agent Orange victims live and work. They make different handcrafted items and sell them. The place is called Handicapped Handicrafts. They have a tour guide that took us through the shop area where they work. Today again due to the Tet Holiday, there were only a 2 or 3 that I saw that were making things. It is pretty amazing how they make it individual item. Everything is custom made so everything is a one of a kind. After walking through the workshop area they let us into the area with all the handmade items to buy. There were many beautiful things that I would have loved to my but there was no way to carry it with me. So instead we each left a donation for the people.

The noodles were wearing off so I got a dragon fruit while we waited to load up the bus.

After that we headed to the tunnels. When we arrived I was able to take a few pictures of the Saigon River before quickly going into the jungle area where the tunnels are.

Our tour guide showed us around the area and pointed out different camouflaged traps and hiding spaces.

There was a tiny hole that is camouflaged with leaves and stuff and the top just lifts off. The Vietnamese guy demonstrated it first and then let anyone try that wanted to. So of course I did. It was really scary because I was down in the hole by myself and it was dark and I had no idea what other critters were down there as well. I lifted the lid off and then couldn’t get out. I tried once on my own and couldn’t. Then a man gave me his arm because he thought he could lift me up but then couldn’t. So then another man grabbed one arm and the other guy my other arm and they lifted me out. I banged up my knee caps pretty good but I made it out.

It was quite amazing what the Vietnamese fighters came up with. Not only were they incredibly savvy but from the sounds of it also incredibly smart. There was this one huge tank thing (not sure all the technical names) that they had to use geometry with so that they did not blow up their civilian villages. Apparently a lot went into it, even the explanation confused me.

Then it was on to the gun range for shooting. It was very eerie to be walking around the jungle area hearing the guns go off in the background. I tried to imagine what it’d be like in actual warfare being in the jungle and guns going off and traps set up everywhere.

If you wanted to shoot the AK47’s and other huge machine guns all you had to do was buy the bullets. My sister and I said hell no to shooting and sat down to wait for the ones who did shoot. I do not like guns whatsoever and I also thought is was really  insensitive for that to even be an option as we are touring some of the tunnels used in the Vietnam War. But to each their own.

After that we headed to the tunnels. The tunnels were used by the Viet Cong during the war as a means for hiding and also communication and supply routes. There are 3 tunnels systems combining for about 75 miles worth of tunnel but we were only allowed to go through one of them because it was a little wider than the others. I can’t even imagine how small the others are because this one was a struggle and I found out that they actually widened it for tourists. You have to duck or crawl the whole time and it is very narrow. It is also very hot and humid in there and there isn’t a lot of air flow.

I cannot fathom having to use that during war time with all the gear and guns and then having to maneuver through the tight spaces. The tour guide did keep reminding us that the Viet Congs were smaller in size than we are now. But it was still pretty incredible. I hit my head hard within the first minute of being down there and immediately had a pounding headache.

We were only underground for about 5 minutes but it was a long 5 minutes. We came out sweating and slightly out of breath. Every 20 or 30 meters there was a point where you would climb out and go into the next 20-30 meters. At one of the areas they had the hospital set up and at another was a meeting area possibly also used for eating.

After the tunnels they gave us some tapioca like the soldiers would have eaten. I have never tried tapioca before but I was pretty into it. It kind of tasted like a potato to me and they had this sugar concoction to dip it in.

Then it was back to the bus to head back to Ho Chi Minh City. Again there was no traffic so we returned at a good hour. Our original plan was to quickly grab our stuff and head to the bus station to head to Cambodia that night. But after really thinking about it, we decided to wait to go in the daylight.

So we got off at the market area because by that point we were starving. The market and most other restaurants were closed. So we just roamed around and finally saw a restaurant in a hotel that was open.

It’s not something I would have normally chosen given other options but we were desperate. I got the braised pork with steamed rice. The rice was really good but the pork was 80% fat so I basically just ate the rice.

After we ate we headed back to the hostel where our stuff was so we could check in for one more night. On the way there I wanted to stop at Starbucks and get a drink and pastry to hold me over. We get there and they are closed as well as every other coffee place we go to. So I decide to go to the convenience store across from our hostel to get water and snacks but they are closed. So we backtrack and find another mini mart place and get waters, peanuts, another green tea kit kat and conditioner and head back to the hostel.

I had to take a nap because I was so worn out from everything. When I woke up it was around 7:30pm so I showered and just chilled in my bed until the fireworks show at midnight for the Lunar New Year.

In our downtime we were able to book our bus ticket to Cambodia for tomorrow and also a hostel in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.

One of our hostel mates told us that there wouldn’t be any fireworks. This backed up what our bus driver said today. He told us that the Vietnamese government wanted to save the money they usually use on the fireworks display to help the people throughout the year which is a really good idea. But then when we got back to our hostel the guy at the front said there would be fireworks and that we should watch them on the rooftop.

I was sure the government wasn’t putting any on but I thought that maybe there might be a smaller display by some of the people. So at 11:45pm we headed up to the roof.

12pm comes and goes and there are no fireworks but there is a loud drumming going on over at the center area where they are having their big celebration. I think most of Ho Chi Minh is there because the streets look dead.

We stayed up there for about 10 minutes listening to the drumming and then decided to head back down and go to bed.

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