Saigon - The Cu Chi Tunnels

Son, our guide in Saigon, is a man on a mission and has that slightly "inscrutable look" about him. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he tried to push slithers of bamboo under our fingernails if we were late! His English is excellent and he has given us some interesting facts about Saigon and the Vietnamese way of life. Capitalism seems to rule here now, so it is easy to forget that it's still a communist country. We were interested to hear that the country is divided into Provinces, then districts, then wards then finally groups. Each group consists of about 40 families and has a self elected leader. If you have someone stay in your house overnight you have to inform the group leader - it is their responsibility to inform the ward leader and so on. Everyone is kept tabs on - the upside of all this is that crime is minimal apart from some petty theft, like pick pocketing, which you will get in any big city. Gambling is illegal and the government impose a huge "luxury tax" on items such as cars that they want to discourage people from owning. Just imagine, there are over 3 million motorbikes in Saigon alone, if all those people swapped to cars as they became more affluent the place would totally grind to a halt! 

01 Vietnamese Hearse

Whilst we westerners lay in the sun and fry the Vietnamese girls go to any lengths to keep their skin pale. Most ride their motorbikes or walk the streets in a bizzare combination of hat, sunglasses, full face mask and armpit length, flesh coloured silk gloves - not a fetching look!You can even buy skin whitening cream in the shops.

02 A rubber tree plantation

We visited the Cu Chi Tunnel complex this morning. We drove out on the Trans Asian Highway. This one road links 5 countries - Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma and Singapore, but we just went 40k out of the city.

It is impossible to imagine what it must have been like at the height of the war. This small area was the most heavily bombed in the country and of the 16 thousand people living here only 4 thousand survived. Strategically it was very important to the Vietcong because of its proximity to Saigon. There are 165 miles of underground tunnels spreading out like a spider's web on three different levels. The most striking thing of course is the size - I know this is a nation of "little" people but to have spent any time at all in that labyrinth must have been hell - babies were even born down there. Apart from the tunnels there was also an entire network of support facilities ranging from the most basic of field hospitals - one bed, no doctor, to kitchens, uniform and sandal making and of course bomb and booby trap making.

03 Whatever the Viet Cong can do....

When we had toured all the peripherals, the time came to venture down into a short length of tunnel if you wanted to. This stretch has been enlarged slightly to accommodate western tourists but even so you were bent double with your shoulders brushing the sides. It's incredibly hot and the only air comes from tiny concealed air holes on the surface about every 150 yards. There is a small stretch of original tunnel which you can go down, so no prizes for guessing who did? In there you literally had to crawl on hands and knees - or so Derek told me!

Back to the hotel and another free afternoon so we decided to look around the market. Like all the markets we have been to there are hundreds of stalls, but when you start to analyse the contents, every stall has the same items for sale, tee shirt alley, shoe alley, lacquer ware alley etc.....we meandered back via an ice cream parlour which was right on the intersection so made for interesting traffic and people watching.

04 Derek can do too...

This evening we ate in a Thai restaurant - excellent meal, starters, three main courses, rice, pad thai noodles and 4 beers = £13.50. After another wander around the Chinese festival it was back to the hotel to pack - AGAIN.

05 Booby Trap Pit

06 I don't fancy yours Derek!

07 Remnants of the war lay abandond

08 More nasty booby traps

09 They made sandles from old tyres

10 Here he comes again

11 The entrance may be big but the tunnel is tiny

12 Rattan- before it's made into furniture

13 Rice pancakes being made in the field kitchen

14 Rice panckes drying

15 - This must be the biggest bed we have had!

16 Some bizarre accessories worn by ladies