Return to Saigon.
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2008
1
12
41
Trip End
Aug 2009
We fly back to Saigon. We're only here for one day before we head north, up the coast of Vietnam.
So we visit the tunnels at Cu Chi. We go to the original ones at Ben Duoc, built by the Vietcong to escape from the American aerial bombardment. These tunnels, of which there is 250 km worth, are narrow, dark, sweaty places that make your muscles ache and your senses confused. And that is after crawling about 80 metres! Our guide, Binh tells us wild stories of his time fighting the Vietcong in these very tunnels. Having someone who calls themselves an American showing us around these Vietnamese landmarks certainly gives it a different slant.
We leave Saigon that night, catching our first overnight ' sleeper ' bus, a coach with reclining seats arranged like bunk beds. The ten hour journey costs about $8.
So we visit the tunnels at Cu Chi. We go to the original ones at Ben Duoc, built by the Vietcong to escape from the American aerial bombardment. These tunnels, of which there is 250 km worth, are narrow, dark, sweaty places that make your muscles ache and your senses confused. And that is after crawling about 80 metres! Our guide, Binh tells us wild stories of his time fighting the Vietcong in these very tunnels. Having someone who calls themselves an American showing us around these Vietnamese landmarks certainly gives it a different slant.
We leave Saigon that night, catching our first overnight ' sleeper ' bus, a coach with reclining seats arranged like bunk beds. The ten hour journey costs about $8.

