Cu Chi Tunnels
So after the excitement of NY, we decided to do some sightseeing and went on a tour to explore the Cu Chi tunnels, which is a tunnel network that the Viet Cong had dug during the Vietnam War to invade the south and kick the Americans out.
Basically, they tunnelled into HCMC and the Americans had no idea they were there. The tunnels were very sophisticated and dug by hand and were absolutely tiny with small enclaves to sleep in and underground kitchens. The soldiers would hide in those tunnels and lay horrible traps in the jungle and around the area to fight against the south.
We were told that we would be able to walk through the tunnels and see the area and learn a lot about the history of it, but unfortunately, the day turned out to be a bit poo. After ages on the bus, we were spewed out by the hundreds and then had a useless guide point out obvious things such as 'this is a reproduction of the kitchens that they used underground'. Ahh. These are the tunnels but you can't go in here. OK. And so on. They also had very strange mechanised dolls there to make it more realistic I think. They were really weird and creepy.
We got to go into one bit of tunnel and it's very small and hot. The reason for that is because they stick about 300 tourists into a 30 metre tunnel at the same time. Not good. We were then herded through the souvenir shop and were enticed to buy crocodile leather goods and foul drinks with snakes and scorpions in them. Yuck! Then thankfully we got to go home - YAY!
That night though turned out to be one of our most fun ones in Vietnam so far! Basically, when we got back to the hotel, we fancied a drink, so Tom went out and bought a bottle of whiskey, because he thought he was starting to come down with a cold. Well, if you ever come across "Wall Street" Whiskey, give it a go, it only costs about $3 a bottle and will tast just right with a bit of coke!
So we finished the bottle, then went out for some more at a bar near by. After a few cocktails, we decided we needed some food, so off we went to this really cool resto, where we had more cocktails and some seriously yum food followed by vodka mixers. We were quite happy to pay the bill, because we reckoned that that was it for the night and we'd had fun. Once we got out the place though, we did fancy another drink only to find out it was quite late, so we found this club called Rainforest or something like that. The whole place is covered in aluminium foil - why? - and it looks quite flash when the lights are low and the strobe is going. (That's a picture of the place). We get to a table and the place is filled with HCMC beautiful people and not so beautiful but rich people. The place is crawling with girls who work there and who look after the customers... So we order some drinks there and have a bit of a boogie and get a free platter of fruit?! It was yum though, so we were munching pineapple and dancing and drinking when we decide that it would be a good idea to buy a bottle of vodka rather than keep buying cocktails. So we buy this bottle and every time I left the table to go for a dance, a bunch of these girls would come over and pour Phil and Tom their drink and giggle with them and do their best to get them more drunk!
Sadly though, they closed at some point and we quickly finished the bottle and tried to find somewhere else that would still be open. So we end up going back to - Apocalypse Now! Again. We danced and had more drinks there and went mad with these random people. I then recognised one of the girls in the club as one of the mute waitresses from a resto we had gone to the other day, so we all dance together with her friends and have a great time, but then that place closes, too! We roll out the club and then randomly pile onto some motorbikes to go to another place that these girls know and we race through HCMC on these bikes. It was so much fun! Eventually we get to this other bar and then realise that we've lost Tom. No idea when or where, last we saw of him was on the back of a bike somewhere in HCMC, so we look for him, give up, have a boogie, look for him again and eventually make it back for some well deserved sleep.
What a great night! I'll leave it to Tom to tell what happened after we lost him ...
Basically, they tunnelled into HCMC and the Americans had no idea they were there. The tunnels were very sophisticated and dug by hand and were absolutely tiny with small enclaves to sleep in and underground kitchens. The soldiers would hide in those tunnels and lay horrible traps in the jungle and around the area to fight against the south.
We were told that we would be able to walk through the tunnels and see the area and learn a lot about the history of it, but unfortunately, the day turned out to be a bit poo. After ages on the bus, we were spewed out by the hundreds and then had a useless guide point out obvious things such as 'this is a reproduction of the kitchens that they used underground'. Ahh. These are the tunnels but you can't go in here. OK. And so on. They also had very strange mechanised dolls there to make it more realistic I think. They were really weird and creepy.
We got to go into one bit of tunnel and it's very small and hot. The reason for that is because they stick about 300 tourists into a 30 metre tunnel at the same time. Not good. We were then herded through the souvenir shop and were enticed to buy crocodile leather goods and foul drinks with snakes and scorpions in them. Yuck! Then thankfully we got to go home - YAY!
That night though turned out to be one of our most fun ones in Vietnam so far! Basically, when we got back to the hotel, we fancied a drink, so Tom went out and bought a bottle of whiskey, because he thought he was starting to come down with a cold. Well, if you ever come across "Wall Street" Whiskey, give it a go, it only costs about $3 a bottle and will tast just right with a bit of coke!
So we finished the bottle, then went out for some more at a bar near by. After a few cocktails, we decided we needed some food, so off we went to this really cool resto, where we had more cocktails and some seriously yum food followed by vodka mixers. We were quite happy to pay the bill, because we reckoned that that was it for the night and we'd had fun. Once we got out the place though, we did fancy another drink only to find out it was quite late, so we found this club called Rainforest or something like that. The whole place is covered in aluminium foil - why? - and it looks quite flash when the lights are low and the strobe is going. (That's a picture of the place). We get to a table and the place is filled with HCMC beautiful people and not so beautiful but rich people. The place is crawling with girls who work there and who look after the customers... So we order some drinks there and have a bit of a boogie and get a free platter of fruit?! It was yum though, so we were munching pineapple and dancing and drinking when we decide that it would be a good idea to buy a bottle of vodka rather than keep buying cocktails. So we buy this bottle and every time I left the table to go for a dance, a bunch of these girls would come over and pour Phil and Tom their drink and giggle with them and do their best to get them more drunk!
Sadly though, they closed at some point and we quickly finished the bottle and tried to find somewhere else that would still be open. So we end up going back to - Apocalypse Now! Again. We danced and had more drinks there and went mad with these random people. I then recognised one of the girls in the club as one of the mute waitresses from a resto we had gone to the other day, so we all dance together with her friends and have a great time, but then that place closes, too! We roll out the club and then randomly pile onto some motorbikes to go to another place that these girls know and we race through HCMC on these bikes. It was so much fun! Eventually we get to this other bar and then realise that we've lost Tom. No idea when or where, last we saw of him was on the back of a bike somewhere in HCMC, so we look for him, give up, have a boogie, look for him again and eventually make it back for some well deserved sleep.
What a great night! I'll leave it to Tom to tell what happened after we lost him ...
posted by Phil and Tanja @ 6:04 AM
<< Home