Our second to last day in Ho Chi Minh City had an early start to it. Up by 6:30, breakfast by 7:00. Out on the bus at 7:30 and on the road by 7:35. We were heading out to the Củ Chi Tunnels for a tour. The entire area was a network of tunnels used during the Vietnam War (or American War, as the Vietnamese refer to it) for Vietnamese guerrilla fighters to hide from US soldiers and attack undetected. To start the tour off, we watched a black and white video that depicted different events of the war from the perspective of the Vietnamese and how the tunnels played a vital role in the war itself.
After the video, our tour guide took us around on the trails, going from craters left by B52 bombers to hidden tunnel entrances to air and light pathways for the tunnels built into existing termite mounds as to blend into the environment. We saw some remains of American war infantry and weaponry, as well as examples of different hidden traps that the Vietnamese used to slow and injure American soldiers. There were hidden land mines, swinging trap doors that led to a pit of spikes when stepped on, all sorts of traps that would seriously injure (but not kill; it was more beneficial for the Vietnamese to injure American soldiers) anyone who fell victim to their trickery and camouflage. It was really emotionally draining to see the war from the opposite point of view, to see Americans viewed as the enemy, to see the harm we had caused from the eyes of the Vietnamese people.
We also had the opportunity to go through the tunnels, only about 2 and a half to 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide. There were ways to the surface every 20 metres, but most of the group went the entire 100 metres from start to finish. My legs and back were pretty sore upon resurfacing, but the experience was well worth it. To think that the Vietnamese ran through and lived in those tunnels with a war going on above them is too much for me to comprehend. By the end of the tunnel, we could pretty audibly hear the gunshots in the background from the firing range, creating a feeling that completed the experience of being there. I, being me, left my SD card for my camera in my laptop from putting pictures up from the night before and therefore was not able to take pictures with my camera. Luckily, I have nice friends like Laura and Austin who agreed to let me have some of theirs later that I could post.
After our tunnel experience, we went to eat lunch on a dock on the Saigon River. The current of the river made it feel like the dock itself was moving rather than the water, giving lunch a strange but unique atmosphere. I ate some good calamari, shrimp and rice, along with the always present watermelon for dessert.
Back in the city, we stopped at the hotel for about half an hour to rest and change before going to the War Remnants Museum, only a few blocks from the Victory. The visit to the museum complemented our visit to the tunnels, as we were able to gain even more insight into the Vietnamese viewpoint of the war. When experienced from the side of “the enemy” (from what we are taught in the US, at least), the war seemed much more saddening and emotional. There were pictures of those affected with the US’s Agent Orange; there were death tolls for the Vietnamese innocent; there were quotes (from the Vietnamese point of view) about the war and the Americans. Seeing all this was quite an experience, one that I will never forget.
After the museum, some of us took a cab down to a souvenir shop that Dr. Berman recommended to finish up some shopping for friends and relatives. While Tom and I were finishing up making our purchases, the rest of the group decided to up and leave, so we grabbed a taxi and got off at the Reunification Palace to take some pictures before going back to the hotel. Since the palace is only about a block or two from our hotel, we were going to walk when two guys with rickshaws came up and asked if we wanted rides. We figured why not, considering it was our second to last day in Vietnam anyway. They took us on a really roundabout route and ended up dropping us off 20 minutes later, still a block from the hotel, and wanted to charge us 250,000 dong a piece. Knowing that it was a rip off, I gave the guy about 80,000 (4 bucks) and started to walk away. Never take a rickshaw without negotiating price first…
As a token of our appreciation, we decided to take the UEF students out to dinner one last time and cover their meals. We went to a place called The Lion Brewery; it was a nice German restaurant downtown. I had a pretty sweet sausage platter, consisting of 4 different types of sausage (two kinds of bratwurst and two kinds of kielbasa) along with two pieces of honey-smoked ham, some sweet tasting cabbage, and potatoes. Although pretty full, some of us still decided to go out for ice cream at Snowéé, a creamery that imports all of its ice cream from Switzerland (and it’s only a block or two from the hotel, score!). I had a dish called an “Italian Dream”: coffee ice cream with nuts, Oreo cookies, and chocolate syrup. After we all finished our delicious dessert, we wished Tuan goodbye and walked back to the hotel, exhausted, done for the night.
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