Day 2 (7/12/2014)
This is going to be one long post, because today, we explored historical sites! My favourite thing to do no matter where I am!
We had our first breakfast buffet at Queen Ann Hotel today! However, it did fall short of our expectations, probably because we searched for its reviews last night and their pictures/comments showed a wide variety of incredibly delicious-looking food. The place turned out to be rather small and there was a limited variety of food. Nevertheless, the food that I had was still yummy- deep fried mantou (they are just deep fried balls of dough but seriously, how can anyone resist these tiny morsels of goodness?!) , stir-fried bacon and vegetables (I have never seen such a combination before but it was pretty tasty!), seafood porridge (super rich and flavourful- I think they made it with seafood shells? ), some watermelon and of course Viet Pho. The waiter added only 2 pieces of chilli to my pho, but it made everything super spicy even after I took them out! I had to down a big mouthful of ice water/ orange juice after every few spoons of the Pho! (Note to self: Vietnamese chilli is a force to be reckoned with). After breakfast, we still had a little time so we played around with the TV in our hotel room and we discovered that it could play music albums as well! My sister and I then proceeded to have a really great kbox session with Taylor Swifts 1989 album hehe.
Our minibus (well, not just ours, we had to join 6 other tourists- a family of 4 from Singapore and a couple from Philippines) finally arrived to transport us to the Cu Chi Tunnels- the highlight of the entire trip! (At least for me haha). FYI, the Cu Chi Tunnels were the tunnels built and used by the Communists in the Vietnam war against the US. While I am NOT a Communist, I can’t help but admire this ingenious strategy that was key to securing a Communist victory. (If you want to find out more, you can contact my SEA history teacher, Mr Emmanuel, or go Google it yourself! It’s not that hard hehe). Anyway, as it was a 1.5 hour bus ride from Saigon/Ho Chi Minh to the Cu Chi Tunnels, we had a toilet stop at this ‘art factory’, where workers (that were mostly disabled) created ‘standardised art pieces’ (if this even makes sense).
These art pieces largely comprised egg shell mosaics, as you can see from the picture above and here’s a photo of the actual egg shells they used:
At this place, I had really mixed feelings because this ‘factory’ was set up to provide employment for the disabled in Ho Chi Minh, and they derived their income from the purchases made by tourists. Yet, our local guide ‘instructed’ us not to buy anything there, for they charged exorbitant prices. In the end, we didn’t buy anything from them, but I still felt like I had to do something to help those people make a living 
Anyway, we didn’t have much time to spare so we quickly boarded the minibus, and in the rest of the bus ride, our guide gave us a brief history of Vietnam (I had so much fun reminiscing about SEA history lessons and how Mr Emm would lecture on the 1954 Geneva Conference and the battle at Dien Bien Phu).
In the area where the tunnels were situated, we saw humongous bomb craters! (First time witnessing the scale of destruction caused by military weapons!). The tunnel guides then gave us a basic geography lesson on the tunnels. Apparently, that location was chosen because the soil at Cu Chi comprised 85% clay, making it as firm as concrete, so the tunnels would not collapse easily. It was also a mere 60km away from Saigon, making it an ideal base camp for the Communists. The guide also explained the basic layout of the tunnels:
The first level (about 3m deep) housed the firing bunkers and bunkers for the military personnel. The second level (about 6-8m deep) housed the kitchens, bunkers for women and children, as well as a bomb shelter (the triangular room!). The third level (about 10m deep) had things like the water well and the exit to the Saigon river. The water well was necessary because the Viet Cong (communists) feared that the US soldiers poisoned the water in the Saigon river and the exit to the Saigon river served as a crucial escape route when US soldiers launched chemical/gas attacks in the tunnels. The tunnels were also dug unevenly, with some parts being rather spacious and some sections being very narrow, to deter the US soldiers from infiltrating the tunnels (since they were larger in size as compared to the Vietnamese).
It was super fun going in the tiny tunnel entrances! And the tunnel lids were very well camouflaged on the forest floor!
We then moved on to the booby traps set up by the Viet Cong- they were strategically laid out in the forest and the unsuspecting US soldiers would often fall into these traps (literally). While these traps came in different forms, they generally consisted of bamboo spikes that were laced with something infectious. The most cruel thing was that these traps were not meant to kill, they were meant to trap 1 soldier, then attract 2 other soldiers to help this soldier out, which would effectively render 3 soldiers useless. It is so brutal yet so clever.
The highlight of this place was crawling through the tunnels! Basically, you had to either crouch really low or maintain a squatting position to waddle your way through the super cramped and super dark tunnels. (No photos here because it was way too dark and I was enjoying myself too much in the tunnels haha. ) Being unable to see what was in front of you/behind you, and solely relying on your sense of touch to get around was an incredibly eye-opening experience. I really really want to do it again! Oh, but I was annoyed at how touristy the place was, because we could only crawl through a small section of the tunnel in a short period of time, when the explorer in me yearned to go deeper in the tunnel and experience the life of a Viet Cong member in the past.
After coming out of the tunnel, we went to see the ‘smokeless kitchen’ that the Viet Cong used. They were ‘smokeless’ because the Communists only cooked from 3-4am, which was when the smoke could blend in with the morning mist, and even then, they created a ventilation system such that the smoke only came out of a man-made ‘termite hill’ at least 10m away from the kitchen.
Sadly, our time at the Cu Chi tunnels came to an end and we had another 1.5hour bus ride back to Ho Chi Minh.
We then went to have lunch at Restaurant Ngon 138- CHEAP AND GOOD! I ordered the fresh Vietnamese spring roll for 15 000 dong (less than 1 sgd!) , Vietnamese pancakes for 50 000 dong (about 3 sgd) and Vietnamese glutinous rice balls in sweet soup for dessert (essentially rice balls with lotus paste in ginger soup and coconut milk) which cost 20 000 dong (about 1 sgd!).
We then made our way to the Independence Palace that was just opposite our lunch place! It was so exciting to see the rooms used by the Vietnamese officials.
My favourite room was the Conference room, for I could take many pictures with Ho Chi Minh’s portrait, the Communist and Vietnamese flag! (Sadly, HCM’s preserved body is in Hanoi, so I didn’t get to see that )
My second favourite place in the palace was the basement, because it contained all the communications equipment, President’s war room and most importantly, all the maps that outlined the routes taken by the Vietnamese troops- fascinating stuff!
Unfortunately, the palace closed at 4pm , so we could not stay longer, but I think we explored its entirety anyway haha. After a long day of walking, walking and more walking, we finally decided to take a Vinasun taxi back to our hotel. According to our very friendly doorman, Vinasun was the safest taxi company because their rates were determined by the meter and each tazi had a unique serial number (4 digits) printed on the seats of the taxi. This meant that if our safety or belongings were compromised, we could quote the 4-digit number to the local police and they could easily track the driver down. However, there were also ‘MAFIA taxis’, with the most common one being Vinashin. While Vinasun had the contact number: 38 27 27 27, Vinashin had these contact numbers: 38 27 27 77 / 05 27 27 27 (the contact numbers are printed on the exterior of all taxis). Vinashin taxis can look pretty similar to Vinasun ones, so you must be careful! If you do happen to take a ‘mafia taxi’ (which is known to extort large amounts of money from tourists), stay calm and ask the driver to take you back to your hotel to ‘take the money’. Inform the hotel staff and they will settle it for you. Of course, it is best to just avoid these taxis.
At night, we went to NHA HANG CHEN for a Chinese hotpot dinner (its food was pretty meh) and my sister and I watched The Fault In Our Stars in our room! (cried like nobody’s business)
*USEFUL TIP FROM OUR TOUR GUIDE TODAY:
When you see a horde of bikes coming at you when you cross the road, WALK SLOWLY. It goes against all your instincts, but if you run/walk fast, you have a higher chance of getting hit. In fact, when you go slow, you have the time to figure out the way to weave through the horde and avoid getting hit!
That’s all for today!! 🙂
adventuresofxmm 