Ok, so me and Dave headed off to Vietnam. After having no sleep after our all night drinking and feeling a little worse for wear we got on our bus and soon after fell asleep. Our first stop in the south would be Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon. This city was probably the busiest and largest of the cities I’ve been in so far, also the most developed. We got off our bus and pointed out the backpacker part on the map to 2 moped taxi drivers, they said it was very far away so the fare would be $1 which is more than I’m used to paying. After 1 minute on the bikes we arrived at the backpacker area. Great start so far! Walking along the side streets checking out the guest houses and hotels we soon realised that the area we were in was far from backpacker budget friendly! Eventually we found a room for $8 which is probably one of the most expensive I’ve stayed in so far. I expect that the area’s so expensive since all the travel guides list the area as for backpackers so since they’re always so busy they can charge what they like.
The next day was Dave’s last day in Saigon since he had to fly to Hanoi then up to China and back home to Canada for his best friend’s wedding which had been brought forward. We went to the Cu Chi tunnels further to the north on a very cheap excursion. The Cu Chi tunnels were used by the Vietcong in the war for living, hiding in and ambushing the US.
The surface was used as a battleground laden with booby traps. It was weird walking through a warzone with a former vietnamese soldier talking so proudly of how they defeated the Americans. They really hate the Americans here and what they did and who can blame them? Two and a half million vietnamese people were killed and many more today suffer from the effects of agent orange which was dispersed over wide areas creating birth defects and abnormalities in children. The result of the war is that 2/3 of the population is under 25 years old.
The Cu Chi tunnels themselves were dark, stifling holes - not for the claustraphobic! The ones we were in were said to be quite big compared to the normal ones surrounding the area. Most people here, including myself were too small for the tunnels!
I probably spent more time than I should have in Saigon. I was already travel weary after Cambodia and all I wanted to do was rest and be lazy. So I did..
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