Cu Chi Tunnels

We're getting pretty used to our early morning tours now. Our routine has been to get up early, head out on a tour and then chill at the hotel in the afternoon before heading our for dinner in the evening.

This morning we met our tour group at 7:15 by the attractive HCM Post office and headed out to the Cu Chi Tunnels. 

On the way to the site we stopped off to visit a local family who raise Pigs and make rice paper. Rice paper is the casing used to make spring rolls and other delicacies in Vietnamese cuisine.

Watching her at work making the rice paper over a fire was amazing. Her speed and accuracy were both incredible, she can make up to 1,600 in a day! We were then able to have a go, with mixed results. Mine crinkled as I put it onto the bamboo drying sheet and Carly's turned out with a large hole!

The pigs were the largest I've ever seen! Huge animals that must have weighed well over 120kg and produced a large amount of pork which they are able to sell at 60,000 dong per kg. 

For the rest of the journey our guide gave us an overview of the Vietnamese people who had fought in the Cu chi area against the American forces.

The Cu Chi Tunnels were created by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War. They started off as bunkers below the villagers houses to protect them from the 500,000 tonnes of bombs that were dropped on the area. As troops moved in on the villages and the US forces began to destroy the forests with napalm they started to connect the bunkers via tunnels.

At the height of the war 16,000 Vietcong lived underground, often for months at a time. They built kitchens, armouries and clever air flow systems over three levels. Most of the larger areas were 3 metres under the surface with the second level 6 metres down and the lowest level 10 metres below the surface!

They were able to build traps on the higher levels and then quickly escape underground through the network below. We were able to go underground and explore some of the larger tunnels. It was definitely awkward going to move around under there. You didn't get many broad, 6 ft 2 soldiers fighting!

Returning to the City we went to our favourite street market for lunch. I had a really lovely Roast Pork bun with great pickles and flavours. Carly enjoyed a plate of spring rolls and a diet coke!

This afternoon has been spent relaxing at the hotel, reading and drinking tea. As I write we've had a small thunderstorm and the heavens opened for all of 30 seconds. Very heavy rain but very short lived. It'll hopefully take the edge off the humidity.

Tonight we visited a couple of crafty beer places and had a wander around the modern area called Saigon Square. It's amazing how quickly the City appears to be developing, this area of the city has a number of very modern western looking hotels and restaurants. 

The mix of old and new works really well in this area and was lovely to wander as the sun was going down and the cities lights appeared, 

We visited our favourite street market again for dinner which was absolutely buzzing with locals and tourists on a Saturday evening. Off to bed now as we've got an early start in the morning for our flight to Hanoi.