Vietnam 2008: Cuchi

Other links:
Vietnam 2008: In a Nutshell
Vietnam 2008: Ho Chi Minh City

Day 2: Ho Chi Minh City & Cuchi

Having booked the Cuchi tour the previous day, we had a delicious complementary breakfast at Bee-Saigon Hotel while waiting for our tour company to come pick us up.

Pork broth

Baguette with omelete

Vietnamese coffee is really good. I drink this everyday!

We stopped over at the Handicapped Handicrafts factory for a break.

Paintings handmade by handicapped people

A painting made of egg shells

The town of Cuchi is famous of its wide network of underground tunnels that have helped the VC (Viet Cong, which means Vietnamese Communist) to facilitate its aggression against the US soldiers in the American War. The tunnels stretch from HCMC to the Cambodian border but in Cuchi alone, there are more than 250km of tunnels filled with self-sustainable resources. The VC would live in the tunnels for months without coming out.

The area of Cuchi was chosen because of its hard ground and fertile soil. Unknowingly, the American army built their base right on top of the tunnels and soon fell victim to many surprise attacks. It took them many months to figure out why they keep getting shot at night.

This is the reason:

Secret entrance to the tunnel disguised by leaves

How to enter... as demonstrated by a fake VC.

The tunnels were built really small so that the bigger size American soldiers could not enter. If they tried to, there's always the booby traps.

Booby traps outside the tunnel

Booby traps in the tunnel

This American tank was destroyed by a land mine at this very spot.

Underground bomb-making room

The VC build a ventilation vent using a termite nest to disguise it.

Disguised chimney to get the smoke out from the underground kitchen

Then we crawled through about 20 metres of the tunnel. 20m is not a lot, but it is in those cramp and musty conditions. In fact, these tunnels were already expanded to accomodate the bigger sized tourists but still, it's definitely not for the claustrophobic.

Actual size of the tunnel!

After failing to eliminate the VC with ground attacks, chemical warfare and infiltration, the US Army begin sending B52 warplanes which eventually destroyed most of the tunnels.

Actual bombs used by the American soldiers

B52 Bomb Crater



Rubber sandals made of used tires. The VC made some really big and really small sandals to scare the Americans (as in monsters, lol).

Snake herbal wine for sale at the souvenier shop. Apparently, it's very common in Vietnam. There's also centipede wine, scorpion wine, lizard wine... eww.

Roadside pet store!

We had KFC for lunch because Kh says we need to slowly get used to Vietnamese food. As you can see, the chicken is really small.

Long long walk to the History Musuem. The most boring musuem ever. Shows all the history stuff in Vietnamese history but they are all briefly explained in Vietnamese. The highlight of this musuem is the Vietnamese mummy. Unfortunately, all their exhibits are very poorly preserved.

Dinner at Bi-Saigon Hotel (sister hotel of Bee-Saigon) before taking the overnight bus to Dalat. One of the best fried rice we've had in our entire lives.

Next post, Vietnam 2008: Dalat...

Vietnam 2008: Ho Chi Minh City

Other links:
Vietnam 2008: In a Nutshell

Day 1: Ho Chi Minh City

On board Tiger Airways

Aerial view of Mekong Delta

Tan Sot Nhat Airport

Kh and I nearly got ripped off at the airport. The taxi drivers kept telling us there were no bus services when we asked them about the airport bus. I think it costs about 150,000d to get to the city by cab, and 80,000d by minibus. Lotsa tourists got conned by them! Thankfully, we did our research and we knew about the airport bus. It took us quite some time to find it because it was situated at the far end of the domestic airport. Tickets cost only 3000d for a 20min bus ride! Imagine the difference!

Checked in at Bee-Saigon Hotel. US$20/night/room

Bee-Saigon Hotel: Cute decor

After which, it was time for our 6-hour walking tour as planned in my itinerary. I had already read up and chosen the places I wanted to visit and the route we would take. With our LP guidebook and map on hand, we quickly headed off to our first stop, Pho2000, for a tasty tasty Vietnamese meal. =)

Lunch at Pho2000
Our very first meal in Vietnam! Kh had a beef ragout with Vietnamese coffee and I had a chicken Pho with Vietnamese tea.

Tran Nguyen Hai Statue

Roadside waffle stall

Municipal Theatre

Hotel De Ville/People's Committee Building

Their traffic lights were extremely hard to spot. And you wonder why when they are built above pedestrian pavements.

Ho Chi Minh Musuem: A 13th century boat carved out from a tree trunk.

Ho Chi Minh Musuem: The old Vietnamese money. Looks like hell notes. =x

Ho Chi Minh Museum: This is one of the many couples there taking wedding photos!

Reunification Palace (also known as Independence Palace):
This place as endured many bombings in the past and has now been rebuilt to hold international conferences and parliamentary meetings.

Reunification Palace: One of the conference rooms

War Remnants Musuem: It showed a lot of the weapons used during the war, and the damaged it created. There were several galleries showing gruesome pictures of bloody bodies and severely deformed children who were the result of chemical warfare.

War Remnants Musuem : Fighter Jet used during the American War

War Remnants Musuem: Ammunition used during the American War

War Remnants Museum: The prison entrance

War Remnants Museum: The guillotine used by the French to kill the Vietnamese, and then used by the Vietnamese to kill the Americans.

War Remnants Museum: Letter of apology by an Australian soldier

Notre Dame Cathedral

French-style Post Office

French-style Post Office: One of the nicest post office I've seen. It's like Harry Potter architecture.

Dinner at Lotteria at Diamond Plaza. Vietnam's version of KFC/McDonald's.

Lotteria: Unfortunately the chicken was rather burnt.

Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre

Water Puppet Theatre: Just puppets on water. There are peeps behind the green curtains controlling the water puppets. I fell asleep halfway through the 50 min show as it was all in Vietnamese (65,000d/person) and I was so exhausted from the day's activities.

Crazy traffic at HCMC.

Crazy traffic w/o flash

A woman just scooting past like we're not even there. We had to jump to one side to let her pass.

In HCMC, people will use the pedestrian pavements as "expressways". The situation is not so bad in Hanoi though. People here don't follow traffic rules. Green light, go. Red light, also go. And apparently, on the road, size matters. The bigger your horn, the more power you have on the road. Pedestrians are the most vulnerable people. People won't even give way to you when they see you crossing the road on green man.

Video of the crazy traffic:

P/s: This is one of the better moments. We were unable to capture the crazier moments because we were busy running for our lives.

We tried to avoid crossing the road. When we had to, we would make a mad dash to the other side. Occasionally, I would scream in shock when one motorbike just jam brake in front of me. I think that really put those people off because they would give me dirty looks. However, after 16 days and 15 nights in Vietnam, we've become jaywalking experts. It's all a matter of technique and mutual trust. ;)

Kh and I wondered what this red cross means. We were thinking it means "Free for All" because everytime it lights up, people would be scooting about all over the place. After careful observation with the more controlled traffic in Hanoi, we think it means that all those who are turning may now turn and all those going straight must stop. I guess this is quite a feasible way to organise traffic in Vietnam because most of the roads are 2 way roads and there are loads and loads of junctions.

Our feet and slippers were filthy after a day's walk. You can imagine how dirty and polluted HCMC is. Dust and soot flying all over the place. Argh.

Kh's foot covered with dirt. Yeah I know it's disgusting. Bro-in-law Jeremy says this looks like a pic taken from the doctor's clinic. =x

Vietnam 2008: Cuchi coming right up!