Travelogue: 5d/4n in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) - Day 2 @ Cu Chi Tunnel

We were greeted by another tour guide, Mr Bang at our hotel lobby at 7:45am, for our tour of the day to Cu Chi Tunnel.  Avery nice young chap with bubbling character and gigantic sense of humour!  We enjoyed ourselves so much that day.  

From our hotel, he proceeded on picking up other tourists from other hotels.  As we were being driven around to different hotels, I managed to capture these.  Picture above show their Saturday morning rush.  Most of them work still works half day there.

A cup of hot morning coffee on the pavement ala Parisian style.  It's inevitable for the Vietnamese to pick a thing or two of the French' lifestyle.  Afterall, they have been colonised by the French for almost a hundred years! Every corner we turned, we can see people from all walks of life enjoying a drink.  

Saw this statue of a 'warrior on horseback' in the middle of one of the many beautifully landscaped roundabouts they have in their city.  I can't help but wonder how come developed city like us only have 'lalang' (shrubs) roundabouts?

Saw this beautifully decorated church and quickly take a picture of it only to realize later that night it is actually only 5 minutes walk from our hotel.  *so blur*

On way to our destinations, we saw a wedding car decorated in flowers on the highway.  =)

Our first stop was at the lacquered factory.  The workers employed are majority handicapped (results of war).  They produced beautiful works.  Really really beautiful.  The colours are so vivid and the end products are so thickly lacquered.  Fine workmanship.  So wanted to buy but they were all too expensive for me.  But then again, work of arts are always expensive.  From the lacquer factory, we proceeded on our journey to CuChi Tunnel.

We have to drive thru some villages to get to it.  Along the way, we saw workers going about their daily chores carrying tremendous load of farm products on their tractors of tricycles.  A scene no longer seen here in our so called 'developed' country. :p

When we finally arrived at CuChi, it was already packed with tourists.  Tour buses lined the parking bay.  Mr Bang snaked thru the crowd expertly and got us our tickets and an informative brochure of the tunnels.  And so we started our exploration.

At the first tunnel, Verena, the german tourist in our group, decided to go in.  The moment she disappeared into the hole, we quickly ran to the other hole which she suppose to emerge from and standby with our cameras.

After 2 minutes passed and she was nowhere in sight, we got worried.  We kept calling out to her but there were no reply.  Moments later, she came out from where she entered.  We were all so relieved.  Apparently she just couldnt feel her way thru.  She said she thought she gonna die in there.  We all had a good laugh.  In the end, we made her go posed at the exit just to pretend that she actually emerge from there. :p  I didnt go into it cause I have this claustrophic thing when I cant see a thing.  I was told it was pitch black in there.

Continueing on with our sightseeing, we walked on and took some pictures with some mannequins dressed depicting VietCongs (guerillas).

Mom's new found boyfriend.  Hahahahaha....

With throngs of tourists there, our group decided to take group photos instead of individually which will take longer time.  Even though our group comprises of 11 Malaysian (2 chinese & 9 malays) and 1 German, we got along so well.  Extreme 'muhibbah'.  It was so nice.  Felt so good.  If only everyone are like that, there will be no war, no terrorists.

We all climbed onto the tanker simultaneously to have this one taken.  I am not entirely sure how I got up there in a jiffy, but when it was time to come down, it took quite a while.  :p

There, we also get to see lots of simple self-made weapons by the VietCong (the tunnel people/the guerrilas).  Though simple, it was these simple weapons that sent many Americans soldiers going home mental.  It was just too crazily scary not knowing what to expect.  My legs already went wobbly just by looking at those simple but deadly weapons.

Picture above is a worker at Cu Chi Tunnel who demonstrated how each booby traps works.

Our funny tour guide introduces the following as the 'no baby' trap.  We went like... "What??" I thought I heard wrongly.  He went on to explain that this is actually a door trap.  When the American barge into a house,  the lower part of the trap will hit the lower body of whoever barges in thus damaging his productive organs.  Thus, mah no baby lor...  lols...

Here are some other self made booby traps...

Saw a cute puppy at the rest area.  Gave it some water but the fella tak hirau... I think he wants coca cola...lols... generally, we find the doggies in Vietnam are not very friendly.

There were also demo on how rice paper is made.  Here, show the rice paper set out to dry under the sun.

Here, Mr Bang showed us slippers wore by the guerillas during war made out of tyres.  He claimed he wore them when he was young.  Hmm.. he is 35, possible.

Can you see a tunnel entrance down below?  Not sure how the guerillas get into this deep hole.

We decided to go down into this tunnel in the picture below which has been widen double its original size for tourists.  I went in because they said it is lighted.  But there was a part, about 6m long, that was pitch black.  Can even see my own hand.  I immediately panicked. Felt my lung shrinking.  I wanted to go back to where I entered but decided to stay calm and breathe.  Then I remembered I have my camera in hand.  So throughout the 6m path, I kept flashing my flash.  Lols... I know, I am that useless.  Can jump into the sea, can rollercoaster, can do most things, but just afraid of dark.  :p

Verena confirmed that this tunnel we went into was indeed much much bigger than the one she thought she gonna die in earlier... lols... so, a note of advise, bring a small torch light if u plan to go in.  At least wont panic like me.  But if you love darkness, forget the torch.

Another group photo with the mannequins.  I wonder why are we kept taking pictures with mannequins..... lols... mannequins??!

Here, Mr Bang showed us the many layers of the underground tunnel which comprises of meeting room, kitchen, dining, entertainment, exit & entry points.  It is very interesting.  Can't help but feeling amazed all over again by mere will power to survive.  Go look in up on the net if you wanna find out more about it.  Sound impossible.  But seeing is believing.

After CuChi Tunnel, back in the city, Mr Bang decided to take us down to Cholon (chinatown of Ho Chi Minh) on a off tour itinerary.  So kind of him.  Actually we just ask to be dropped off there.

Note the pagoda at the end of the road?  Very nice.

We joined our Malay friends for lunch at a Halal restaurant on the way.  Since we also need to eat, what the heck.  Just eat together la... no need to be so troublesome.

After lunch, we went straight to the Cholon Market (chinatown).

The entrance of the market.  It is 'Cho Binh Tay'.

At the market, they sell in bulk.  Wholesale style.  But if you cant buy 100 pcs, 3pcs also can.  :)  Mom & I first ventured to its' dry sundries section.  There, we saw lots of weird goods which we never seen in Malaysia and plenty of different grades of birdnest which look too identical to be real.  Hehehe.... I always love to venture to local markets of places I visit.  It is in the market that I get to see various unique local products.  The chinese towkay in the market speaks fantastic cantonese.  More towards Hongkong slang.  And most of them were very friendly too unlike in Ben Thanh Market.  They took time to explain to us on how to cook a certain ingredient they are selling, which we never seen here.

From the dry sundries area, we went on to the many other sections - fabrics, shoes, bags, towels, children clothings & etc.  Mom bought some handmade beaded sandals from one of the many stall.  Approximately US$6.50 a pair.

We were so excited when we come to the hat section.  It was not because we love hats.  It was because we see hats everywhere.  Thousands and thousands of them.  Felt like swimming in hats!

A praying altar in the middle of the Cholon Market.

We left 1.5 hours later.  Outside, saw really old lady begging.  So sad.

As we were on our way back to our hotel, at one of the roundabout, we saw some pretty girls and boys holding up some adverts signage with arrows pointing to one direction.  They are actually advertising for Sunsilk.  What an ingenious way to reach out to the public.  Hehehe.... Found out later that they have some event launching nearby.

Mom quickly wind down the window to tease the models....lols... *naughty*

Back at the hotel, we rested for awhile, before we headed out again to Saigon Square.  It is a small shopping center with lots of little stalls in it.  From there we took a walk down to the night market outside Ben Thanh.  

Bought some fruits - the super yummy custard apple and giant size ciku.  Wanted to buy some back but didnt cause we have too many hand luggages.  Tak larat to carry more.  Good thing we didnt also.  We were stopped on way out of LCCT by the immigration people asking if we brought back any fruits.  Would've wasted our effort carrying them all the way from Ho Chi Minh.

 Saw this vendor selling colourful glutinous rice and got curious.  We bought a small packet.  When I asked him how much, he spoke something that I dont understand.  When I took out my money, he just snatch a blue colour one and started pushing his cart across the busy street before I can even register how much is the blue colour note.  As it was only our second day in the city, we are still not familiar with their currency.  We later found out from a kind concierge of a hotel nearby that the blue colour ones are VND20,000 (RM4) and that the packet we bought actually worth on VND10,000.  When we turned around to see where the cart was earlier, he is back at the very same spot.  Sigh... only RM2 also must run like that... I dont mind to pay him triple even.  Just dont runaway with my money like that.  I thought he had took like VND500,000 or what.... *shake head* So, be careful with your cash ok.  Don't flash the whole stack in front of them.  What I usually do is, I'll put all smaller notes in one pocket and bigger notes in another.  When I buy things, I usually take out only the small notes.

Oh, did I mentioned that in Ho Chi Minh, there are lots and lots of helmet stalls too?  They were all so cute.  So many different designs.  Some look like doggies with eyes, and some are lady bugs complete with antennas.  Hehehehe... I so couldnt resist it and got myself one too.  No, not the doggie or the ladybug.  Something funkier...lols...

That's me playing dress up with the many different helmets!

Mom & I finds it very tickling whenever we came across weird hotel names.  To us, most of their hotel names sound like bad words.... like 'Hoang Hai Long' la... 'Hong Hai' la... plus dunno what hai what hai somemore la... it was so hillarious.  We laughed as we walked all way back to our hotel.

The church we saw in the morning (near to our hotel) all lighted up at night.  Beautifully decorated in conjunction with Good Friday & Easter Sunday!

A petrol kiosk near our hotel.  Simple and bare.

Back in the hotel, I laid out all my loots (Mun: the 4 piece lacquered painting at the back is what I bargained for the day before :p).  I thought I didnt anything.  But I thought wrongly lor... no wonder all my money depleting so fast.

Yeah, this is the helmet I gotten myself.  Something red matching my Redbabe.  Pretty funky right with the large goggle?  I made mom wore it and model for me...lols...

And in return, I'll wore one of the many tiaras she gotten for the kids.  Hehehehe....

And that, concluded our day 2 in Ho Chi Minh.  I wish to put all in one entry but I simply cant find a whole block of free time to do it.  So, sorry ya... just be patient.  :)