So we caved in and signed up for a 1 day tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels and the Cao Dai Temple mainly because there was no feasible way for us to get all the way there without spending way too much money. Day tour cost $7 so it seemed practical even as much as we despised being on an organized tour in SE Asia...enough said. Early start and the A/C broke in our room and the fan never worked so we didn't get much sleep. Boarded the bus @ 8AM and our first stop was at a factory where they made who knows what (it was too early!). Every tour always stops at one of these places so you can spend money and they can get commission, but we didn't follow and along and just wandered around, took a few pics and sat back down on the bus.
About 96km outside of Saigon, you'll find the home of the Cao Dai Religion. Its one of Vietnam's indigenous (sp?) religions founded in the 1920's with influences from religions of the East and the West. The temple was fascinating and we arrived right in time for their noon prayer service. The Cao Dai pray 4 times a day, at midnight, 6am, noon and 6pm....pretty dedicated if you ask me! What was even crazier was that they opened up their temples to the tourists and allowed us to take pictures during the whole thing. Our guide said this was their way of promoting their religion so it was to our advantage I guess. Inside the temple there were these very intricate columns that I'm sure took a long time to carve. Anyways, we watched the service from the upstairs walkway and then after about half an hour it was time for us to go. We made a quick lunch stop at a tourist trap (typical) and then made our way to the Cu Chi Tunnels.
When we arrived at the tunnels we watched a video on the history of the tunnels. The tunnels once stretched almost 200km all the way to the Cambodian border, but US bombs destroyed huge chunks collapsing most of it or turning them into ponds. The video was crazy in that they described how they rewarded Vietnamese troops with awards for killing the most Americans, blowing up tanks, etc...interesting mentality but I didn't live during this war so can't say much. We then took a tour of the area and I had an opportunity to hide in a small bunker...crazy! It reminded me of the pictures I saw of where we found Saddam Hussein hiding out in Iraq. Inside it was a real cramped, dark space, but above you couldn't see where I went. Contined on taking a tour of the area...saw some of the traps they had set up for US soldiers and they looked painful! Leg traps with nails sticking out, rolling traps that would stab you in the legs, chest and head...their creativity was amazing! Finally we arrived at the tunnels...we got to wander through about 100m of tunnels...obviously they were about 3 times the size of the actual ones to accomodate the tourists, but they were still pretty small as you can see from the pics. In the real ones, we were told they had to move around on their elbows...must have been tough! After a long day we headed back to Saigon where we got some food and then boarded our night bus to Nha Trang, the beaches of Vietnam!! The bus ride was bumpy, but it was a sleeper bus with separate seats so it was better than some of the other rides we've had.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention that last night, Mike and I hopped on the back of a motorbike on the way to Pizza Hut (total of 3 on one bike)...it was very cramped and a real scary ride, but its all part of the experience. Pizza Hut was well worth the near death experience and at the mall I saw a new arcade game that blew my mind away...for those on facebook - check the video!
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