7 million bikes, one day to see it...Saigon

After cutting Nha Trang out of our itinerary and flying through most of the country we landed in Ho Chi Minh city. We had been warned it was very like Bangkok, full of people and motorbikes and with a population of over 7 million motor bikes in one city they weren't wrong.

Model of the tunnel system

 Having spent too much time in other parts of the country we left ourselves with only one full day, so we travelled to the 250km range of Cu Chi Tunnels. Cu chi is an area which was very involved in the Vietnamese war. The tunnels were used by Viet Cong guerrillas as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for the fighters. There are 3 levels of tunnels, the first is 2m below the surface, 120cm high and 90cm wide so not really made for western sized people! The deepest tunnel was not used often as oxygen was in short supply and it was only 70cm high and 50cm wide. Around the site there are also examples of the traps they used on the Americans which all involve nasty looking spikes and large holes! When we first arrived we were shown a short movie about the use of the tunnels and it became obvious very quickly that it was going to be a very one sided report of the war as the Americans were called the 'fat devil workers'. Before we were given the chance to go inside the tunnel we were taken to a shooting range where you could shoot all types of guns with no permit which we found slightly wrong as so many people lost their lives in the same spot. Then at last the time came to venture into the tunnels and we headed down to the entrance... only to wuss out at the last minute! Until that moment we hadn't fully appreciated how small and claustrophobic they were!

Tank used by the Americans 

One of the tiny escape holes from the tunnels

Different types of traps used by the Vietnamese.

Entrance to the tunnels

This is how far we got before panicking! 

With only one night in Ho Chi Minh city we decided to make the most of it and really experience the city... So we hunted down a cinema to watch the final twilight film! It was an odd experience as the Vietnamese like to talk throughout the film and not really pay attention to what is going on. The guy sitting next to us had 3 different phone conversations in the one film. Luckily the cinema must be aware of this and so the volume was extremely loud and slightly deafening!

 Our time in Vietnam was finally over and so we jumped on a bus all set for Cambodia, only to realise that Sarah's phone wasn't quite ready to leave and was still at the hostel! Luckily after days of phone calls and trips to various bus companies her phone joined us in Phnom Penh.