Wednesday, December 13, 2006
1 December, 2006
Our day started with a tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels. These tunnels represent how the people of Cu Chi lived and fought before and during the resistance against America. It was interesting to see the booby traps and the tiny holes in which the VC would enter the tunnels through, especially designed for their tiny frames. A whole way of life went on during the fighting including sewing, cooking, meetings (in command centres), ploughing (by night), sawing bombs and making bamboo spikes. The tunnel became legendary during the 1960’s for fascilitating the VC’s control of a large rural area. The tunnels stretched from Southern Vietnam to the Cambodian border. We visited the Ben Dinh section of these tunnels and it was quite claustrophobic and scary crawling through them. They are dark and tiny and creepy. The tour ended at lunch time and we spent the afternoon at the Reunification Palace- the building once the symbol of S. Vietnamese headquarters and government. On 30 April, 1975 Vietnam declared its Independence and the building is kept as it was on this very day. The architecture is very interesting and the bomb shelter built in the basement has an intricate tunnel network. We enjoyed the free English tour and then got to the famous Rex hotel for a drink and a delicious seafood buffet dinner. The sushi was also great and there was good music which really created a lovely ambience. We walked the town a bit before getting the cab back to our hotel.
Our day started with a tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels. These tunnels represent how the people of Cu Chi lived and fought before and during the resistance against America. It was interesting to see the booby traps and the tiny holes in which the VC would enter the tunnels through, especially designed for their tiny frames. A whole way of life went on during the fighting including sewing, cooking, meetings (in command centres), ploughing (by night), sawing bombs and making bamboo spikes. The tunnel became legendary during the 1960’s for fascilitating the VC’s control of a large rural area. The tunnels stretched from Southern Vietnam to the Cambodian border. We visited the Ben Dinh section of these tunnels and it was quite claustrophobic and scary crawling through them. They are dark and tiny and creepy. The tour ended at lunch time and we spent the afternoon at the Reunification Palace- the building once the symbol of S. Vietnamese headquarters and government. On 30 April, 1975 Vietnam declared its Independence and the building is kept as it was on this very day. The architecture is very interesting and the bomb shelter built in the basement has an intricate tunnel network. We enjoyed the free English tour and then got to the famous Rex hotel for a drink and a delicious seafood buffet dinner. The sushi was also great and there was good music which really created a lovely ambience. We walked the town a bit before getting the cab back to our hotel.
# posted by Heidi & Richard's travels @ 7:28 AM 
