A HAIRY RIDE TO THE CU CHI TUNNELS

We spent last night with our son, celebrating his birthday and had a lovely evening together.  We went to an authentic Vietnamese restaurant and had a wonderful meal - which only cost 840,000 Vietnamese Dong!  It sounds worse than it is, because for the three of us, that equates to about £30 and it was so delicious - in fact, we couldn't finish all the dishes.  Then we walked back down through Times Square and as is our tradition, I sang "Happy Birthday" to him amongst the hundreds of people thronging round.

If I thought yesterday's journey was hairy, today's was 100% worse!  Negotiating Saigon traffic at 9 a.m on a Saturday morning was an absolute nightmare, made worse because I was sitting behind and to the right of the driver, and could see everything - well almost everything, because some of the time my eyes were closed, and with good reason!  However there aren't more accidents, I will never know, except that as Julian explained to me, everyone is courteous and gives way.  

We had invited our son, Julian and his girlfriend, Nga, to come with us and although she is Vietnamese, she had never been to the Cu Chi Tunnels.  It is about 70 km to the north west of Ho Chi Minh city and took us two hours to get there.  On the way, I was taking lots of photographs and Jules explained that when people live in a house, they often have a shop of some description in the room which fronts the pavement - this could be selling things or a little cafe or a motor bike repair shop, but this is how they eke out a living.  

Once we got off the main road, which was choc-a-bloc with traffic, but which keeps moving most of the time, the "country" roads were quieter.  We passed rice paddy fields, graveyards, bigger houses and then came to a rubber plantation.  It was very interesting to see people working amongst the trees collecting the little pots - something I had only learned about in school, but never imagined I would see.  There were whole families underneath a tarpaulin hung between the rubber trees, eating, drinking and obviously enjoying one another's company as well as working.

We eventually arrived at the Cu Chi Tunnels and what an amazing place it was.  Once again, our guide, Troy, was excellent and explained quite a lot about it whilst we were driving there.  Jules said that Nga didn't understand all he had said, so asked if he would be kind enough to tell her in their language, which he gladly did.  It was fascinating to hear when I was speaking to Troy a little later, however, that Nga's dialect was quite different from his - she being born in the Highlands and he was born in the south of Vietnam, so I explained to him that we have many different dialects in our country too.

The first place we saw was an entrance to one of the tunnels called "a secret refuge" and people were allowed to get down into it and then the top was put on - as they reappeared, a photograph was taken!  Of course, Mr. HCB and Jules both wanted to go down into the entrance and both had a job getting back out!  

Troy was very good, stopping near the various places like the booby traps, the different huts and the ventilation mounds (made to look like termite mounds) to explain things to us - and of course, it has been very difficult to pick out just a few things to show on a collage, which is why I have added another one as an extra.  Suffice to say that we all learned a lot and it was especially good for Nga, and she told me, through Google Translate how much she had enjoyed coming with us.  Interestingly, she paid for her own ticket, because it would have cost me $5 to treat her, but as she is Vietnamese, it only cost $1.  

It was very hot - probably about 36C - which was really too hot and sticky for me, but I managed it quite well, considering that the terrain was quite rough in places.  When we were partway round, Mr. HGB was gutted to read on the Rules that he couldn't actually go down into one of the tunnels, because he was over 70!  However, Jules and Nga went down and crawled about 20 metres.  Jules said that Nga had managed it better than him because she is smaller, so obviously being small helped the Viet Cong soldiers.

We spent the last few minutes of our tour in the kitchen area, and were served green tea and tapioca sticks.  They tasted quite like boiled potatoes, which we dipped into a mixture of salt and peanuts - but not quite what I had in mind for lunch!

The journey back didn't take quite as long, but was just as hairy and I must admit I was glad to get back to the hotel in one piece.  Julian then told me he would go and collect his motorbike which he had left in the underground park so they could go back home.  We waved them off, and I must admit, having seen the standard of driving, my heart was in my mouth!  However, I did learn this morning the reason the kerbs are rounded - if the roads get too busy, then the motorbikes and scooters just mount the pavement!  This is hairy, scary living for pensioners, but it's great fun.

We are going out later to meet Sitti, Jules' friend, at the church she attends and where she sings in the choir - I may not be able to sing in Vietnamese, but I will definitely be "making a joyful noise to the Lord" although I'm not sure Mr. HCB will be doing the same.  However, there may be a chance of some coffee and cake afterwards so we are both game for that.

Apologies for the length of this, but it's the diary of our holiday!  I also apologise for not commenting on your journals, but I am pleased you are enjoying seeing Vietnam through our eyes and thank you for all your kind comments, stars and hearts.