Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City - HCMC

After taking an overnight bus to HCMC, I was met at 7:30 AM by a friend of mine - Cindy Cao - 's brother Chuong. Seeing as I had had a fairly decent sleep on the bus and was ready to see Saigon, we dropped off my stuff and went straight to breakfast and on to sightseeing. The accomodation, belonging to Chuong's family, was an unused two person apartment/house on top of a clothing store in downtown Saigon. Very clean and equipped with yes! Air conditioning! It felt like a miracle after sleeping in a 30*C room with only a fan for comfort... I stayed in Saigon for 4 or 5 days and got to see a variety of museums and pagodas, but the highlight was definately the day trip out to the Cu Chi Tunnels. After driving 1.5 hours on a motorbike in search of the tunnels, we realized that it wasn’t the 45 minute drive just outside the city limits we had thought it was, and found ourselves half way to the Cambodian border. Oops. The research was lost on me there... and as Dad would so kindly put it – BLONDE! On the way, however, was an absolutely stunning ride in the countryside through rice paddies and water buffalo. When we finally arrived (Chuong a little frustrated with me after the 50km ride straddling a not so comfortable motorbike) there were various pagodas, steles, and monuments – including a massive bust of Uncle Ho – before heading over to the tunnel tour. Here, we walked around enjoying the quiet and beautiful country surroundings while letting our bottoms recover from the “I haven’t ridden a horse in 10 years” sensation. As soon as we started heading over to the forest (where the tunnel tour began), it started – evidently - pouring down with rain. After waiting a while under a shelter with various American bombs and shells, the rain let up and we picked up a guide to take us deep into the forest…We saw wax figures of the Vietnamese soldiers’ uniforms (including women!) that were worn by the villagers of Cu Chi while trying to protect their land, and tried to watch an incredibly bias film about hunting Americans and “American killers hero’s”. We then proceeded to enter many different tunnels that have been cleaned out since the war, but were indeed used by the Vietcong/minh. The tunnels themselves were exceptionally well disguised with some drop-in entrances that measured only one square foot. We were able to see various rooms such as the meeting room, surgery, resting, and kitchen. Each time we went down into another tunnel, I took in a deep breath feeling the claustrophobia sinking in – the furthest I went underground was 30 meters…so cool! I couldn’t help but try to imagine shuffling along in those dark, dank tunnels soaking wet with rain and sweat (as we were anyhow) hauling a gun and whatever other materials. Oh, and not to mention the bats flying past you in the dark, an eerie reminder of your whereabouts. Nearing the end, the guide invited us down into a hall-like bunker, to sample the only food that was accessible to the army – Jack fruit and luke-warm tea.

For my last night in Saigon, we went and had coffee on a beautiful rooftop patio with live music (hispanic oddly enough :P). Coffee shops are a huge thing in Vietnam, although they're not the cozy, quiet little shops that we have in Canada. A typical coffee shop looks more like a night club with bright christmas-type lights covering the various trees and greenery that encloses the cafe. They are often 3 or 4 stories high with floor to ceiling windows, waterfalls and staff in uniforms ready to open the door for you and cater to your table. Sometimes a little extravagant, and very romantic in a classy way, but I really did start craving a cozy little hole in the wall of a tea room. Even starbucks would score points on the cozy scale :P.

In the end, it was a short and comfortable visit to Saigon where I started to feel like I was getting to know the area I lived in. Having said that, I don't think I would have needed much more time in the city itself as I found it a little without personality. It felt like the city had come up quickly and forgotten to preserve nature and history while doing so. Surprisingly, there was not a lot of interesting things to see in terms of tourism, but the city was buzzing with people and energy at all times of day.