[Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam] To satisfy our curiosity we decided to do a a half day tour of the well know Cu Chi tunnels about an hour and a half out of town. Booking through a hotel or agency has become so easy for us. We are getting lazy. No finding a local bus, guessing where to get off and then battling with taxis to get to an attraction. Now we just wait in the hotel reception.

On the way out to the site our guide entertained a bus load of tourists with his non-stop stories and jokes. Some seemed too good to be true, but you never know. One thing is certain, he has been doing the same talk in the same enthusiastic style for quiet some time. Just Google ‘Mr Bean +Cu Chi tunnel tour’ and you’ll find what we experienced. We stopped by a handcraft market run by disabled war veterans and people affected by the war (UXO victims etc). V and I liked some of the shell artwork but it was all too big for us to carry.

The tunnels have been turned into a major theme park but it was well worth the time. After an introductory ‘documentary’ (more like anti-American propaganda) we toured around the complex looking at some seriously viscous traps and bunkers. A tiny covered hole in the ground was explained as a sniper post. Mr Bean offered us to have a go but nobody was interested until I stepped up. It was a tight fit but fun. If i were working there I would have strategically placed a few rubber snakes in the hole 🙂 Next stop was the shooting range where you can choose to shoot with an M-16, AK-47, M-60 or some others. The bullet prices were a little too rich for our blood so we just sat with a cool-drink while the gunfire reigned.

Finally we got to the actual tunnel part of the tour. Only 150m long and with ‘panic’ exits every 30m (V used the first one) they were not nearly as expansive and deep as the Vinh Moc tunnels. They were however much smaller and very cramped making it a lot of fun for me. I always wanted tunnels as a kid. Pity we didn’t have nice clay to work with.

In the end our half day tour grew by a few hours – I think due to the length of Mr. Bean’s presentations – and we arrived back in town after 15h00. Not motivated to see any more pagodas we spent the afternoon relaxing at the hotel. Well by ‘relaxing’ I mean I spent 3 hours removing viruses and junk, and re-installing software on the hotel’s shared Internet PC (even got Facebook working for them by bypassing their ISP’s DNS server). Unfortunately I couldn’t wangle a discount on the room rate for all the ‘work’ but I had a ball in any event 🙂

[Pictures: a bit of a squeeze. Too many twinkies]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi