Cu Chi Tunnels / Cholon (Chinatown)

I woke myself up early the second day after a splendid night of sleep (have been walking so much in Vietnam until I feel my undergarments becoming looser), and headed off to Pham Ngu Lao to catch my tour to Cu Chi Tunnels, which is located around 2 hours away from HCMC.

Anyone who is familiar with the Vietnamese War history should know bout the subterranean VietCom tunnels, spanning thousands and thousands of miles beneath, even reaching the borders Laos and Cambodia. What amazed us is that the Vietnamese people dug the tunnels with such primitive tools and even with their bare hands, until they could build up such a formidable tunnel system and turned the tide in the Vietnamese War! With these underground tunnels (around 6 feet underground), they could elude the American GIs and the bombers, as well as surprise their enemies with guerrilla war tactice! 

On arrival of the Cu Chi tunnels, we were not alone. There were zounds of tourists everywhere! Our tour guide was an elderly gentleman in his 60s, whom claimed to have served in the war. And his vivid description of the tunnels reanimated our imaginations so well, that we felt like we were in the war itself! 

We were shown the various primordial but effective booby traps that the Vietnamese innovated to protect themselves in the tunnels. Fatal traps that kill you slowly and painfully. The authentic tunnels were only like 3 feet wide (just nice for the petite Vietnamese people); no wonder the Americans can't touch them since they can't even reach them!

We were also allowed to visit the tunnels (which had already been enlarged to 5 feet wide to fit in Westerners) and experience it. Damn it was totally claustraphobic inside there, especially for someone my height! I actually wanted to try their entire trail (100 meters) but I got lost and came out from the 60 meters exit! Too bad! What was impressive that there were 2 angmoh senior citizens who completed the entire 100 meters!

By late morning, we left the Cu Chi tunnels and headed for HCMC. I did not join the full day trip which included the Cao Dai temple visit as I felt it would not be that interesting anyway. We arrived in HCMC around lunch, and I set out for Cholon, a.k.a. HCMC's Chinatown.

I initially thought it was just a crow's flight from my hotel to Cholon, and it turned out that I had walked 6km! Damn! Cholon in the daytime wasn't that fascinating, as I realized later, since you can only visit the few temples there. It is somehow ironic, that the Chinese in Vietnam maintained these temples so well but then could not speak a word of Mandarin at all! How disappointing!

The market was even disappointing. I felt like entering a den of thieves; it was gloomy and creepy and yet so busy with the trade going on! And there were nothing much to see; it was just an ordinary marketplace where they sell everything, just like the ones we have in Malaysia. Maybe to the foreigners it would seem fascinating, perhaps. 

I took a cab back to my hotel, since I was never going to take another 6km walk again! That night I went out with a new Vietnamese friend whom took me for a spin in HCMC on his motorbike. It was a totally different experience when you visit non-touristy places of a foreign city where you really see how the local people lead their lives; and HCMC is just like any other capitalistic cities in the world, where you see apartments and condominiums, restaurants and cafes, cinemas, and discos and pubs and everything else you can think of.

I reached my hotel pretty late, as I started planning my last day in HCMC, and Vietnam. 24 hours more in this amazing country, and yet so many things to do and see!