Day two of Ho Chi Minh City and we had a new tour guide, Khong, a new bus, with mosquitos, and a new destination, the Cu Chi Tunnels. The tunnels are a small part of a very large tunnel network used by the Viet Cong to reinforce, live, re-supply, communicate and move about in during the Vietnam War conflict. Of all the tunnels, only two sections were turned into tourist sites, we visited the Ben Dinh Tunnels.
Taking over two hours, because of city traffic, rush hour, we arrived at the tunnels. Our very animated guide Khong walked us around the site, showing us the tiny tunnel entrances, some of the war machines, rubber sandals and also gave us the chance to walk through the tunnels at varying distances. John did the full section with his tiny little legs, I couldn't manage more than 25m with my ridiculously long legs.
The complex also had a souvenir shop, drinks, a shooting range with the chance to shoot AK47s and M60 machine guns.
After the tunnel complex, we piled back into the bus and as we returned to the hotel it started raining, to catch up on all the good weather we had. John and I went to the French Quarter, took some photos, got lost, looked for a lunch spot, got lost again, had lunch at a restaurant two doors down from the Hotel. It was a bit of a fail, but the food was so good at the Secret House, that we went back for dinner the next day.
We popped into a local clothing, trinkets and food market but didn't end up buying anything. Tonight we were to say goodbye to our Vietnam-only and welcome our Cambodia-only members.
In the evening we met the new members of our group, one of which included Martin, the German giant. Old, existing and new members of the group joined for one last dinner together before some drinks that evening at the Donkey Bar.
The next day, Bamboo had planned for a us a series of boat trips through the Mekong Delta to visit some islands, villages and markets.
We set off from the My Tho cruise terminal and departed to our first island at Unicorn Island where we were shown a selection of fruits and allowed to flavour each one to some local vocal and instrumental songs.
A short walk looping around the island brought us to some raw chocolate tasting followed by honey tasting and hanging out with some bees.
Back onto our motorboat, we made our way past the other three islands, Dragon Island, Phoenix Island and Turtle Island. I was given these names by the tourist map given to us, and having looked at the actual map I am a little suspicious about the legitimacy of the island names.
Either way, we landed on the southern shore of the Mekong River and continued down river on a rowing boat. We passed some locals on this lazy river before exiting and continuing in a team tuk-tuk.
The tuk-tuk dropped us off near the shore at the candy factory, where we watched some coconut sweets being made and sampled some coconut & peanut sweets. Bought a bunch too, and though delicious, they are nigh on impossible to unwrap. A short walk away was our lunch spot, Nhà hàng Sông Nước Miền Tây, where I had one of many rice in coconut shell dishes I had on my trip.
After lunch we hopped on our motorboat, crossed the choppy brown Mekong River, returned to the northern shore and then dropped off at the hotel in Ho Chi Minh City shortly after. It's definitely the first time I've been on a bus that's used the pavement to skip congested traffic.
Last on our itinerary was the Sky Deck observation deck in the Bitexco Financial Tower. The tower itself reminds me of the Avengers Tower with the stick out lip/helicopter pad. The observation deck cost VND200,000 to visit and was unfortunately entirely enclosed. A 360 degree view was spectacular but internal reflections on the glass windows ruined most of my photos. It was interesting to see how the skyline had changed from photos on show. One skyscraper in particular, incredibly bold on the skyline had clearly been abandoned and given up on.
We even grabbed a couple of roof top photos from the hotel on the way back.
Bitexco on the left
Towards the evening I ditched the camera and we joined the rest of the group at the Chill Sky Bar. With a view on par with the sky deck, but with a bar and on a balcony, it was a little more impressive. The downside though is that the cocktails cost more than the skydeck entry fee, and when it rains, it closes - and all you are left with is expensive cocktails.
