Cu Chi Tunnels

DAY 5 - 1/05 (Labour Day)

 As it was a public holiday we decided to also have a rest day with our fellow Vietnamese hosts. We had a picnic brunch in the park where we got our normal pick-up line by one of the local uni students, "Can I sit and talk with you to improve my English?" We made sure that we also got something out of the deal and used this time to increase our Vietnamese vocab. Word of the day, "Mac Qua" which means too expensive - a word that has proved to be very useful in our negotiations!

Jam session in the dorm: Emily on ukulele, Maude and Laurenz on harmonica, Joy and Roxy on vocals (unfortunately)

 Later on we hit the town and went to a Salsa Bar where live music was performed by local artists. Mainly Western favourites with a Vietnamese interpretation. Then we hit a dance club where we met two South African brothers and danced to classics like the Macarena until 5am.

Note: This was especially a bad life choice as we had to wake up at 7 for our pre-organised Cu Chi Tunnels Day trip...

DAY 6 - 02/05

CU CHI TUNNELS

 

During our hour and a half bus drive to Cu Chi, we stopped off at and art workshop for the disabled. A friendly lady even took the risk and offered to teach us how to work the egg shells into the painting...her part of the process normally takes 3 weeks to complete one piece like the one above.

Just arrived at Cu Chi Tunnels with our "Tour Guide Tony" who actually fought as a Vietcong soldier in the Vietnam War and had many interesting insider stories to share

Monkeys see...

...and Monkeys...

...do!

Peeping into the tunnels that were too small for 'weightier Westerner' tourists to officially explore

Spot the tourist

Down she goes into the claustrophobic, dark tunnels. Only about a meter high.

It's getting hot in here - probably the reason why a third of our group couldn't handle the heat and had to turn back

Survivors - See, even the broad-shouldered German, Alex, managed to squeeze through the small crawl space