Vietnam continued

Hi again!

So to continue, I thought after drinking out on the town for the first three nights I should go and do something. First I decided to check out the Cu Chi tunnels from the Vietnam War, plus I found out you can shoot some automatic weapons

So we were picked up by SlimJim who was a crack-up. He was named SlimJim because he eats like a bird but drinks like a fish he told us. He had so many sayings of Australia where he had learnt a lot of our slang. It took a while to get there, but when there SlimJim took us through the jungle paths showing us traps that the VC used, explaining that they were not that effective except for psychological warfare. The tunnels that were used are incredibly small, here is a picture Here is an original trench used in the war Can you see something suspicious here? How about now?
Why is it that as soon as you hold a gun you become a posing douche? ...I mean RAMBO!
Into the tunnel I head... and ever deeper So Marc, my mate from the Netherlands was the one with me. We convinced a girl that was worried about doing the tunnel crawl to come in with us, and it'd be ok...which made it all the more difficult to make the decision to ditch her on the first exit :p The tunnel was really short and well I'm tall and it's much the same for the rest of it I was sure. So Marc and I jump out giggling because we have decided to come back in at the last exit to make it look like we did it all. So we run out and then run back in further up to another tunnel entrance. It's pitch black entering back in, but with the noise we are making we hear a "Is that you guys?" from down the tunnel (I'm impressed with her speed). We enter in giggling and I get stuck with my backpack for a moment causing a jam, with the poor girl at the end behind us haha Well in the end we exited with the applause of our tour group, it seems that they all left and didn't finish. So in the end the only person who really did do the whole length was the girl who didn't want to do it in the first place! Haha

After this we were rewarded with something like a potato, I tried my food photography at the end we were taken to watch a video. It was pretty funny, made in the time of the war it was very much propaganda. Referring to the U.S. as demons and such and how this guy or that girl won the award for killing Americans etc.. here's us watching it Here are some pics from the drive back

The next trip was to the Mekong Delta. I really felt that even though I had heard mixed reviews I needed to do this, and I convinced Mallory with this idea also. The bus trip was going to be three hours or so with an early start. I would love to say that I slept these hours but I seem never to be able to sleep other than in a bed...I get close, but never asleep. It is VERY annoying.

We opted for the day trip which meant that we would not be able to see the big floating market, only the "other" one. I was a bit upset with this as I had really wanted to see the teeming market like in the pictures etc. Here are some pictures of the market which really is just a few boats that had food on them going up and down the river... I did see some bartering and exchanges so I guess technically they can call it a market...maybe.

Mekong Delta 100

I'm not sure if this is her wardrobe or if they are for sale... The river is quite busy though, people are in and out all over the shore
After a time we reach our first stop which is the coconut place, they make all kinds of things out of it but mostly coconut candy. There are also gift shops at every stop trying to sell you crap. They also have a home distillery for some reason, so we all get a shot (It's harsh). The next stop is the honey place, they have two big boas and give us honey tea then try to get us to buy some. Here are the bee's... .

Next, they take us to be rowed on a small boat down to where we will have lunch. (Here they are waiting for us) The lady that ends up rowing us makes sighing sounds all the way there, ever increasing the closer we get to our drop off point (We were told we can tip them before getting in and I assume they know this), I somehow get fooled and tip. Surprise, surprise, there is a lady selling soft drink and beer at the stop... I spy a flute and ask how much, expecting some stupid price, but it's only a dollar. Much to the disappointment of those around me, I now have a Mekong Delta bamboo flute! So we head off to lunch, then a boat trip and another bus back to the hostel. Here are some other pics from the trip... check out the load of grain this boat is carrying! The petrol station I bought some 'Top Gun' sunnies! haha It's like they all have cable?!

So I've booked my ticket for Loas, staying in Hanoi atm. Tomorrow I'm gonna try and see Ho Chi Minh himself, it's supposed to be crazy like...so, wish me luck!

S.