Scooters, everywhere.

Oh Vietnam, what a change just as we cross the border. Leaving the smiles of Cambodia for Vietnam is quite the transition. While in other countries in Asia, the scams and bartering are all done with a certain amount of cheeky attitude and a smile that makes bartering fun, and looking out for being over charged a bit more of a joke. This is not the case in Vietnam. Walking the streets of Saigon is a test of patience. At every corner there are taxis with meters that spin at 10 times the normal rate, there are opportunistic scooter drivers that look for any opportunity for a fast drive by to snatch electronics out of unsuspecting tourists hands and more than one’s fairshare of people trying to hustle you in the 20th restaurant of the day. This is, at least, the big city scene of Vietnam. I’ve been here only hours, and I am ready to get out, but then again this is the case just about anytime I find myself in a big city. We got to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in the afternoon and spent the evening walking around the different restaurants and bars and then actually met up with some of our friends from Aspen who were in town as well. After dinner we went on our mission to find the Boston Bar as we heard we could watch the Broncos play there.

Rooting for our team until 7 in the morning.

The next day after sleeping part of the morning we headed to the War Museum. The War Museum is a hard place to walk through from an emotional standpoint. It only begins to show the extent of how bad our Agent Orange was and the lasting effects it still has on new born generations in Southeast Asia. The birth defects and physical deformities that are a direct result of the chemicals we used are truly hard to see. It is also interested to see a Vietnamese perspective on the war instead of the censored versions we can read about in our own history books. To this day the United States is still spending Millions of dollars to clean up some of the former storage places for Agent Orange, though it hardly makes up for the genetic defects that are still present.

An old Chinook in front of the War Museum.

After the War Museum we headed back downtown and walked around a bit more, and enjoying the street food scene, and got ourselves signed up for a trip to the Củ Chi tunnels. We both hate being part of big tour groups, but it seemed the easiest and most affordable way to go see the tunnels that were a big contribution to the Vietnamese victory in the War. The next morning we hopped on a bus with a bunch of other Westerners to go check out the maze of tunnels.

Busses on Busses on Busses transporting tour groups all over Ho Chi Minh City.

About an hour by bus from the center of Saigon we arrive at the Củ Chi tunnels. More history on these and their significance in war time can be found here.

The Viet Kong used many booby traps during the war. This Trap door would flip open and drop the unsuspecting into some sort of trap.

An example of what might await you at the bottom of the fall. The Viet Kong would put human feces on the ends of the stakes to ensure infection for anyone unlucky enough to be stabbed by them.

We were all given the chance to see what one of the original entrances looked and felt like. I barely fit diagonally.

The westernized version. I still felt fairly claustrophobic in here, and trying to imagine these tunnels being significantly smaller is mind blowing.

Exiting…finally.

That evening we caught a flight up to Da Nang to go visit Hội An.