Saigon

Saigon was more like hanging out with Uyen than being a tourist. I did get to the War Remnants museum - pretty graphic portrayal of what went on during the war and how the people, generally civilians suffered, the Re-unification palace - which is basically as it was when the Americans pulled out in 1975 and the Cu Chi tunnels - these are the tunnels the VC muilt and lived in during the war. There were 13 of us on that tour. Our Guide was a veteran - from the US side, the whole things was pretty touristy, but still interesting. We got to travel through the tunnels, which I expect have been widened to accommodate larger tourist. It was 100 m under ground in total and we had a guide to show us through. Unfortunately the first people to enter freaked out. The woman was yelling that she wanted to turn around and get out - not an option - she the realised she would have to go to the first exit, but had lost the guide and didnt want to go further ahead as she said it was a dead end. Crouching in the tunnel trying to convince her that there was only way out and that was ahead of her was an interesting experience. Finally she made it to the first exit. The other couple ahead of me also decided to get out there. The lighting wasnt great and as the guide had disappeared I had to keep taking photos so the flash would light up the path. The tunnel also become very narrow at one point and I was crawling through. Eventually I made it to the other end of the tunnel. As I emerged from the tunnel there was applause for us, only three of us made it. I hadnt realised everyone else had given up.

Aside from my brief expeditions as a tourist I spent the rest of the time hanging out with Uyen and her friends and watching the football.... which was great until the last 15 sec..... Oh well next time, still very proud of the boys!