Travelling Trio

Mekong Delta and Cu Chi Tunnels

• By Denise
• September 6, 2015
• 5 Comments

Mekong Delta

Travelling from Saigon out into the countryside it was evident there was so much more to Vietnam. After some four hours we came to the city of Can Tho and parked up for a free night. We stumbled across a cute little restaurant which appeared to have been around during the War as it said it had been around since the early 60’s. The food was brilliant and a good cross section for tourists wanting a taste of their own food preferences or those wanting to eat vietnamese. The city was covered in neon lights and the Council or similar has erected large lights covering the streets which sets off a carnival atmosphere.

At the crack of dawn we were off to the markets. This meant travelling further inland by bus,further into the Delta and into a small boat on the river with time to experience the early morning fruit and vegetable and meat market. It is quite something – to watch and listen and experience life on the Delta. Here are some of the photos we took.

Little boy selling his produce

Just a small number of the boats selling their produces.

After the Delta it was off to other places for more experiences such as: holding the snake! Which one of us is more scared?

Denise – very brave!

Dave – being brave but not so keen!

Then off to see how rice noodles and wrappers are made. This is the process: Add rice flour to tapioca – mix with water to a thin soup like consistency. Have someone pour the mixture onto hot pan – steam the circular wrapper – scrape off and put onto drying mats – after certain timeframe put wrappers into noodle making machine – tie up and put into bags for sale. Easy ay!

After a big day with loads of new adventures it was time to head back to Saigon – or Ho Chi Minh City as the government would like you to call it. All the locals still call the city Saigon. Back to the city of Scooters!!! Apparently there are between 7-10 million people (two different guides giving us this information) living in Saigon and about 5million scooters!

Cu Chi Tunnels
Wednesday 26 August

On our way to Cu Chi we passed through acres and acres of farm land – most being utilised as rice paddy fields although some just pure wasteland. It became apparent to me that as we moved farther from the City the size of buildings and areas became wider – this means the road side markets were bigger than their city counterparts. I also saw more industrial type street vendors such as furniture, cane baskets, garden supplies, steel and bricks and for the first time I saw a number of cemeteries. As we travelled closer to Cu Chi the roads became more narrow – our bus having to stop many times on the side of the road until another on-coming truck or vehicle had passed.

A stop at an Agent Orange factory highlighted just what people can do when they are trained in a particular skill when no-one else will employ them.. Only victims of Agent Orange attacks are employed by the factories and they give each person a job individually suited to them. They use egg shells and carefully stick them to an etched picture – they then colour and lacquer the painting so that the surface is smooth. The result is impressive and I said to Dave that if we come back to Vietnam I would like to purchase a tray or similar. I am not able to carry this around for the next year so I just have to make a note for my return.   Photos were not allowed.

The Cu Chi Tunnels were both scary and fantastic at the same time. Dave and I managed to navigate just the first section of one of the tunnels (we came out sweating just after that short distance) while Carter travelled the whole way – crawling at times. The tunnels were about 100cm high and about 70cm wide which meant we were bent over and trying to walk hunched over as best we could although as the tunnels go further in Carter was able to tell us they became tighter so that he was crawling. It was both hot and sticky under the ground and we were just in the 3m deep tunnel. The tunnels were built at different levels with the deepest being 12m – we just cannot quite comprehend anyone staying in these tunnels for any period of time – let alone the time the Vietcong did during the War.

Can you see the secret tunnel?

Here it is – this is a typical hiding hole for vietcong – brilliant!!

Our guide was able to take us through some of the traps the Vietcong used in their fight against the Americans and I can tell you these would have been both a painful and an excruciatingly slow death. The use of the bamboo stick sharpened to a point was a popular tool and formed part of a lot of their traps. Likewise long nails with a barb like end, nailed through wood so that if triggered the nail would pierce your body and not come out.

Just one of the different traps used – unknowingly step on a trap door and fall straight onto the sharp bamboo shoots!

We also got to see the rice paper wrappers being made – this time it was the spring roll wrappers which again give me a much better understanding and appreciation as to what it takes to make these. Next time I have a spring roll I will savour it and think about the person and people involved in making the wrapper.

Our trip to Cu Chi was a mere $US6 each and coupled with the $US4 entry fee was too cheap – the experience for all of us was invaluable.