I started off on my adventures in Vietnam by taking a local bus to the Cu Chi tunnels. I met two Americans on the bus and had some good conversations. If was funny that they were Americans, but I’ll get to that soon. We had some good fun at a restaurant there. They had a Vietnamese friend with them which was so helpful when order food! I talked with him and got to learn a little about him and his culture, but the language barrier made it hard. The first sight was a temple honoring the fallen Vietnamese troops. The photos of inside the temple show small inscriptions all a crossed the walls. These are the names of the soldiers who died for their country, Vietnam.
One of the American guys was pretty into shooting. We had been in some national clay pigeon shooting competitions so he really geeked out over seeing some American Helicopters and tanks at the tunnels. There was also a shooting range and paintball games at the tunnels. He was pumped and was going to take some shots, but they happened to be out of bullets.
It was very cool to be able to crawl through the tunnels that the Vietcong had used against the US military. It was incredible to see the way they had to live during the war. The photo to the side shows an underground military meeting room also used for meals. I struggled to get through the tunnels and most of them had even been widen for the sake of tourists. Before the tour they had a video for us to watch. It was in black and white narrated by a Vietnamese women. The video was obviously pro-Vietcong and she was quoted saying, “American killer hero” several times. That’s when the other Americans I was with nudged each other. It was an awesome experience to see the perception of the actual people living there. Learned a lot more than I could ever learn in a history lesson!
This is a photo of some Pho. Pho is probably the most famous Vietnamese dish and this bowl here was absolutely delicious. It was near my hostel and I had noticed each time I passed that it was always busy. Seeing that I decided to eat here one night. It was so busy that I shared a table with three Chinese visitors who spoke no English. Despite no spoken words they taught me how to use chopsticks to enjoy my Pho the “proper way.” They used their phone translator to invite me to China to work on my chopstick skills more extensively.
My last night in Vietnam did not go as planned. I explored the nightlife as you can see in the videos above is quite wild! It was a lot of fun! Then I went to sign into my hostel. I had booked the hostel online and when I showed up the lady told me they were overbooked and my room had been given away. So I sat down to use their WiFi to figure out another plan. She came back over to me and told me that did actually indeed have a room! Then 10 minutes later she came back again to tell me that actually didn’t. It was roughly 11pm so I decided I might as well just leave the country after this.
I came up to a tour company just in time to book a ticket on a night sleeper bus headed to Cambodia that night at 12pm. So I got all my paperwork done and when it came time to pay I didn’t have enough for both the bus ticket and the visa. Of course the closet ATM didn’t work… I had to ask a Brit on the bus trip if he could spot me the money and I would pay him back when we were in Cambodia. Luckily, he was a nice guy and he spotted me. However, on the bus the driver insisted that we sleep two to a bed even though there was probably about have of the bus unoccupied. So I had to sleep with a guy, who I believe was from India, in this cramped space. I slept next to the window and he had the outside. Once we started moving I assumed he would move, but I couldn’t convince him. So my new pal and I got real close that night. The bus WiFi and power outlets didn’t work either. So I am left picture-less from this eventful night!
Next stop Cambodian adventures!