Monday, March 11

We had a wake-up call at 6:00am in order to have breakfast and be ready to board the coach bus for the tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels.
En route, we learned that the population of Saigon is 13 million, with about 260 people per square mile. South Viet Nam has 2 seasons : Hot and Hotter, while North Viet Nam has 4 seasons. The country is 70% mountainous.

The tunnels of Củ Chi are an immense network of connecting tunnels located in the Củ Chi District of Ho Chi Minh City(Saigon), Vietnam, and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country. The Củ Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War, and were the Viet Cong's base of operations for the Tết Offensive in 1968. The 75-mile (121 km)-long complex of tunnels at Củ Chi has been preserved by the government of Vietnam,^[3] and turned into a war memorial park with two different tunnel display sites, Ben Dinh and Ben Duoc. The tunnels are a popular tourist attraction, and visitors are invited to crawl around in the safer parts of the tunnel system. The Ben Duoc site contains part of the original tunnel system, while the Ben Dinh site, closer to Saigon, has tunnel reconstructions and some tunnels have been made larger to accommodate tourists. In both sites low-power lights have been installed in the tunnels to make traveling through them easier, and both sites have displays of the different types of booby traps that were used.


Rosemarie & I went down into one tunnel to experience what it was like, and went about 40 feet. It was very small! We were glad to get out!  









Then we were back on the coach & went to Chateau Restaurant for lunch. 



















We were treated to beverage of coconut water in a coconut!  










Our next adventure was for dinner. We chose to do the Vespa Tour, which consisted of travelling (as a passenger, thank goodness) on a Vespa scooter around the city to visit a few restaurants for typical Vietnamese food.

We went for a wild ride thru the city to the first restaurant where we enjoyed crab legs, mussels, noodles and frogs legs (tastes like chicken).

 I had to hold on tightly while the driver scooted around the traffic!
Then it was off to the next stop, Banh Xeo, where we were treated to Vietnamese pancakes. They are huge, thin pancakes filled with noodles and vegetables.

At the last food stop, we made beef & vegetable rolls, wrapped in rice paper. What fun! We also had deep fried spring rolls.

We were back on the Vespas to end the evening at a Vietnamese coffee shop which included ice cream and entertainment.

Photos will be added later!