OK, so the map says (and the official Communist position is) that it's Ho Chi Minh City, but just about everyone here says its still Saigon, so when in Rome....

Todays main plan was to take part in an all-day trip by bus to the Cu Chi tunnels and the Cao Dai temple, about 2-3 hours away. The temple is a max of 105km from the city, but a maximum speed outside towns of 70 km/hr and inside of 40 km/hr makes it a bit of a trek. Actually it would be ridiculous to have higher speed limits given the way the traffic works here.

Anyway we left at 8:00 am and returned at 6:30 pm, mainly because our rentering the city proper this afternoon coincided nicely with peak hour traffic, so 40 km/hr was a dream unattainable. We thought it had been busy the last two days, but that of course was the weekend. The number of motorbikes that hit the road during the week is mind-boggling, as is the recently learned fact that only 900 people a year are killed in traffic accidents in Saigon. We have been getting a bit cocky about how good we are at getting accross the roads, so this is a reminder we had better keep being careful. I can attest first hand that the buses will not slow down. If I hadn't run out of the way last night I would have been squashed. Literally. Fair enough you might say - but I was on a pedestrian crossing. I don't know why they wasted the white paint!

Anyway today was enjoyed by us all. While the spirituality of the Cao Dai religious mass didn't really touch us with all th flashlights going off it was an interesting insight into this unusual religion. Apparently the doctrines are an amalgamation of seven different religions, but its mainly based on bhuddism and includes parts of confucianism, islam and Catholocism. Sounds like an ideal model for how these religins might get along, but judging from the state of disrepair of a number of the buildings it doesn't look like a religion that is in a growth period. That notwithstnding, the buildings and grounds that are being maintained represent a unique and spectacular architecture. Hopefully a couple of our photos do parts of that some justice - I didn't bother with the bits in disrepair. I was particularly chuffed with the photo I have used to mark this blog, and the one of the three pagodas.

From the temple we travelled to the Cu Chi tunnels, which are a maze of tunnels over 200km long that the Viet Cong based their offensive from about 60 km from Saigon. This was an amazing insight into the determintion of the communist reunification forces to kill and maim as many Americans as possible. They lived in these airless rat-runs for extended periods only surfacing to set boobytraps and otherwise wage war on the South Vietnamese troops and their allies. The demostrations of the man traps they set was particularly chilling with a variety from your basic pit filled with bamboo spikes to cleverly hinged and operated devices designed to impale various parts of the enemy combatants.

Our insight was greatly enhanced by our guide. Throughout the trip he maintained a very even and factual approach to the whole saga of the Vietnam war and the history that lead up to and followed it, but I had a feeling that his involvement had been more personal. It turned out he had been an interpreter working for the US forces in spotting the VC, which as we all know looked just like the peasants that lived in the region. For his efforts, following the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam war, he spent 30 months in a re-education centre (read prison), learning the error of his ways (read being brainwashed and otherwise mistreated). His admiration of the resourcefulness and persistance of the old enemy was evident in his presentation though. And there was one twist, he also mentioned in passing that some of those interpreters working with the yanks were actually VC spies. he said this befor he finally let on he was an interpreter himself, so I have a nagging question in my mind.

I must admit however that it was hard work sometimes following the patter of Hai (our guide), at one stage he explained that the current export value of "bifarsheoles" is $2 billion US, which promptem me toa ask Janie "Did he just say they make $2 billionthrough exportin beef a*******s? I knew they were resouceful people who don't waste any part of the animal, but that is some feat". It turned out he was talking about pistachios. My poor jokes aside he did have a very wry sense of humour all his own and I wish I could have talked to him.

Tomorrow was going to be a boat ride down the Mekong, but it also involves another long bus trip and we may not get back in time for our Intrepid briefing. Given we will be departing for a seven hour bust trip into Cambodia the day after we have rethought the wisdom of three days bussing in a row. So tomorrow will be more local sight seeing and further combating the traffic. Wish us luck as I desperately have to hit the sack (it is now 11 pm local time).