Day 30 - We had a 08:00 bus for the Cu Chi tunnels so an early breakfast and then we were picked up at the hotel to go to the bus around the corner. It was about 1.5 hours out to Cu Chi for which 'Jay Jay', our guide gave us a talk about the war which was very biased against the Americans but quite interesting, he was a bit of a character. Arriving at the tunnels, we first watched a short video and had another talk from Jay Jay about what we will see. We were shown some of the booby traps that were used, and a lot of tunnel entrances, most of which I would not have got in! There was an opportunity to shoot guns such AK47's or larger machine guns but we didn't as it was both expensive and we felt a bit wrong at the actual place where battles took place.
The main event was when 90% of our group entered a 100m stretch of tunnel which was really hot sweaty work and claustrophobic. The tunnel was about 2.5' in height, maybe 2' wide and was from 6m to 12m deep underground. You had to either go on your hands and knees or just stooped over which made the thighs burn. As all of us emerged from the tunnel, the majority were caked in sweat with jelly legs!
Leaving the tunnels, we headed back to Ho Chi Minh City via the War Remnants Museum to drop some people off. Once back in HCMC we went straight to the hotel to have a shower as we both had dirt and sweat all over us from the tunnels. Quick bite to eat at Wrap & Roll and then to a coffee shop to buy some ground coffee and of course have a drink and some cake! Back to the hotel to check flights, pack a little bit and get ready for dinner. We walked up to Ngon which is a posh street food place similar to one of our favourites places in Hanoi from the 2011 trip. On route we had stopped at the Barbecue Garden restaurant for a drink as Jay Jay had recommended it and we decided we would go for dinner there tomorrow. A great meal and another beer to tick off, Sapparo (Japanese). Although we ordered 4 dishes we had no idea which was which a it came out at different times and we'd forgotten what we had ordered! A bit of a walk back to the hotel with no stops as Alice was feeling the affects of the tunnels in her legs. Another early night as its our last day tomorrow and we have quite a bit planned. Could be a long day as well as our flight is not until 00:40.