TK we set off early for the cu chi tunnels to avoid the tourist crowds. The drive took us through rubber plantations and orchid farms which had been created since all the vegetation had been destroyed by Agent Orange during the war. The tunnel network was built in the 1960s 30km north of Saigon by the Viet Cong and stretched over 200kms and went as far as the Cambodia border. We were taken around some tiny access points, traps and subterranean workshops, and it was incredible to see both how industrious they were and how their knowledge of the terrain gave them an advantage over the US soldiers. We were offered the opportunity to fire machine guns and assault rifles on a firing range, a few of the group did it, we watched as it felt a bit weird that a war zone had effectively been turned into a theme park. We then got to crawl through some of the tunnels which got steadily smaller and hotter the further we went, towards the end we were crawling on all fours! We were offered refreshments of steamed tapioca roots and tea, which was what the Viet Cong survived on. Then there was a slightly biased documentary about the jungle warfare. It was a great experience and we were very grateful for getting there when we did as it was heaving with tourists by the time we left. We did some shopping in the afternoon back in Saigon before meeting our new guide, who is Cambodian. We had a fun evening in town sampling local food, cooling down in an ice cream parlour and watching rehearsals for the New Year celebrations on a giant stage near our hotel. If the traffic and scooter mania is bad during the day, it gets worse in the evening, as everyone is out cruising round town, crossing the road is fun as nothing stops, they just slow down and swerve round you! The centre is probably the most modern, clean and wealthy of all the big cities we have visited, and it has a relentless energy.