Day 253- The bus arrived around 5am and without fail a man with a card popped up and offered us a room so we went a long to see it and bargained him down to a good price. With it being so early we caught a few hours sleep and by 9 we were ready to start our explorations. We found breakfast at a street stall selling pork baguettes and we bought the biggest fruit shakes ever. We set off looking for one of the many markets and came across Tran Nguyen Hai statue and behind it we found Ben Thanh Market. It was almost split in half with one section full of local goods such as food, clothes and home-ware and the other pretty much designated for tourists selling trinkets, souvenirs and lots of clothes. We browsed around and I tried a few T-shirts on but the sizing was ridiculous so I left it. We walked on and through the posh Dong Khoi area where we rubbed our noses on the windows of fancy shops until we found Notre Dam Cathedral. It wasn't quite as magnificent as the original but still a worthwhile stop. Unfortunately it wasn't open to the public and it started to rain so moved on faster toward the War Remnant Museum. We heard great reviews about it and after paying in we strolled around the many historic airplanes, helicopters and tanks. The museum was laid out over three floors, the first was dedicated to an account of the support shown from around the world to stop the war in Vietnam. Upstairs was a really good story of the history of the Vietnam war and an exhibit on Agent Orange. Agent orange was one of many defoliant chemicals known as dioxins that were sprayed over the jungles of Vietnam to reduce the amount of hiding cover for North Vietnamese. However not only did this destroy jungles but also human lives. It was manufactured by US pharmaceutical companies and they knew fine well the effect it had on humans and that it was a deadly carcinogenic (Cancer initiating chemical) sprayed nation-wide over Vietnam. Yet they still produced and sold the dioxins knowing civilians were been harmed. For years after and generations later up until today babies are born with tumours and bone and limb deformities. This was just one of the many horrific war crimes against humanity that was carried out by the US during the war. Other exhibits included a photography room from all different nations including Vietnam, USA, UK and France, etc. It was a really tragic war that killed upwards of 2 million people and the documentation of it in the museum was really moving and actually quite brutal. We spent a few hours in the museum then managed to find a Bun Chao restaurant, our favourite Vietnamese food, a speciality of Hanoi. We had a long walk back to the hotel and filled in the diary then getting some simple fried rice and noodles for tea.

Day 254- We were booked onto a bus that would take us to the famous Cu Chi tunnels in the morning so we made sure we got up early for our baguette and shakes. By 8am the bus was on its way and after 30 minutes it had stopped at a very busy lacquerware workhouse and shop. All the workers were people affected by Agent Orange and it was great to see them employed and earning a wage. We looked around and marvelled at some amazing work but we already had our laquerware from Burma so jumped back on the bus. In no time at all we were at the tunnels complex and first of all we watched a short video giving us an insight to the history of the people who had lived in the tunnels. Our guide then explained to us some more of the history of the area and the people that lived there and that had to create the tunnels and live in them for 8 years. They had a tough and exhausting time through the war, constantly fighting against South Vietnamese and US troops all whilst managing 'normal' lives and sending their kids to schools and farming the land for food. They were pretty much living in a battleground and they had to learn fast, how to deal with the intruders. Our guide showed us some of the many traps set for the enemy, many of them resembling animal traps and barbaric trapdoors in the floor filled with bamboo spikes. Some of them really were quite ingenious and their resilience was simply unquestionable. We went for a 20 metre crawl through the tunnels and it was far worse than the Vinh Moc tunnels next to Hue in the DMZ, the fact they lived in them for 8 years is remarkable. They never surrendered in that 8 years and kept their stronghold, fighting 'till the last man, their traps and strategies becoming more dangerous. It seems it paid off in the end as the Americans finally pulled out however the sum of fatalities was huge and again Agent Orange and other chemicals are still causing premature deaths and babies are born with disabilities today. It was a great tour and an interesting end to our journey through the history of the Vietnam War and the atrocities carried out by the USA. What was worse was the war was fought in vain for the USA as they pulled out not even accomplishing their aim of stopping communism and even though they admit the war was a mistake, justice will never be served. The rest of the day we spent by treating ourselves to an amazing ice-cream sundae and finishing up on some of the blog. We went back to the same stall for food as the whole area was packed with expensive tourist joints and the little lady was ecstatic to see us back. I have never had my back and shoulders patted and grabbed so much in my life as I browsed the menu. We headed back to pack our bags and to get ready to leave wonderful Vietnam.