Date: 6th June 2011

Place: Ho Chi Minh City

Weather: really hot and sunny

Today we were going on a trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels and were getting picked up at 8am. We woke up a bit too late though and were in a major rush to get our free breakfast that we weren't going to waste! So I went down with Aoife to just get us all some baguettes to take with us. The woman only bought us 2 though and when we asked for some for the others she told us to go away! But then when we had gone and were back at the guesthouse she came running over with the baguettes in a bag with cheese and bits and said 'you forgot your food!'. I swear she has bipolar!

Half way through the bus journey to the tunnels we stopped at a craft place where they made really nice pictures and bits out of egg shell! It was really impressive and they had a huge shop with really nice things in it. I was tempted to buy a jewellery box but there is no way I want to carry that around for another 3 months!

When we finally got to the cu chi tunnels we watched a film explaining a bit about them. There was actually a young girl who was famous for fighting and named a hero for killing a lot of Americans. I think she was only around 13. After the film we were shown an entrance to the tunnels which was the smallest hole ever. You had to put your arms above your head to fit through and people kept getting stuck when they tried to get out. I didn't go in because there was no way I was risking trying to get my bum back out.

We looked in a few different entrances and they all looked really tiny; the tunnels were so small you couldn't stand up in them at all, and the entrances were bigger than further in. They showed us some of the traps the Vietnamese set to catch the Americans and they were really clever but deadly! For example, there were lots which were holes in the floor that they covered by leaves or something and when you stepped on it there were spikes that would pierce some part of your body.

After looking at all the traps we stopped next to the firing range to get some drinks and food if we wanted. Carm wanted to fire a machine gun but then decided not to. Once we had finished there we went to an entrance of a tunnel that we were allowed to walk through. I went down the first two steps of stairs just to get to the actual entrance. Then I saw another set of stairs, panicked and ran out. There was no way I could handle walking through there knowing I couldn't get out because theres people in front and behind you. The other girls went through but got out just before they got to the bit where you literally have to crawl. Apparently it was horrible in there and they all panicked a bit.

On the way back to the city we stopped off at a shop that gave us free samples of loads of sweet type things. They then almost demanded we buy things because we had tried the free samples. I just made the most of them and then got on the bus quickly before they started shouting. Vietnamese can get quite aggressive.

We got dropped off at the war museum which is full of pictures of people who were injured or killed by the Americans. It was so upsetting seeing what happened to people because of the agent orange attacks. There were even a couple of deformed foetuses in a container. The Americans apparently went right against war rules and killed about 2,000,000 people I think it was, but this museum was extremely anti American so some things could be exaggerated.

Once we found our way back to the guesthouse we got ready for dinner. The girls went earlier than us because they were catching a bus. Carm and I were going for dinner with 3 South African people and a Dutch. As we went down through reception we passed the girls and said our goodbyes. Hopefully we will see them again through Vietnam or if not I will visit them in Darwin.

After we had dinner we went to a place that the South African, Bryce, knew about. It does 5000 dong beer which is about 15p. We sat there all night whilst being given free food like ice cream, peanuts, oreos and fruit; playing card games; and teasing Thomas the dutch guy about how he has to live up to all the dutch guys we knew, especially Neils because he was already pretty similar. Everything he did Neils did better according to us J.

Once we had finished at the 5000dong bar we went down to Go2 bar to play pool but not to buy drinks because they were way too expensive! There was flour there to put on your hands or something but we just ended up having flour fights. At first we thought we had annoyed the people who worked there but then they started putting it all over me! I had a little flour moustache for ages after that!