Hi all,

It was going to be a whistle stop tour of Saigon. It takes 48hours on a bus to get to Hanoi where I really want to visit Halong Bay and Sapa before flying to Thailand on the 3rd of March. So as soon as we arrived it was to the museum's. We made our fist stop, to the Museum of Vietnamese History. Yes, it was as dull as it sounds so I will move on.

We decided to walk to the other side of the city for some more exercise and so it was nearly 2.30pm by the time we got to the War Remnants Museum. This was a excellent museum and there were hundreds and hundreds of photographs from the Vietnam war. It was so interesting and you could really appreciate the environment, conditions, cruelty, pain, struggle and sadness that both sides had to endure thoughout the war. A really hard hitting section of the museum was about the chemical warfare that the Americans decided to use and the affects on the people today. It was aweful and the chemical they used to destoy the jungle was called "Agent Orange'. There were lots of images of limbless children (having parents who had been intoxicated by the chemical, 'Agent Orange' in the war) and reading stories of brave reporters who had gone in to the war to get pictures for you and I to see - and been killed. I've taken a few shots of some of the displays in the museum, which have come out quite well - including the famous image 'The girl in the picture'. It was a really interesting museum which we spent a couple of hours looking around.

We then walked all the way back to our room and after covering what must have been a good few miles, were quite knackered. Good job there's a TV in the room again. It was up early in the morning as we've decided to do a tour of the Cu Chi War Tunnels.

A mini-bus finally arrived to collect us at around 9am (it should have been 8am!) and we began the journey to the Cu Chi Tunnels. After fighting through the people to buy our tickets, our guide escorted us down to a 'bunker' where we watched a video about the story of the Cu Chi Tunnel Network. The network stretches across many sites and the one that we visited was the Ben Dinh Tunnel. This lies 60km Northwest of Ho Chi Minh City and was hand-dug by the people. The tunnels are built on three levels and the whole network winds its way around to comprise 200km worth of underground territory. Unlike the Vin Moc Tunnels, these ones were primarily built for fighting and communication, rather than living.

We were guided around the site and were shown different areas, such as the 'hide-outs/ambush holes' (see me in the tight space in the ground) and an old military tank. The ambush holes were amzing. The guide was just walking through the foresty area and stopped, swept lots of leaves to one side with his foot and there it was. A tiny little ambush hole that was conected to the tunnels and the Viet Cong would just pop up and shoot the americans and disappear back into the tunnel network! I had to put my hands together above my head to get in an out of the hole it was that small.

We were also told how a large section of the tunnels were dug right under a US Army base and they didn't have a clue. Very clever, as there was no way that the US were going to bomb their own base! The Americans did bomb vast areas of land using Napalm Bombs, to try and collapse the tunnels. However, the Napalm Bombs exploded on the surface and produced a massive amount of heat which actually strengthened the clay walls of the tunnels. Later on in the war the Americans used different bombs with delayed explosions that penetrated the earth and collasped sections of the tunnels. The Viet Cong just kept on rebuilding the tunnel network...!

We also were shown the 'boobie traps' that the Viet Cong designed and used. It was frightening, for example the dog trap. The Americans used dogs to snif out the Vietnese and find out were the tunnels were etc etc. So to combat this the Viet Cong designed the dog trap. It was a large rectangular dug out hole with huge razor sharp bamboo spikes in the bottom of it. On the surface there was a trap door with a pivot in the middle of it and completely camoflaged by the jungle floor. The Vietnamese used to put out items in the middle of the trap as the dogs would snif it out on run to it. Bye bye - in the hole and impaled on the spikes. Apparently then onto the bbq but I'm not sure if that part is true.....! The Viet Cong seemed to be very adaptable and clever people.

Next was the weapons factory. Before the Ho Chi Minh trail was was built and the north Vietnamese could supply the Viet Cong with weapons via Loas and Cambodia etc. The Viet Cong would make weapons from what they found and stole off the Yanks. One unexploded B52 bomd would have enough explosive in it, to make 50 hand made bombs/mines.

We then took a break and had the opportunity to fire live ammunition from some war time guns. Some of them were absolutely huge and the noise that was coming from them was immense. We actually didn't have enough cash on us to do it, but I'm not too bothered as I had fired an AK47 in Cambodia.

Following the gun fire, it was time to make our way into the tunnels themselves. An area of one of the tunnels has been restored and been made passable for the modern tourist. Apparently they were smaller in the day, but even now, they only lie at 1.3m high and 70cm wide. There were dim lights leading the path, but even so, shuffling along whilst bent down in a crouched position, didn't make it the most pleasant of all journeys. This sectiion of tunnel ran for 100m, but the Viet Cong had exits/entances every 30m so you could get out after 30m if you wished.. Most people got out at the 30m mark.

The tour was really interesting and the guide was great, but unfortunately, by the end of it, there were about 30 people in the group. If it had been a bit smaller, the day would have been even more enjoyable. But, we learnt and saw what we'd wanted to, so all was good. I love this type of stuff!! We got back on the coach and by 2pm we were back in Saigon.

It was going to be a quiet night to prepare myself for the gruesome 24hr bus ride we had the next day. It'll be nice to stop off in Hoi An for the night - especially after being in a seated position for that long! The following day, we'll then get on another bus and travel for another 24hrs to arrive in Hanoi on 25th.

I'll update you from there, probably after we've been to Halong Bay.

Bye for now

Miffy x x x