Saigon, Round Two

After we finished up our last Friday in Ben Tre, we jumped on a local minibus back to Saigon to meet up with our dear friend, Kate, who was flying in to travel with us for a few weeks in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Bangkok. This would be the first time we'd see a familiar face from home in four months, and to say that we were thrilled would be an understatement.

The minibus trip from the Delta back to Saigon was a real adventure. As thanks to us for our time in Ben Tre, the school had generously loaded us up with six HUGE boxes of coconut candy. We can only eat so much of it, so decided to share it with everyone on our bus. We didn't realize that this act of generosity looped us into the overall food exchange of the entire minibus. This was great when the grandma behind us gave us some sheets of fruit-rollup textured coconut sweets. It was not-so-ideal, though, when the vinegar-smelling, warm-fishy rolls were produced from the back seat. The grandma had been chowing down on them, when she passed some to us with an encouraging, toothless smile on her face, we couldn't say no. In truth? They were absolutely, hands-down, the most disgusting things we had ever eaten. Under her watchful eye, we (gaggingly) got down a few bites. I had to really take one for the team, because Catterson was turning green and couldn't go on. They smelled like rotten, sugared, vomitfish. That's the only way I can describe it. They were neon orange in color, and humidly sticky and warm to the touch. Just thinking about it makes me a little nauseous. Anyway, we rode along in the crazy Saigon-bound traffic, watching Vietnamese karaoke vids on the flip-down screen in the van, choking down chunks of rancid fish and coconut when dear old grannie began throwing up all over the van (right behind us.) The rest of the journey pretty much went on like this. The smells and sounds were overpowering. It was just one of those Travel Moments.

Arriving in Saigon, glad as heck to be out of that bus, we made our way to the guesthouse we had booked, Madame Cuc's 127. This guesthouse would turn out to be the best guesthouse we'd stay at in the whole of SE Asia. Madame Cuc's staff will go completely out of their way to make you feel at home. The price includes warmly made-up rooms, ensuite, breakfast, free fresh fruit juice all day, and some munchies for dinner. We arrived, vegged out for a few hours in front of the TV, and waited for our journey to the airport to pick up Kate. It was heaven.

When we got to the airport later that night, we met up with Kristy, a girl who works with Hong for the Degenhardt Foundation in Saigon. Kate was doing us a HUGE favor by bringing donated music stands from the U.S. for the Ben Tre and Danang music programs and Kristy was meeting us to pick up the stands. We had a nice coffee together and enjoyed hearing about Kristy's family in the U.S. and her experience growing up in Vietnam. Kate's flight got in around 11:00 PM and we saw her coming through to baggage pick up. We made a huge commotion, waving our arms and screaming her name (even though she probably couldn't hear us through the glass.) I'd like to think our display made her feel relieved instead of embarrassed

We had a million things to catch up on for that evening, and it just felt great to be with a familiar friend again and hear about home. We went to sleep really, really late that night and had a much-anticipated restful next morning before heading out to some of Saigon's sites and celebrating Catterson's 28th birthday!! the next day, November 10th. We followed a route recommended by, who else, Lonely Planet, visiting the famous Binh Thanh market, Reunification Palace, the War Remnants Museum, and some other historical buildings along the way. Saigon isn't extremely aesthetically pleasing, but it has a wonderful buzz to it, and the locals are very friendly. Here are some pictures from our first day as tourists in Saigon with Kate:

View from our balcony at Madame Cuc's Guesthouse

Reunification Palace from the outside

Interior of Reunification Palace

View of the beautiful Hotel de Ville, now a government building

Lonely Planet showing us the way...

Binh Thanh Market, Saigon

Meg and Kate in front of City Hall

Kate and Meg at the flashy icecream shop... New Zealand icecream!

The three of us in front of Reunification Palace

Catt rocking out on the nose flute we bought in Borneo at Madame Cuc's

Kate about to tuck into a steaming bowl of Vietnamese Pho

That evening, we had originally thought about checking out some of the French restaurants (Catt's favorite,) in celebration of his big birthday. Our dear friends from Saigon, though, the Le family, had different plans. Hoan had given me a ring earlier that day asking if they could possibly meet us for dinner. We took a taxi out to their neighborhood and met Hoa (cousin) there. Soon, the entire family showed up in a van and took us out for a delicious meal of lobster at a local restaurant. The entire meal consisted of lobster, prepared in unique ways. The first course was lobster blood soup, which was incredible, followed by a meal of sashimi-grade lobster, raw. All of this was accompanied by generous helpings of 333 beer, side dishes of greens and nuts, and great conversation. Catt, Kate and I left feeling completely satiated. What an unforgettable birthday!

Pinky swearing to meet again one day in Vietnam or the States

That night we returned to our neck of the woods back at Madame Cuc's quite late. We made a detour to a club across the street to check out the local dance scene. It was a really high-tech production- lasers flashing everywhere, and Vietnamese clubbers in their finest. As soon as we got there, the bouncers escorted us to our own little area on the dancefloor. It was really orderly like that. No cameras were allowed, though. Odd.

We decided to return to the guesthouse after about an hour of dancing. When we entered, the staff was acting extremely suspiciously. They told us that we couldn't go up to our room, but didn't really offer an explanation why. We started probing them a little further, and they claimed there was some sort of electricity shortage. Then, the lights started going out in the foyer. We're like, alright, this is really weird, when we see the familiar flicker of candlelight coming from the back staff room. Out come about eight Madame Cuc employees holding a cheerful, huge birthday cake, complete with "28" candles. Catt looked completely incredulous, and then shot us a look like, "did you guys plan this?" Unfortunately (for us,) we hadn't- Madame Cuc's had apparently checked the birthdays on our passports when we left them to register when we arrived, and took note of the fact that Catt would be celebrating his birthday while we were staying with them. They then went out and got a cake for us! It was so, so thoughtful. The entire foyer was like a party scene, with random guests toasting to Catt and buying him beers. Thank you, Madame Cuc's for such a lovely surprise. We will never forget it!

Catt's birthday cake at Madame Cuc's

Catt with his cake

Catt celebrating his birthday with the Madame Cuc staff

The next morning we had booked a tour to check out the Cu Chi tunnels, about an hour's drive west of Saigon. Here is a little bit of history on the Cu Chi tunnels, thanks to Wikipedia:

The district of Củ Chi is located 70 kilometers to the northwest of Saigon near the so-called "Iron Triangle". Both the Saigon River and Route 1 pass through the region which served as major supply routes in and out of Saigon during the war. This area was also the termination of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Because of this, the Củ Chi and the nearby Ben Cat districts had immense strategic value for the NLF (National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam). Mai Chi Tho, a political commissar stationed in Củ Chi describes the region as a “springboard for attacking Saigon.” He goes on to say: “We used the area for infiltrating Saigon-intelligence agents, part cadres, sabotage teams. The Tết Offensive of 1968 was prepared the necessary troops and supplies assembled in the Củ Chi tunnels.”

In the beginning, there was never a direct order to build the tunnels; instead, they developed in response to a number of different circumstances, most importantly the military tactics of the French and U.S. The tunnels began in 1948 so that the Viet Minh could hide from French air and ground sweeps. Each hamlet built their own underground communications route through the hard clay, and over the years, the separate tunnels were slowly and meticulously connected and fortified. By 1965, there were over 200 kilometers of connected tunnel. As the tunnel system grew, so did its complexity. Sleeping chambers, kitchens and wells were built to house and feed the growing number of residents and rudimentary hospitals created to treat the wounded. Most of the supplies used to build and maintain the tunnels were stolen or scavenged from U.S. bases or troops.

By the early 1960’s, the NLF had created a relatively self-sufficient community that was able to house hundreds of people and for the most part, go undetected by large numbers of American troops based, literally, right on top of the tunnels.

American soldiers used the term "Black echo" to describe the conditions within the tunnels. For the NLF, life in the tunnels was difficult. Air, food and water were scarce and the tunnels were infested with ants, poisonous centipedes, spiders and mosquitoes. Most of the time, guerrillas would spend the day in the tunnels working or resting and come out only at night to scavenge supplies, tend their crops or engage the enemy in battle. Sometimes, during periods of heavy bombing or American troop movement, they would be forced to remain underground for many days at a time. Sickness was rampant among the people living in the tunnels; especially malaria, which accounted for the second largest cause of death next to battle wounds. A captured NLF report suggests that at any given time half of a PLAF unit had malaria and that “one-hundred percent had intestinal parasites of significance.” In spite of these hardships, the NLF managed to wage successful campaigns against a conscripted army that was technologically far superior.

Today, the 75-mile-long complex of tunnels at Củ Chi have been preserved by the government of Vietnam, and turned into a war memorial park. The tunnels are a popular tourist attraction, and visitors are invited to crawl around in the safer parts of the tunnel system. Some tunnels have been made larger to accommodate the larger size of western tourists, while low-power lights have been installed in several of them to make traveling through them easier and booby traps have been clearly marked. Underground conference rooms where campaigns such as the Tết Offensive were planned in 1968 have been restored, and visitors may enjoy a simple meal of food that NLF fighters would have eaten.

Above-ground attractions include caged monkeys, tourist trap vendors selling souvenirs, and a shooting range where visitors can fire an assault rifle.

Our guide for the trip to the Cu Chi tunnels was crazy. There's no other way around it. He had worked for the U.S. Navy during the war (in fact, he would sporadically refer to himself as "American,") and had been caught and forced into four years of hard life in a re-education camp by the communists after the war. As a result, his entire concept of self-identity and nationhood was skewed and splintered. He would randomly burst into a tourette's style diatribe peppered with expletives about issues ranging from Vietnamese people, to his mother, to the American government (but not John Kerry- for some weird reason, he loved John Kerry) to Oliver Stone. Everyone in the group was sort of amused and alarmed by this guy. He definitely delivered an interesting tour, though. Kate and I kept trying to get a good video clip of him during a particularly heated moment, but we struck out... oh, well.

Our guide- keep your distance!

The tunnels themselves were absolutely fascinating. For a start, they were way more narrow than we had anticipated. At one point, they gave us the opportunity to crawl through a section of them ourselves. The claustrophobia was overwhelming, crawling on your hands and knees meters under ground, and we bailed out at first chance. It really does give you a respect for the fighters who lived and fought this way for months at a time.

Megan in the Cu Chi tunnels- get me out!

Our guide was quite knowledgeable, though, and taught us all about the different traps and ways that the fighters would trick the South Vietnamese and the Americans. One example was that they would wear their shoes backwards into the forest, so the enemy would track back to where they came from that morning, instead of where they had gone (since the footsteps were pointing backwards.)

A trap in the Cu Chi tunnels

After the tour, there was an opportunity to shoot an AK-47. We declined, but our friend Corinne had done it on a trip she did to Vietnam earlier this year and it sounds like it was a pretty wild experience.

After the visit we headed back to the guesthouse, grabbed some pho, and prepared for our journey to Cambodia the next morning!