Today we woke up bright and early to get on a bus to go to the Cu Chi tunnels, 65km outside Saigon.  For those of you who aren't history buffs the Cu Chi tunnels were one of the Viet-Cong's strongholds over the duration of the war.  When I say tunnels I mean a network of multi-layer tunnels spider-ing under Vietnam's skin with a total length of about 200km.    

Not going to lie I was legitimately apprehensive when our guide explained how there are still unexploded landmines in the surrounding jungle but if we stick to the path we'd be more than safe.   (Knowing my coordination and luck I'd take a step and end up blowing a leg off.) Fortunately for all involved there was no accidental dismemberment today, instead on the 1.5 hour long bus ride our tour guide gave us a bunch of information about the war / tunnels. Explaining that the Vietnamese used the tunnels kind of like how the English used a war bunker. Whenever they heard planes flying overhead they'd drop everything and head underground.

There are three layers to the tunnels.  First at two meters deep, then five and finally ten meters below the surface.  They actually have you crawl through a safe section of the tunnels that explore the first two levels of the system. The third, and deepest level is closed off based on the fact that they can't get enough air down there to sustain a large amount of people moving slowly,  As someone who gets claustrophobic it was not a particularly "fun" experience but the British girl in front of me was dealing with the same problem so we eventually talked one another into it. It's crazy though because at some points the tunnels get so small that you have to military crawl on your stomach, using your hands to pull yourself forward.  It definitely makes you think about all off the Vietnamese, both military and civilian people who had to get in there to avoid the bombs. 

Getting back into the city at three in the afternoon and having not eaten properly since seven we decided to splurge and eat western again.  This time it was Pizza Hut and boy did I enjoy that pepperoni pizza. 

Returning to our hotel we had a chill afternoon watching RuPaul's Drag Race, heading out for a light dinner then returning to our air conditioned room. It's gotten to the point where my brain doesn't want me to go outside anymore because the outside air is like 35 degrees.  

Anyway, today marks our last night in Vietnam, in the morning we head across the boarder into Cambodia.  Seeing as we got all of our visa stuff sorted out yesterday it should hopefully be a smooth bus ride. 

G-