We caught a plane from Danang airport into the hustle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh City (formally Saigon) and were met by more rain. It passed quickly and we all took a cyclo tour through the city. A cyclo is a type of tuk tuk driven by human legpower that uses the tourist as a front end battering ram. The chaos of the streets didn't help matters as we were whisked along the main roads. A great way to see the place though.
The group split up the next day and a few of us headed to the Cu Chi tunnels - a tunnel system set up by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War that houses roughly 250 km of midget sized tunnels. It is an ingenious setup; if you cant beat the enemy through conventional tactics, attack them from all sides via underground passages. The booby traps that littered the area were enough to make you wish to never have been part of the war should it have been thrust upon you. They had a few left over weapons from the war as well, and a firing range to test them out on.
Renee was worried.
The noise was deafening.
Near the end of the tour we got the opportunity to crawl through the tunnels. As a tourist, an adventurous one at that, you simply cant go to the tunnels without going through them. Picture a small hole, accessed through a stepped well, which you effectively crawl into for a certain length of time. The tunnels changed direction, went up and down and were very dimly lit.
It was torture.
How the Viet Cong survived down in those tunnels for months at a time is beyond me. Apparently, the tunnels have been widened recently as well, to allow the tourists to get through them as some used to get stuck. Stuck in a wormhole in the middle of Vietnam is not the way I want to go. Unfortunately I was hyper ventilating too much to even think of getting photos but maybe do a quick search on the net to see what they are like. This picture below might also give you a fair idea of what they used to be like.
Madness.
A public bus took us from Vietnam, across the border and into Cambodia. We arrived in Phnom Penh and took another quick cyclo tour. It is a seemingly much more westernised city to what we have seen so far. We were taken to a former jail of the Khmer Rouge regime, which was grim to say the least. After that we were taken to the killing fields; the spot were they executed alot of Cambodians based on their intellect. 'Everyone is a CIA agent' Pol Pot seemed to think and he got rid of them. This was even more grim, more shocking than the concentration camps we visited in Europe, I felt.
The trip took a more pleasing turn when we headed out into the sticks (and I mean sticks) to stay at an authentic Cambodian homestay. The family were very nice, and the kids were good at kicking soccer balls, as they tied me up for a while playing a game of passes. The country lifestyle in Cambodia is relaxed and we slipped straight into the mood of it. Waking up at 4am, then 4:30am, then 5am due to the various animals wasn't that fun mind you. This was one of the most enjoyable times on the trip.
We visited ruins, ate country food, and harvested rice.
We have now just arrived in Siem Reap, preparing ourselves for Angkor Wat tomorrow. Just had a fish foot massage which was interesting but came with a free beer so I thought it sounded like a deal.