Chu Chi Tunnels - a Vietnam War Lesson

"13/05/2013"

Today was my Ho Chi Minh day - learn about the Vietnam War / add to my prexisting knowledge.

The tour involved a trip to the famous tunnels used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War, a visit to the War Museum, and some sites of Ho Chi Minh City.

During the visit to the Chu Chi Tunnels, we were given a very interesting video perspective on the war...portraying the Americans as evil.
However, evidence would show us that the Viet Cong were incredibly intelligent, with their survival tactics, using things such as termite mounds to cover the tunnel network, which allowed air into the tunnels.

We had the opportunity to experience a tunnel, which was not for the larger sized tourists.  (Perhaps that's why the Americans didn't guess so quickly, because they couldn't fit down the rabbit warren holes anyway...lols).

The war museum was another depiction of what was a very one sided argument.  However, my own historical understanding would side with the accusation that the Americans hold some serious blame, going to war to prevent the spread of communism.  Their use of chemical weapons is a case of pot kettle black if we now look at some of the current affairs, and the destruction left from them is appalling.
However, we only have one side of the argument.

I walked back from the war museum with a German tourist from my tour, and visited the Notre Dam cathedral, and the opera house, walking through the upper class district of Ho Chi Minh.  You can really see the French influence in this area, and I felt (baring the motorbikes) that I was walking through Paris.

In the evening, myself and another Canadian (there seem to be a lot of these on this trip) sampled some Vietnamese street food.
This was an interesting experience, with my meal arriving only after he'd finished his.
The waitress understood the concept no animals, and in the end I received a plate of one type of vegetable...I have no idea what though.  The spicy sauce it had been fried in was delicious.