Vietnam – Neyziellewanders

I woke up in a different country on my 24th birthday because of another impulsive flight booking. It was supposed to be a solo journey but my motivational skills made my equally amazing sorority sister x ate come with me. I encouraged her by saying it’s for our birthday trip. Of course, she conceded.

Without any itinerary for our 18- hour stay in Ho Chi Minh, we just decided to go straight to our hotel — which was beautiful and calming, really — and deliberated what we really wanted to do. So at 4A.M., we found ourselves booking a day trip to Củ Chi tunnels, and then we slept.

We took a cab to our hotel, because we reached Ho Chi Minh at almost 2A.M., and a taxi was the most feasible, convenient, and we were left with no choice.

Two bunk beds for only Php 1,037 (US$19.80) for two people with free breksfast.
This is the common area where you can eat Pho for breakfast — err, yes!

Address:
SIGOONG HOSTEL – 92 De Tham, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

So, we ate our own Pho breakfast with a side of super fulfilling Vietnam coffee, then we were set to our Củ Chi tunnels adventure. We booked it online in GetYourGuide.

Our trip came with a side visit to handicapped handicrafts center where they employ PWDs who make really amazing frames and paintings.

The tunnels are at the end of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and it served as the base from where Vietnamese guerilla soldier attacked Saigon. The tour is all about knowing how the fighters of Cu Chi took the war underground by developing a network of tunnels that stretched as far as Cambodia, which included: meeting rooms, kitchens and ventilation systems. These tunnels served as an effective network for engaging in guerrilla warfare against U.S troops.

You can actually enjoy the maze of tunnels in the area. I am not really a fan of tight spaces so I only tried until the second station but Ate Lizi went all the way to the end!

The tunnels were used by Viet Cong soldiers as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous North Vietnamese fighters. The tunnel systems were of great importance to the Viet Cong in their resistance to American forces, and helped to counter the growing American military effort.

They also gave us free Cassava to eat — which was actually the reason why the guerrillas survived the war taking cover underground.

The tour has a lot of walking, and we ended up drinking this at the end:

That was basically our one-day in Ho Chi Minh. We went back to our hotel to get our bags and we hired a tuktuk to get to the bus station to Pnom Penh, Cambodia.