HCM Day 2

After breakfast (of what else.. pho noodles! - no complaints though.. that's part of why we came to Vietnam...), we hurried to proceed to the other travel agency where we booked our Day tour in Cuchi Tunnel and Cao Dai Temple. If I'm not mistaken, I think we paid only 6USD per person for the tour exclusive of lunch.

We were picked up by our tour guide and driver in front of the travel agent's office along with 4 other caucasian tourists. To my delight, I found a Jollibee fastfood chain along one of the main streets! (I learned after that there are already 7 branches stretched in HCM.)

We traveled for around 2 hours to visit the Cao Dai Temple in a nearby province. This religion, actually a mix and match of four other religions (Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, X) had a lot of local followers. Fortunately, there was a service 30 minutes after we arrived in the temple so we were able to see a glimpse of their version of a mass. Like the Islam practice, I noticed that there is a segregation between the male and female followers. The common worshippers wore an all white top and bottom while the priests had colored outfits depending on their ranks.

On the way back to the van, I noticed that on top of the temple was a big eye apparently symbolizing the eye of God which watches everyone.

We finished our visit at around 1230 and drove 20 minutes to a nearby local restaurant. The food was not as extravagant but was good enough for a less discerning and very hungry stomach.

After lunch we proceeded to the infamous tunnels within the Cuchi province. We paid about 4USD per person to enter. These tunnels were preserved for tourists to see how Vietcongs lived and prospered during the height of the American-Vietnamese war. Inside the makeshift tents is a video showing an ancient propaganda movie showing the ingenuity of the Vietnamese guerillas.

One of the highlights of that place is the actual tunnel for visitors to pass through to experience for themselves how difficult it was to stroll along the tunnel. Of course it was already refurbished, cemented and widened for bigger tourists to get in. True to being hard-core adventurers, Ate and I braved in going thru the tunnel. Actually all 6 of us went in. Ate Doll and Ate Thess went ahead at first. Christa and Garry tailing my back. Somewhere deeper below, Ate Thess probably felt claustrophobic that she opted to get out of the tunnel the minute she saw an optional opening. Too bad she missed 'graduating'. He, he... Lucky for us, we finished the 30 meter clearing.!

I would have wanted to try firing some shots in the shooting range but I backed out upon learning that 1 piece of cal. 45 bullet costs 1USD each. An armalite bullet even costs more at 3USD. Nah, forget about it!

Anyhow, we left the place at 4PM and headed back to our hotel after another 2 hours. This time we had dinner in Pho 24, another famous noodle chain. Afterwards, we went shopping in the night market for additional souvenirs.

On the way back to our hotel, we rented a cyclo and haggled for 1USD for a 10minute trip. I'd say seeing HCM from a local's perspective was an experience worthy of putting into my book!