The trip was quite a good one too, it was a visit to the Cu Chi tunnels which was used by the VC in the war. It was quite amazing just how massive these tunnels are, there are over 700km of tunnel network, most of which are still considered very dangerous because of the landmine and bamboo traps that litter them. They had kitchens, armories (converting US bombs into mines/grenade), sleeping areas,distilleries,watchposts and even schools! On the surface they seemed to mark areas whereby there was a trap or entrance by creating a fake termite mound, the US forces didn't suspect a thing, sometimes the tunnels were even underneath the US bases. Anyway, after a brief video at the start, we then wandered round the area with Khiem being our guide. He was showing us all sorts, trapdoors, entrances, giant bomb craters, termite mounds, ventilation, tanks, and bits of bomb still lying around. It was made all the more interesting by a soundtrack of gun fire in the area. I thought it was just speakers playing it but we found out that they had a firing range!
The firing range was good fun, you could buy bullets for all sorts of guns. Carmel was first to decide what she wanted to fire, it was an AK-47 the world most popular gun...Andrea told her that she was "common" and then went for the M-16. As for me, well not to be outdone by the ladies (especially after Andrea's shock decision), i went for the daddy...the M60 ! Whilst we were queuing to get our ammo, Carmel was jumping out of her skin every time a gunshot was heard on the rifle range. Andrea on the other hand got her 5 rounds and all of a sudden became a soldier of fortune ! I've no photo's of Andrea shooting the gun unfortunately, but i do have some camcorder footage of it all ! woo ! Every time Andrea shot hers you could see it kicking back into her shoulder and she'd turn round frowning about it all and then just start shooting again. I got 10 rounds for my M60 and i must admit when i fired the thing (on full auto) it drowned out every other gun on the range, great fun but a little scary too. As for what we were shooting at, i thought it would be Americans but it was "just" cutouts of tigers and elephants, not that anyone hit them.
After this we managed to watch rice paper and wine being made and then managed to go down into part of the tunnel complex that had been widened for western bums. It was pretty impressive, there was turning off points in the tunnel, trap doors to more tunnels going further down. We had a military guide in the tunnel who lead the way so we didn't go anywhere off the beaten track.
Leaving the tunnels we then pottered round the gift shops on the complex and then a bus journey back to the hotel. We then went for, what we thought would be, our last meal together. The lunch was ok, nothing special as it was another Vietnamese meal. In the afternoon we hit the market for some bargain hunting and then back to the hotel. The evening was another meal but this time it was outside at the market, very good meal too. Andrea and some of the girls were watching the frogs swimming in this big tank and thinking how cute they were when the chef grabs one, whacks its head on the kirb, then chops his head and legs off, and stuffed its chest (not paxo) ! Some of the ladies were almost sick. This is suppose is the Vietnamese way, they really do eat anything here.
No comments:
Post a Comment