VIETNAM
21ST - 22ND MARCH
We had an early flight from Da Lat to Ho Chi Minh City which meant we got to see an amazing sunrise as we made our way down the mountains in Da Lat to the airport. Even though we landed in Ho Chi Minh City quite early in the morning we were shocked at how hot it was already, and just got hotter throughout the day! We spent the next day exploring the city, starting off at the War Remnants Museum. The museum had different sections, mostly covering the Vietnam war with pictures and stories, the sections about the use of Agent Orange were particularly hard hitting as there were graphic pictures showing the extent of damage it caused. After, we carried on walking through the city, dodging the mopeds, and made our way to the river front past the Independence Palace and the Post Office. In the evening we went to Bui Vien Walking street which is a long road with lots of bars and clubs. It reminded us a bit of Khao San Road in Bangkok as there was very loud music coming out of every bar and people lining the street trying to persuade us to go in for a drink.
23RD MARCH
In the morning we took a trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels which were the tunnels used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. Our tour guide was very informative and told us about how the war had effected him and his family. We walked through different sections of the forest where there were various entrances to the tunnels and exhibitions about the struggles of the people who lived and used the tunnels. We had the opportunity to go down into one of them but they were extremely small so I opted out but Arran went down to see how far he could get, he got to the point where he would have had to crawl on his hands and knees and that was enough for him! In the evening we walked down to the river to watch the sunset for our last night in Vietnam, and had one of the best meals we had during our time there.
