Big Ol' Fat Rain

When I booked the boat trip to Cu Chi, I wasn't sure what to expect. Everybody else gets to the tunnels by bus or hired car, so this was certainly unique. We were cruising down the Saigon River a la Miami Vice!




The tour of the Vietcong tunnels at Cu Chi was great. It was just Greg, a young lady from New Zealand, and myself.

We were first shown a very small opening in the ground that served as one of hidden entrances to the tunnels. I imagine that 95% of the people visiting aren't able to fit through this opening, but Greg and I being skinny as we are, were able to squeeze through no problem.

We also crawled through some of the tunnels (100m worth to be exact) and got a good workout for our legs. Surprisingly it was not very cool in the tunnels - we all emerged sweating as if coming out of a sauna. Given the cramped space and darkness, it was also very difficult to take pictures. All I was able to muster is this picture of Greg's arse.

Also as part of the tour, there was a shooting gallery. The girl from New Zealand fired a gun for the first time in her life - and jumped right into the foray by unloading from an M-60 (dubbed by our guide as the "Rambo gun") Greg also tried his hand at some shooting. I chose not to fire anything. After all, it was no Knob Creek. But I do believe that this was Greg's highlight of our journey to Cu Chi. He was as giddy as a schoolboy. No doubt he will have been inspired to write poetry and song about this life-changing experience. See for yourself here.

After the tour, we got back on the boat for the hour journey back to Saigon. It started to rain almost immediately. And because our boat moved quite swift, it actually hurt when the drops hit me - especially because it was the big ol' fat rain. It almost felt like hail.

But as Forrest would say, "Someone come and turn off all the rain . . . and the sun came out." We ate dragon fruit and bananas and watched the orange glow of the sun reflect off the Saigon River.