rock candy brains

deery-lou.
and now for the final chapter…

vietnam, part 3
august 02, thursday
today i set off for a 1/2 tour of the cu chu tunnels. before catching the bus at 8:15 am, i stocked up on drinks and an avocado sandwich. have i mentioned how good the french bread is here. its amazing how the small things in life make me happy. i spent the trip staring out the window. there was so much to see. our first stop was at a handicap crafts market. most of the people working there were victims of the war. they actually make all the crafts there. it was quite fascinating watching them make all the goodies. there's also a shop where you can buy the merchandise. it was fairly inexpensive, however, i didn't buy anything. the cu chu tunnels were amazing. its so hard to fathom that they actually built these dwellings and lived there. tunnel entrances were all over the ground. most of them were quite tiny, so my fat ass couldn't fit in them. the did renovate one of the tunnels so that tourist could experience them. before heading into the tunnel the couple in front of me chickened out. by the time i entered there was no one in front of me which made it even scarier. the tunnel was quite small. you either had to crawl on your hands and knees or do a sort of squat walk through it. i opted for the squat walk since i was using my camera to light my way. did i mention it was freaking dark and hot. i broke out in a sweat within minutes of being in there. a couple of times i turned down a dead end. there was one point where i had a minor freak out. i kept thinking what if i get stuck, or lost, or trapped. i started sweating more. the only comforting thing was knowing that there were people behind me. eventually i heard the tour guide calling out "this way". i followed the sound of his voice and found my way to the ladder. i'm amazed that the vc were able to sustain such conditions of the tunnels. being in the tunnel made me think of the china beach episode where mcmurphy and kc were kidnapped by the vc and taken underground. don't you love how i relate everything to tv shows. hehe. i wanted to buy a pair of vc sandals that are made of rubber but they didn't have my size. the tour itself felt kind of rushed. we didn't even have time to check out the gift shop.

cu chi grounds

inside cu chi tunnel

vc sandals

altar at church, saigon

girl in doorway, saigon

when i got back to saigon i met up with jacky. we had coffee then went off to get something to eat. the restaurant we went to was really good. they had food from the different regions of vietnam. everything was quite tasty although i avoided the blood clot that was in the soup. been there done that. met up with joey later on in the evening. jumped on the motorbike and headed off to yet another cafe. there seems to be an abundance of giant cafes. at least it wasn't raining so we got to sit outside. they gave us some popcorn to nibble on. from there we went to the night market to grab a bit to eat. i only had some spring rolls. did i a little shopping afterwards. i got a white belt since my old one was completely trashed. rode around a little then headed back to the hotel.

august 03, friday
my last day in saigon. i was a bit sad seeing this day arrive. it felt like i had just arrived. it was still lots of things that i wanted to do. spent most of the morning being lazy. joey and i went to the market for food. then it was off to a cafe for my morning fix. we stayed at the cafe for two coffees. i'm telling you i can't get enough of that stuff. the rest of the day was spent shopping. there are benefits to having a motorbike. it definitely lets you get to all the different places. i ended up buying a pair of jeans that i tried on in the dark. for some reason the shop didn't have have power. since getting home i've tried them on again and they are a bit tight. oops. then again i'm so use to my jeans being too big that perhaps they actually fit. i also found a shirt that i liked. joey bought it for me. how sweet is that. we checked out the chinatown market but it was pretty dead. a lot of vacant shops. grabbed some refreshments at an outside cafe. i went for a lemonade. while sitting there a poor came by with his baby sister trying to get me to give him money. was very tempted but didn't. we spent hours riding around to various areas to shop. i was getting a bit tired. before heading back to the hotel we stopped at one final cafe. the place was smaller than the others and it was set up for live music. when we got to the hotel it was still too early to head to the airport. so we sat out on the front stoop chatting with the girls who work there. then it started to rain. it was a heavy rain. like the ones we got in florida during the summer. when the rain settled down we gathered my stuff and hailed a taxi. it poured the entire way to the airport. i said goodbye to joey then made my way inside. at 10 am on saturday morning i arrived in seoul. my vacation was officially over.

final thoughts
what can i really say except that i had a great time. i went on this trip with no expectations and was completely surprised. the people were friendly, the food was good, the coffee was out of this world, and i met someone. someone who means a lot to me. its these unexpected things in life that makes it all worth it. i feel like i left a small part of me there. hopefully i'll get that part back one of these days.

photos from cu chu tunnels are here
photos of saigon are here

stay gold & be well…