Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon Vietnam Trip Part II

Hey'all I started writing about the Vietnam Trip from the second half of the trip because it was more recent and fairly fresh in my mind. I initailly intended for this to be a single post about our entire time in Vietnam, I decided to spare you guys some time and break it into two sections, because this is a pretty long blog. Sometime during the week I'll post the first part of our time in Vietnam in Hanoi. Hope ya enjoy!

Our sweet ride on the Mekong Delta

These are some pics from our trip on the Mekong Delta, we drove out to My Tho province and spent the day touring two of the four islands that were close to where we were. Each island was named after the four major animal symbols of Vietnam; The Turtle (Longevity), The Unicorn (Intelligence), The Phoenix (Virute and Grace) and the Dragon (Power). Our first stop was The Turtle Island, where we watched workers make a variety of fruit candies, really good but really sweet. We also got to try some Banana wine which was actually really good.

That's right me eating fruit

We also tried a bunch of regional fruit that I had never seen before, nor do I remeber their names. Now I'm normally I only have fruit in juice form, but I made an exception here. Most of it was actually really good. Next we headed to Unicorn Island.

I feel like Alice Cooper

This was actually really cool, I'd never been up close to a monstrous snake before let alone have him put on my shoulders, (Another thing to add to the list of "Life Accomplishments") . The snake was really peaceful and surprising cold considering how hot it was outside. I wasn't worried knowing that Pythons don't bite they constrict, but I did get kinda nervous for a second when he tightened up around my neck. After this we headed to the next stop where we had some more candies, peanuts and tea with honey which was made on the island.

"It's looking at me!!!"

Julie decided that she too wanted her picture with the snake, because she knew she'd regret it if she didn't. We went back to the guy with the snake, and immediately Julie was scared, especially when it turned and looked at her. This is only the first pic, the second one she's a little bit calmer. I give her tons of credit cuz I know guys that wouldn't do what she did.

Working Hard

Just wanted to take a picture with this thing, I saw lots of farmers and people in the market walking around with these and wanted to see what it was like. And I already had the hat so com'on perfect pic. It also reminded me of this statue that Cummings had and gave to Matt, for breaking his Buddha statue. After the tea and a quick bathroom break we headed back to the boat.

Thank God for the sun hats

These two pics (above and below) are from our canoe/gondola ride back to the Mekong Delta. As you can see from these pics it was an amazing ride, with beautiful scenery palm trees on both sides of the stream. It was crazy hot as well, very happy about the purchasing of the Vietnamese Sun Hats.

The shortest but probably the best boat ride of the trip.

Coconut Cheers

It was nice to see that when we did get back to the boat we had cool refreshments waiting for us. I don't like eating coconut, but as stated earlier I like many fruits in juice form and I can add coconut to the list. It was nice and sweet and I was surprised how much milk was in there. After this we hopped back in the car and headed back to Saigon, went out for dinner and checked out a night culb that was in the basement of the hotel. Ridiculous beer prices, they only served imports because it was a 'Hennesey' Bar...terrible.

Me in a Hidden Tunnel Entrance

Inside one of the Tunnels

These two pics were from the Chu chi Tunnels, about 1 hour SE of Ho Chi Minh city, it was a stronghold for the VeitCong during the "War for Independence". The tunnels were built over 20 years, starting in the 1940's after the struggle for independence from France. The 250km of tunnels and the surrounding villages were never captured by French or American forces. On another blog I'll post all the crazy devices and boobytraps these guys made, all from detonated and non detonated, recycling at it's finest.

Milling rice for rice paper

Before the shooting range I tried my hand as a Miller, not for me. It was kinda funny because other tourists were taking pictures of me while I did this, when I stopped a Korean man asked me to go back so he could take one more photo. Very weird.

M-16 Bullets

In my opinion I think that the Chu Chi Tunnel system was the coolest part of the Veitnam trip. Not because I ened up firin a M-16, that part actually wasn't all that great. I wanted to take a pic, but because it was super loud Julie didn't wanna come down. I asked one of the attendent guys there, "Can u take my picture", he responded with, "No". Can argue with that, he didn't seem like the type of man who would be swayed with a "Please".

Fighter Jet at the War Remnants Museum

Going to the War Remnants Museum was really interesting and I wished we'd spent more time there, there were some areas we didn't get to check out, one in particluar was a room full of posters that supported the Vietnamese. There were lots of gruesome pics from the war as well as an exhibit showing the prolonged effects that Agent Orange still has on the people of Vietnam. Children of people who were sprayed are born with severe deformities and mental, as well as developmental disabilites, also there are very high rates of cancer. One particularily disturbing part of the Agent Orange exhibit displayed Two still born babies who were terribly deformed.
There were also many horrible statistics about the number of civilians killed, as well as detailed accounts of several gruesome massacres that were undertaken by US soldiers. One of the most notorious being the My Lai Massacre where around 500 civilians were killed all between the ages of 1 and 82, not even sparing pregnant women. Truly brutal stuff that even some of the Americans on our tour didn't know about. I had read about some of this in some Chomsky books, but actually being there and seeing the photos was enough to turn my stomach.

Notre Dame Basilica

We breifly stopped to check out the Nha Tho Duc Ba, or Notre Dame Basilica. It was built in 1863 by French Colonists. Much of the arcitecture in Saigon/Ho Che Minh City was very French, this being the perfect example. Mass was just getting out so we didn't get a chance to get inside. Instead we checked out an equally old Post Office across the street and after getting a bite to eat we headed to the Ben Thanh Market to pick up some final souvenirs before going on the last of our many boat trips. We had New Years eve dinner on a big boat, while being entertained by some Korean singers and a Fire Dancer. From there it was airport time.

New Years Cheers

Our flight left at 12:30 am so we made it through customs and some last minute souvenir shopping, with enough time to get a couple beers in at the Airport bar. For some insane reason they stopped serving booze at 11:30.....ridiculous. So we nursed them till the big countdown, also surprising not many people were pepped up for new years, a real bunch of wet blankets. Meh...what can ya do. The flight was 5 hours + we lost 2 hours going back so we made it home by 8:00am. Caught a bus back to Iksan for $22, after 3 hrs we were back home and ready for some much needed rest.