Final Day in Vietnam + In India!

We are currently sitting in India! Yesterday was the first day here and I did a service project which I will talk about more in depth in the future. India is very crowded, dirty, overpopulated and dangerous. There are wild dogs, cows, goats, and people for that matter running around everywhere and social order or whatnot appears to be only a dream. That all being said, it is a different world and because of that it is extremely interesting.

 

I leave for the airport in about 10 minutes. We have a flight to Delhi, from there we will take a train to Agra where we will see fort Agra and the Taj Mahal. Somehow, we are going to get to Varanasi from there, the major site of the Ganges river. We are trying to take a train, but if we don't get off the waitlist because it is sold out, we will have to find a private company to drive us. Regardless things will work out and it will be an adventure. I'll be back in Cochin, our 2nd port in India in 4 days. I look forward to telling everyone all about it.

 

Here is my final Vietnam blog. I'm stripped for time so no travel quote at the end. Enjoy!

 

The next day, our final one in Vietnam, I woke up early and prepared to go to the Cu Chi Tunnels with Eric, JulieAnne, Deirdre, and another friend Tucker. We decided to take the public buses there, against all good advice. Apparently the buses often break down and are unreliable. Regardless they are cheap, and it seemed like a good way to see the real essence of Vietnam. Well it turned out to be a very good idea. First of all the buses are insanely low cost. They were coming around collecting our fares, and one person pulled out one US dollar which covered the fare for all five of us. Yes, it was that cheap. We ended up at a bus station an hour later in the middle of nowhere where we had to catch another bus to get to the tunnels. We figured out the right one, hopped on, paid another dollar collectively and were on our way. At this point we were totally out of the city, passing by livestock, farms, and broken down houses. Finally we got off literally on the side of a road next to a sign that said “Cu Chi Tunnels”. We followed the sign for about a half of a mile and we were there. The entrance fee was 4 dollars to do everything, which we happily paid and set off on our way.

                First of all let me say how lucky we were to find two students who were visiting at the same time as us. Both studied in Japan, one was Vietnamese, the other from Colombia I believe. They both spoke very good English, but more importantly, the Vietnamese one spoke…you guessed it. Vietnamese. Our tour guide did not speak a word of English, so for the next few hours, our new friend translated for us and we could not be more appreciative.

                The tunnels were really pretty awesome. It was crazy to see that they had full cities pretty much built underground, out of site of the US military patrolling above. We saw some of the traps set up to catch unsuspecting soldiers as well and it really put the war in perspective. It was clear that the Vietnamese people were very determined and the US had little hope from the start. They had a tunnel network that was roughly 260 km long and was set up so that they would not have to emerge for days or weeks at a time. The display was a bit touristy, but interesting nonetheless. At one point we sat down and watched a video which was blatantly anti-American, something that we obviously are not used to seeing. The video referred to war heroes who were given medals for killing Americans, and talked about the US army as though they were demons. Later in the tour we climbed through a section of the tunnels about 100 yards long, and it was pretty intense. It is super dark down there and pretty cramped. I didn’t have to crawl, I could do the whole thing squatting down, but keep in mind they had widened it by 2 times to make it tourist/American friendly. Inside there were bats hanging out right by our heads, I got great pictures right up in their face too. We made it through safely, but time was getting short so we headed for the exit. They had a firing range where you could shoot AK-47’s too. I wanted to, but it was expensive and time was of the essence so it didn’t happen. Oh well, another time perhaps.

                We hopped the same bus back to the same bus station, then caught our first bus back to Saigon. It was pretty simple and the same price on the way back which was fantastic. It cost us 80 cents total in transportation for the day and 4 dollars to get into the exhibit. For those counting at home that is 5 dollars for a trip SAS charged $36 to get on. Plus we had more fun and experienced more of the real Vietnam in my opinion. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

                Back in Saigon we did some last minute shopping, grabbed some ice cream, and I picked up my suit. Fortunately it fit really well and no alterations needed to be made so I just paid the balance and walked out with it. I’ll have to have at least my parents look at it back home and make sure it looks legit, but I’m pleased. We will also have to see if it holds up to dry cleaning. We grabbed some food and headed to the bus stop to catch the shuttle back to the ship and end our time in Vietnam. At the shuttle stop one of the staff walked up and said if we didn’t want dock time, it would be in our best interest to catch a cab back. Not being one to miss an opportunity, I jumped on a motorcycle of course and told him to get me back to the ship and fast. We weaved in and out of traffic, made it back in record time, and I gave him a 50 percent tip. It was a fun time had by all I would say. There was no line at all to get on the ship, they lied to us, but I wasn’t too concerned. I went inside and met up with some friends, my time in Vietnam had come to an end.

Thanks for Reading,

Thomas