(17 October)

Today we were up early to see the Cu Chi tunnels left after the Vietnamese war. I was under the impression that we'd be underground for a lot of the day, but apparently not lol, you can't really go into the original tunnels. At the start we had a brilliant video about the tunnels which was like a public information video from 50 years ago in black and white with funny music, and a commentator saying things like "American devils"...it was more entertaining for how silly it was than educational. We first went into one that was built to show tourists what they were like. It was far too claustrophobic for me! I just about squeezed in the tiny hole and put the cover over my head but couldn't face going through the pitch black tunnel by myself! There was bats and all! So I just climbed out again, but a few people managed to actually crawl through! It was more like a museum type thing really. We saw examples of the traps they used, weapons, American tanks, bomb craters etc. One pretty cool part was getting to shoot an AK47! Never thought I'd be able to say that haha! After the tunnels we went back into the city and a few of us went to the war remnants museum, which wasn't as bad as some things we have seen but pretty horrific! I didn't know much about the Vietnamese-American war but it looked absolutely horrible...I don't really see why the Americans did it in the first place to be honest. The effects of agent orange especially was horrific, as kids are still being born with terrible deformities because of it!

After the war museum we walked past the reunification palace to Notre Dam and the pretty impressive post office which looks more like a rail station! Went for lunch which was yummy, beef and rice and loads of drinks cos I was dying of heat! Then back to the hotel for a few games of cards before we left for the night train. The night train was like a palace after china lol. Actually so nice. Thought it was quite nice for getting to sit down and chat to people a bit more as well. Tried Oreos and decided they are actually quite nice! Went to bed earlyish and heard some screams from next door when they found mice in their room, but we didn't have any...or didn't look for any at least! Had a great sleep though.