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Today was our trip to the Cu Chi tunnels, just outside of Ho Chi Minh. We were picked up at 8am and got on a minibus to pick up some others. Shane's tattoo caught the attention of our guide for the day and resulted with him being offered a months stay in the tunnels in exchange for having a photo taken while we were there with no clothes on! This made a strange start for the day!
We switched to a bigger coach and headed towards Cu Chi, with a quick rest stop at a place where those affected by agent orange create lacquer art pieces. We only stopped briefly but the work was incredible to see! During the bus journey we also watched a video giving a brief overview about the tunnels, although it wasn't easy to hear the commentary over the bus!
From the lacquer workshop it was only a short distance to the Cu Chi tunnels which the guide filled by questioning Shane whether he would do the photo shoot and picking on the only American on the tour!
The tour of the tunnels involved walking around to see key parts, such as the air ducts, the type of traps used and also a chance to walk through a section of the actual tunnels. Shane even had a go at squeezing in an original entrance, which he did actually manage to get right in! The day was made by our guide though. He was a soldier in the south who lived in the caves for seven years which gave him an incredible first hand perspective which he used to commentate the tour. This made it much more personal and he also asked for no one to film so that he could share his full story, as he is supposed to only tell us a certain version of the history. We spent about two hours walking around, hearing the guides accounts and cringing at the abuse he was giving the American! Shane was also pretty happy about the fact that he got to shoot on m30 machine gun!
We headed back towards Ho Chi Minh, where both of us slept on the bus, arriving in the city at about 3pm. After some food we headed back to the hotel for a bit of a rest! It's St Patrick's day so we are going to go out for a few drinks tonight and have a quiet day around the city tomorrow.
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