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Dear all!
Thanks for joining me on this trip to Vietnam. I arrived safely back to Vienna!
Take care
Markus

Chu Chi Tunnels Colone and the last night in HCMC

Today was the last day for me in HCMC. In the morning I decided to go on a tour to the Chu Chi tunnels about 60 km north of HCMC. The tour was pretty touristic though since it is one of the major sights close to HCMC. In principle the tunnels were dug into the soil by the Vietkong during the war and the moved the everything below the earth. They built underground meeting rooms, workshops for making the traps and reusing the bomb shells to produce new weapons again. The tunnels had exist every 30 meters by a small exit 30 times 45 cm – nothing for me as a big westerner. I was afraid to get stuck in this one. The tactic was also that the small Vietnamese could fit into the tunnels, but the American GI could not. So the beginning of the tunnels was made smaller that the enemy could not go inside. The best part when you could submerge into the tunnels – luckily the tunnels were enlarged so that westerns could fit through the more easily – lucky for me – but it is still a claustrophobic feeling inside and at the end you have to crawls on all four legs – I made the 200 meters and the 60 in the smaller tunnel – but it is wet and humid and hot and little oxygen. They even built kitchens under the ground and the smoke was guided by a tunnel to a place as far as 200 meters away from the submerged kitchen and released through a mud hill. So even the Americans saw the smoke they did not know were the actual kitchen was located.

In the afternoon I made a round trip to the Chinese Quarter, a different world apart. The large Chinese market is still really a market where wholesalers buy and sell their stuff and the temples are superb. After packing my stuff I finished off the evening with my new Czech friend Michael and Veronica with bia ahoi for 7000 Dong = 0,25 Euro each until 2 am watching the crowds.

Bomb Shells in Chu Chi

Vietkong traps

The tunnel entrance covered with leaves

The wooden frame of the entrance

On the way down

in the tunnels

too big that is clear

The Chinese market in Colone

The peaceful Chinese temples in Colone

Closing the tirps with Michael and Veronika on the street

First day in Saigon - Ho Chi min City

Today the plan was to start visting Saigon of Ho Chi Min City as it was called after the Americans have left the country. I started in the morning strolling around the park watching dancing lessons before visiting the local market. You can still see the French influence in the architecture. Like on the Museum for arts but the skyscrapers remind you of the modern world. Everywhere Christmas and New Year is a topic already – pretty bizarre at 30 deg C

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Still propaganda on  the street

Dancing in the morning in the park

Ben Thanh Market

The Art Museum

Bitexco Financial Tower

Merry Christmas

The National Theater

The former townhall - now Peoples Committee Building

Ho Chi Min in front of the former townhall

The Notre Dame Cathedral

The post office from out and inside

The Jade Emperor Pagoda - one of the most calm places I have seen today

too many turtles in a pond - just too many

The Reunifcation Palace - now independance palace - former place of the prime minister of Southern Vietnam - now a really great place for the architecture of the 60ties

I like the phones especcialy the pink ones - probably used to call .... - think pink

even a movie theater was built in thei buiding

a helipad

and a two story deep bunker  and bomb shelter

And to finish of the day the view from my hotel room