Had a great time boiling myself nearly to death yesterday at the Binh Market in Saigon. It was sooooo hot, I can't believe I made it home. Went there to buy Vietnamese mountain coffee. Crazy place. Tried to buy some cute sandals, but these ladies feet are way too small. Nothing cute in my size. Although many salespeople tried to lure me in by saying "Have shoes for big ladies", it just didn't quite win me over.
After a terrible nights sleep (all the a/c goes out at night in every hotel I guess to conserve energy) because it was hot and our a/c unit dripped in the middle of the night sounding like rain was pouring down into the middle of the room - I was off to the Cu Chi Tunnels. Was so interesting to learn about how they used the tunnels and how that helped them stay so strong to survive the war. The tunnels spanned 125 miles! The way they were camoflaged in the jungle floor was amazing. We were standing right on top of one of the tunnel entrances without even knowing it. Some tunnels came out under the Saigon River so they could swim down and enter or exit from under the water and not be detected from inside the tunnel or outside. So cool.
I have adult onset claustrophobia, so I didn't know if I would be able to get down in the tunnels and crawl through, but I did it. The first one wasn't so bad, only about 30 feet. The second one, also not so long, but there was a bat in there, which of course came flying out with me as I crawled through the tunnel. Was horrifying. My legs still hurt because I moved so fast at such an awkward position. Next tunnel longer, but again a bat came flying out at me as I was entering the tunnel from a chamber, that I had to fling myself down flat on my back to keep it from flying into my head. Then race through to the next chamber and out another tunnel into the air. It was a nightmare. You would think I learned my lesson on the previous tunnel, but I didn't think it could be any worse. The claustrophobia wasn't even an issue, it was the bats that were the problem. Needless to say, I do not have any photos inside the tunnels as I was too busy running, ducking or just plain freaking out, but my guide does. I'll see if I can get one from him. The few pictures I posted are from above ground. One is a booby trap with bamboo spears below, another is the guide disappearing down a tunnel entrance in the jungle.
Anyway, back to the boiling city of Saigon to explore for the afternoon and evening.
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