Today was our third day in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and we set out to see the Cu Chi Tunnels about 50 km`s outside of the city which obviously date back to the war days. We took a tour out and took all of our luggage as they were going to drop us ``close`` to the airport on the way back. well, let`s see what that might look like :)
The tour at the tunnels was really good. Some of the things we saw were the types of traps used by the Vietcong back then and we learned that even though they could shoot with automatic weapons, they would usually only shoot one bullet and then run: in order to save bullets. the fire power they had was nowhere close to that of the enemy`s. Then came the part we had been looking for, we were allowed to try getting into the tunnels. The one we tried was actually one with a larger opening which allowed us ``westerners`` to fit in. Some that we saw were even tinier and would not allowed us to fit through. Vietcong obviously had a smaller build and capitalized on this. The tunnels could be built down into the ground into 3 stages, The ones we tried were stage 1 and as the number increases, they are built deeper into the ground and the oxygen decreases. As it is too dangerous and there would be a lot of liability issues if a tourist got ill in one of the stage 2 or 3 tunnels, we are just not allowed in. You climb in and descend about 4 or 5 feet and then are left with tunnels that are almost pitch black (they left a little bit of lighting there for us) and about 3 feet tall. So you can either crawl on hands and knees which is hard on both or you can walk on your hands and feet. also hard, especially on your bent back, but at least you can move. There were openings every 20 meters which allowed you to leave back up and out for the fresh air. A lot of people get too claustrophobic and are not able to stay in the tunnels or enter them because visibility is so low and often you cannot see any upcoming openings, it really can be a bit unnerving.
Chelsea went first and I was behind her. Michelle was a couple of people back and had a tough time with the dark and narrow tunnel and went back up. Chelsea and I crawled along for a while and there were literally times where I could hear her voice, and she would likely be two feet in front of me but I could not even see a shape or outline. It was pretty cool, I have to say. But hard on the back and knees. So I bailed after about 3 stations, not a back friendly exercise at all. Chelsea went another one or two. Most came out drenched with sweat but happy to have tried this. Out of our group, about half of them tried.
We finished the tour and were dropped off by the side of the road, grabbed a taxi (we are good at haggling now, you should see us) and made it to the airport on time. we were off to Kuala Lumpur with a stop of an about an hour before continuing into Phuket, Thailand. As we got to the airport, we learned that our flight was an hour delayed and that we should kiss the second flight goodbye and stay over night in Malaysia to take another flight to Phuket the next day. Certainly a disappointment, but maybe a bit our fault as the connection was very tight and a bit risky.
So we flew to Malaysia and arrived at the airport at around 8 or 9 pm with no place to stay. We got our laptops out and started searching. We weighed out staying at the airport all night until our morning check-in at 5:30 am, but in the end we rented a hotel for about $50 each (high for our trip standards!) which was about 40 minutes from the airport. When getting there, we almost had to laugh: it was beautiful. Situated high on a hilltop, it had an amazing lobby, a very open feel and while Chelsea hit the hay, Michelle and I went for a little walk being tourists with cameras in town, and found an infinity pool and amazing other floors. The room was pretty neat as well with a bathroom which opened into the huge bedroom so that you could sit in the tub and watch TV (hard to explain, wait for the pics). It was quite ritzy, I must say. We only had a few hours to sleep. but the bathroom was so nice that Michelle decided to take a shower (we did not have hot water in our Vietnam place).....well, all this exclusiveness and still: flooding CAN occur :). Something in the shower door was not tight and there was literally a little river that ran out of the shower through the bathroom and into the hallway toward the beds. We called the front desk who called their "engineers" and two people came to fix it. Well, I guess even ritzy things break. LONG DAY! so the only thing in Malaysia we can really comment on was the airport and the drive to the hotel. Certainly not an expert or anything. But we were almost in shock going from tuk tuk ridden, not very welled developed, packed places in Cambdia, Thailand and Vietnam to the highways of Malaysia. There was definitely a huge difference: highways were broad, cars were new, no garbage on the road, definitely very few cars out and almost no motos. Highways was super smooth and some really nice high rise buildings, cool architecture and we saw what we thought was a huge palace like building which ended up being the prime minister's residence. Neat glimpse for us...unplanned, but oh, well :)
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