"I love the smell of napalm in the morning!"-- Appocolypse Now

Today was fairly exciting. First, we headed out to the Cu Chi tunnels, which is where the Viet Cong dug tunnels really deep to fight the U.S.

On the way out there, we passed all sorts of rice patties… the first picture is pretty cool b/c you can see the people in the background working in the field while the guy is passing by on his moto.

Oh, and a tree farm…

We passed all sorts of craters… which at first I mistook for bomb craters… but turns out they were just quarries.

The First thing we saw once we got there was bomb crater created by a B-52

Now check out this millipede… these things were EVERYWHERE… they are scary beasts… no I’m being totally serious… seriously… no laughing… I can usually handle bugs… just not these guys… they’re poisonous you know. Heehee… *side note to leslie* remember when we looked up the differences between centipedes and millipedes… yeah… that doesn’t help w/ my dislike of the thing.

This here is one of the main entrances into the tunnels… Its pretty small

They had on display the different types of traps they used during the war in the jungle

This here is a tank that got stuck in the mud

I just thought this was a cool jungle path; along with some cool jungle viney things

And this is pretty cool… in order to not disclose their location, when they cooked, the smoke went through a smaller tunnel and outside at completely different area.

I crawled through 100 meters of tunnel... needless to say, i'm wicked dirty. No Dad, there will be no hostel's in the tunnels, though I did suggest it.

Also got to drink some rice wine ( which tastes like bread). And here is a lady making rice paper.

There was also this guy making sandals out of old tires.

But the really wild thing we all did was fire AK-47's... heeheehee... Needless to say, I didn't hit anything, but I came pretty close...

When we got back to the city, we had lunch at Pho 2000, where Clinton had lunch in 2000. Not too bad... but i'm not too keen on the amount of mint that is used in the food. Pho is actually a type of rice noodle soup… after a while you get used to the mint, lemon grass, and ginger that’s in all the food here.

Afterwards we went on a cyclo tour of the city.... a cyclo is a cart that is pushed by a bike...

Which is kinda terrifying here. Please note the oncoming traffic in our lanes… or us blatantly going into oncoming traffic.

We saw a few of the same sights I had seen earlier… just at a different angle (the opera house and Notre Dame Cathedral)

And we actually went inside the General Post office that had a huge picture of Ho Chi Minh (Uncle Ho) and some pretty neat maps.

The entire city was decked out in these red communist flags… and you wouldn’t believe how many wires and cables they have … so I took pictures.

And this here is the coolest Catholic church EVER.
My roommate and I then hit up the market, where I finally bought my chopsticks. My haggling skills are in full force... which is good for me... b/c I'm cheap.
Tonight we're headed for the circus, and possibly massages, b/c they are 1-2$ an hour.Oh, and I'm definately the rough looking American on our trip. Actually I'm the only American. The rest are mostly Brits and Aussies... and I think one Irish, but I'm not sure. I don't think anyone can understand me... which is sad... but I'm getting used to all the accents...Oh... and the Vietnamese way of saying "cheers" is "yo"

Haha, that was a funny paragraph… in truth we did not go to the circus, nor did I get a massage… We went to this rooftop club called Saigon, Saigon… of course as we pull up there are all these people who are decked out in fancy dress… and we’re all looking like … well… tourists. But it was a good time with fun entertainment, strong drinks, and a good view of the city.

Awesome city view

Strong drinks

Rachel, Louise, and Kat

Me and Jen

A first glimpse at the new group

And here now is the actual breakdown of the group… which I guess I should have done earlier… but oh’wll… Our tour guide is a Vietnamese guy named Thinh… who was kind of a trip. I actually had two roommates, and kept bouncing back and forth between the two… The first was Rachel, a brit in her early 30’s that I got on with, the other was a Kiwi named Louise… and older woman, very eccentric, with tons of great stories about her life. Helena, another Brit was a year older than me. Kat and and Tony are another set of Brits about my age (but a few months younger, making me not the youngest). Helen and Matt, yet another British couple a few years older. Quinton, the token single guy, Irish, and a bit older. And Laura, a Canadian, who ended up throwing out her back and leaving early.