Saigon from the back of a motor bike

To finish off my two weeks in Vietnam, I headed down to Saigon, aka Ho Chi Minh City for two days.  I was really lucky in that I was able to experience the city through the eyes of locals and get out of the backpacker culture for a few days...one of my mom's friends from work has relatives that live in the city, and they welcomed me with open arms.  Instead of staying in a hostel and exploring on foot and bus with other tourists, I was the passenger on the back of a motor bike for two days - seeing the city through the eyes of a local and rarely seeing another foreigner.

I was greeted at the airport by Thanh and he had brought me beautiful flowers from his family as a welcome present.  We then jumped on his motor bike (somehow with all of my packs) and headed to drop me off at a hotel around the corner from their home and meet his parents.  They also had an adorable little dog, Tete, who was amazing to play with.  Tete and I obviously hit it off, which was apparently abnormal for strangers, so his dad started calling me part of the family....such a great welcome to their home!  After that Thanh and I went to his favorite pho spot for dinner where the owner chatted with us for the entire meal.

The next morning, we set out bright and early at 6am for the Cu Chi tunnels because it got sweltering hot by midday and we had a 90 min motorbike ride in each direction.  Wow, my butt was sore after that but those hours definitely made me infinitely more comfortable with the organized chaos of navigating Vietnam roads.  The Cu Chi tunnels have become famous because they are an extensive network of tunnels stretching from Saigon to the Cambodian border that helped the Viet Cong forces control a large rural area near the capital city.  Because we had started so early, we beat all the tourists and we essentially got a private tour. First we watched a quick movie about the history and use of the tunnels.  This was a little bizarre because there were some definite anti-American sentiments.  A sample quote... "Like a crazy bunch of devils, the Americans fired on schools, children, pots and pans and even Buddhas." We then went on a tour of the area...

"My hips don't lie" - this entrance to a bunker was a tight squeeze!

The cavity carved out in the ground by a big American B52 bomb.  While this one happened to be marked, chances are you could look around you and see another one within a 25 meter radius.

Me in one of the level 1 tunnels - I don't look it but it was incredibly claustrophobic and pretty scary being down there.  Not a lot of light, super hot, and I had to struggle to get through some places.  Oh, and there were bats.  Awesome.  The crazy part is that the level 1 tunnels are 9 feet underground, but there are also levels 2 and 3 which are 18 and 30 feet underground respectively...all of these were built by the Cu Chi people with tiny garden hoe like hand shovels.

-chilling in the captains quarters

After the tunnels, we visited the nearby memorial honoring all of the Vietnamese solider that lost their lives in the war.  It was an incredibly beautiful memorial with a huge statue of Ho Chi Minh in the center where the Vietnamese lit toss sticks to show their respects to him and their fallen countrymen.  Like many of the rest of the big memorials, shoes and pictures weren't allowed, but Thanh somehow convinced the guards to let me snap a quick shot :). 

Entrance to the memorial

I'm obsessed with the dragons...

Sneak peek inside the memorial at the golden statue of Ho Chi Minh.  The walls are inscribed with the names of the Vietnamese soldiers who died in the war. 

We made it!

After a full morning at the tunnels, we headed back for the long journey back to Saigon where we spent the rest of the day relaxing.   Later that night Thanh took me on a tour of the city followed by dinner and ice cream to cool off (Saigon is the same latitude same as parts of Columbia and Venezuela - aka it's sweltering, even in the beginning of May!)

On our final day together, I treated Thanh and his parents for breakfast at one of their favorite dim sum restaurants - it was $7 total for a delicious feast for four!

Us at breakfast!

mmm, so delicious!  They called the bread stick things "Chinese doughnuts" - you dip them in the soup and its amazing!

Thanh and I then went to the Jade Pagoda, a gem among Chinese temples representing both Buddhist and Taoist traditions. I actually thought we were in the wrong spot because I didn't see another foreigner - instead the multi room complex was filled smoke, elaborate statures and many Vietnamese who had come to show respect by praying and lighting joss sticks for the statues representing their divinities.  It was an incredibly cool experience and I was able to discretely take a few pictures after I saw a Vietnamese woman doing the same.

What you were greeted by when you walked in - as you'll see in these pictures, the combination of the light streaming through the rafters and the smoke made for a really cool atmosphere....

The main statue

Another view of the main one - it was magnificent!

Joss sticks burning on the roof - a very quite, meditative space where no one else was!

Another one of the many worshiping areas

Our next stop was the Vietnam War Remnants Museum.  This was really sad to see, especially as an American - obviously we learned about the Vietnam War in school and how it was not a good thing to be involved in, but seeing the story from the other side was quite the experience.  Maybe I just have a bad memory, but I had no idea that 3M Vietnamese people were killed; it's such a huge number of people for such a small country.  I think the hardest part for me was the real life evidence of the terrible effects of agent orange.  In addition to the exhibit displaying pictures of the victims of agent orange, they had about 5-6 real people sitting in the museum lobby who had been severely affected by this chemical (no pictures of this for obvious reasons). Those who were directly exposed were (relatively) better off than their offspring...apparently agent orange is a carcinogen that also affects a person's germ cells and thus their children and grandchildren were the ones born with serious functional and cognitive defects.  Given the amount of destruction that they experienced, its quite amazing to see how Vietnam recovered and moved on.  And as a visiting American, I felt welcomed and respected everywhere I went.  Below are a few pics of the American fighter planes on display at the museum...

Finally, Thanh and I topped off our city tour with a quick stop at the Ben Thanh markets.  This is mostly a place where tourists come to shop for cheap goods but locals shop on the edges to pick up fresh produce and more interestingly, fresh meats!  Here are some pics from the market...

After a busy day of seeing more of the city, Thanh and his father took me to the airport to see me off - I feel incredibly fortunate to have met their beautiful family and spent my last few days in Vietnam as more of a local.  A huge thanks to Kim Nguyen back in huge states for coordinating :)  Here are some scenes from the back of the motor bike, mostly to terrify my mother :).  Thanks again for everything Thanh - miss you all already!

 
Next stop....Siem Reap, Cambodia for Angkor Wat and the temple complexes!