Since my Vietnam trip was cut short due to my visa troubles, I only had one full day to explore Ho Chi Minh City. During the day, HCMC was unbearably hot and sunny compared to the previous cities I had visited, but the motorbike traffic was less intimidating than in Hanoi. I wish I had more time to explore the city, but I did get a glimpse of its thriving nightlife. I didn’t get much sleep here as I stayed in a very noisy Airbnb, no doubt a result of neighboring families gathering for late-night dinners and drinks to prepare with the rest of the country for the upcoming New Year celebrations.
Phố đi bộ Bùi Viện – Bui Vien Walking Street
I spent my full day in the city visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels, a vast, seventy-five-mile long network of tunnels that runs underneath the city and was notably used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War.
While the content of this day trip was sobering, my guide was quite the opposite. A loquacious and jovial middle-aged man with a permanent smile on his face, he never missed an opportunity to spread juicy gossip about the country.
On the bus ride to the tunnels, our guide told us about the emerging LGBT scene in Vietnam. It’s still taboo, and gay marriage isn’t legal here, but Vietnam is becoming more progressive, especially compared to its far more conservative neighboring countries. Homosexuality is gaining ‘acceptance’ largly as a way of enticing Western tourists who would otherwise feel unsafe/uncomfortable visiting the country.
The Cu Chi Tunnels feel more like a theme park than a war memorial. While the experience was sobering, much of the spectacle is meant for entertainment versus education. Small holes around the area were used by Viet Cong used to hide from US soldiers and enter the tunnel. Your experience begins by being offered the chance to get into the hole (if you can fit), be covered with a wood plank and some leaves, and be recorded popping out with a big smile so you can upload it to your Instagram feed. The atrocities that happened here were being downplayed, but maybe it’s just my American guilt clouding my experience.
The tunnels are quite a feat. When US soldiers tried to flood the tunnels, the Viet Cong were prepared. The tunnels have holes leading to the river so water couldn’t accumulate.
I had the opportunity to crawl through a small network of tunnels, which is not for the faint of heart. Most of the tunnel has to be crawled through on hands and knees (especially if you’re 5’9 like I am), and the throng of tourists made for a claustrophobic experience, with people stopping ahead of you and behind you with nowhere to go. Several people immediately had to back out and leave after realizing how narrow the network wass.
The ingenuity of the Viet Cong is showcased in many ways here, with the guide sharing stories of tobacco smoke and chili peppers being used to sting dogs’ noses so they couldn’t be sniffed out, and the variety of gruesome traps set for any unsuspecting soldier to meet horrendous injury or death. While morbid, it was still interesting to see how a group like the Viet Cong fought back without the huge military funding that the US has.
After going through the tunnels, we visited my least favorite place in the memorial – the shooting range. The range, unfortunately, is located right next to the food vendors, meaning anyone like myself who would prefer to relax instead of shooting assault rifles or machine guns, still had to listen to the whole ordeal. And it was LOUD. Gunshots rang through the entire park. I had tried to order food, but being it’s already difficult enough to order when you don’t speak the language, it was even more impossible when you can’t hear anything they’re saying. I understand the appeal, but again, it felt like a war memorial was an odd place for it.
After visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels, we ordered some fresh coconuts and headed for the Mekong River Delta. We visited a few, small islands along the delta, paddling through on small fishing boats. Coconut candy is a popular delicacy with tourists, and even as someone who isn’t crazy about sweets, I can’t describe how good it was. These little candies are a perfect combo of buttery and sweet. I bought a package and ate almost half of it before getting back to town. We also tried ‘snake wine’, which tasted similar to tequila but made from a venomous snake dissolved in liquor.
As we headed back into the city, our guide spoke about the much anticipated New Year’s celebrations in Vietnam the following week. On January 23, the day I flew out of HCMC, Vietnam had its first confirmed case of Coronavirus, and the country’s celebrations were canceled.
As I tried to stay ahead of the virus, I headed to my next stop: Indonesia.