SATA Vietnam 2006 Blog

Ho Chi Minh city was more modern in many ways than Hanoi. The streets were less hectic because of greater use of traffic lights. It was also cleaner in that the curbs of the streets aren't filled with garbage. There are also numerous KFCs in HCMC; in Hanoi there are no fast food restaurants. But not all of HCMC is like this. On our day off I decided to go to the Cholon area. Cholon is where the Chinatown is located. I took a bus from near our hotel to Cholon so that I could see how the locals get there. There was a dramatic difference between the touristy area around our hotel and Cholon. It was far more similar to Hanoi than the rest of the city. The streets were crowded with motorbikes, garbage, and more people. Every storefront in Cholon had goods overflowing onto the sidewalk -- just like in Hanoi. In Chinatown I visited a few pagodas and a major market. The market was the largest I have seen in Vietnam, so far. Although you could buy goods like at any other market, it seemed as though this market also dealt in wholesale. Many goods were bundled together in large quantities.

Of the three days we spent in HCMC, we spent one day visiting the Cu Chi tunnels, which are located an hour or so from the city. In the town of Cu Chi, the Viet Cong had dug an extensive network of tunnels as part of the resistance against the Americans. We got to crawl through these tunnels (which had been enlarged for Western bodies) and see the different kinds of underground facilities: radio rooms, hospitals, kitchens (all of which were underground). Now, I'm not a very big person but even I had a hard time moving in these tunnels. I was duck-walking the entire time and bent over. It was incredibly hot inside and completely pitch black. The longest tunnel we went through was around 50 meters. The whole experience was fascinating because of the importance the tunnels played in the Vietnamese resistance.

Now I'm in Nha Trang which sits on the beach. We've been here two days and have spent the entire time relaxing and taking in the sun! Yesterday we all went out on a boat and snorkeled around an island. We saw lots of colorful fish and the coral. The beach and water are absolutely beautiful.

Tomorrow we'll get back on the road and head towards Hoi An and then Hue.