Jackie Chan's Tunnel Vision

Hello! Still no photos for you, but at least we made it on to blogger. There is an identity-blocking website you can use to access 'forbidden' sites here... Ho Chi Minh you can't see us now!

On Sunday we went to the Cu Chi tunnels and the Cao Dai temple, with our intrepid guide "Jackie". Jackie had long flowing hair that was both alluring and repulsive at the same time (you sort of wanted to run your fingers through it and then run screaming). Jackie worked for the Navy Seals during the war, and lived to tell the tale, quite emotionally, every day on his tours. The VietCong imprisoned him for three years after the US troops left.

The VietCong were pretty crafty - they dug miles of tunnels underground to hide from the French and then the Americans. We crawled through a modified, and widened for the American chassis, version of the tunnels. Pretty scary, even without the sound of B52s buzzing overhead. We saw bomb craters and survived demonstrations of lethal booby traps set by the VietCong for American troops. It was the War of American Agression version of Disneyland. Our visit culminated at the shooting range, where we unloaded a few rounds from an M16. That was Sarah's favorite part, obviously.

Prior to the tunnels we visited the Cao Dai temple - an ornate and colorful temple on beautiful grounds. The Cao Dai religion borrowed their favorite aspects of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism and threw in some rather random appointed Divine Agents, or patron saints - Shakespeare, Joan of Arc, Vladimir Lenin, and Charlie Chaplin, to name a few. The worshippers all dressed in white robes and the holy men and women in blue, red or yellow robes. None seemed bothered by the throngs of tourists snapping pictures from the balcony as they chanted in prayer.

Monday was Mekong Delta tour day. Three hour drive up the valley, and then we took a river boat throughout the Delta. The floating markets were the highlight - loads of fishermen's boats selling everything you can imagine all bustling around the 'marketplace'. The shores of the muddy water were crowded with small houses on stilts, pretty much just how National Geographic portrayed it. We visited different areas that specialized in production of different products. We saw: a honey factory/bee hive, a rice factory, and the coconut candy factory. Rice paper and coconut wood chopsticks for all!!

We got back from the Delta, dirty and stinky, at 7:30PM, grabbed some Banh Mi sandwiches, and boarded the sleeper bus to Nha Trang. The bus was definitely a few decades old but otherwise pretty awesome, with a reclining bed for each person. Actually the best sleep we've gotten yet, as the prior two nights we had a discotech jamming all night right outside of our window and mattress coils jabbing us in all spots. Another highlight of the night- we stopped at a roadside cafe at midnight and used our first squat toilet! TP is unheard of here.

We arrived in the beach town of Nha Trang at 6 this morning, and spent the day in pursuit of Banana Shakes, hanging out at the (beautiful for this point in the trip) beach, and enjoying the (relative) peacefulness of small town life. Milestone: we finally built up enough courage to sit on plastic chairs out on the street with the locals and order Pho for breakfast. Delicious, and at $.75 a pop not a bad deal. Lunch was 'roll your own', a smorgasboard of vegetables, meat, and saucy stuff to create the Vietnamese version of a fajita. Loved it, waiting for dysentery to strike due to the fresh veggies in the rollies.

And now we're waiting to get back on the overnight bus at our home-away-from-home for the day, Brothers Cafe tour agency. We took uninvited showers in their bathroom this morning after our bus ride...did you know that showers here are in the same room as the toilet and sink? As in, there is no seperate shower stall or bathtub. You turn on the shower, and it flows onto the same floor that ou stand on to brush your teeth or use the toilet. Cool! It's like this everywhere- restaurants, offices, hotels.

Hoi An, here we come. Going to get some clothes made!