22.5. – 24.5.2023
On Monday we changed cities again, this time by plane. A flight of just under two hours took us from Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh. Luckily it was a domestic flight, so immigration checks etc. weren’t as tight as on international flights. We had been warned that due to the size of the airport, security checks and border control for international flights take forever.
We hopped in a taxi at the airport and were quickly at the Orchids Hotel. No one was really keen to explore the city, so we only went to Jollibee for quick snack (brought back some memories from the Philippines), supermarket and laundry. All of these were within a short walking distance from our hotel. Marko and the kids also went out in the evening to test out the hotel pool.
On Tuesday afternoon we took the Hop on Hop off bus to explore Ho Chi Minh City. We had previously checked that the sights of the city were mainly focused on the Vietnam War and the history of the country. We adults aren’t too interested in military history and the kids have time to learn about it when they get older, so we were happy to just sit on the bus and listen to the English audio guide. As a fun detail from the audio guide, there are about 8.5 million scooters in Ho Chi Minh. That’s quite a large number considering that the city has a population of just over 10 million.
After the bus ride, we had dinner at an excellent Italian restaurant before returning to the hotel for the rest of the day. This time we have actually stayed in our hotel rooms. Usually we use them only for sleeping.
On Wednesday, we set off early again, much to the delight of the children. This time we visited the Cu Chi tunnels of the Vietnam war and the Mekong River. The drive to the tunnels took a little over an hour, so we had to leave at 8am. Once we arrived, our guide Ben gave us a tour of the area and briefly explained the history of the Vietnam war. We got to see the network of tunnels dug by Viet Cong, the armed communist organization that fought against the South Vietnamese and US forces supporting them. The network of tunnels is about 250km long, but only about 150km of it has been discovered. No further attempts are being made to find more tunnels, as those who would know the exact location of the tunnels are already dead. The tunnels are full of various traps, so it is not safe to explore them any further.
The tunnels were surprisingly narrow, only 40cmx40cm. The secret entrances were even narrower. For tourists, one of the entrances in the area had been widened so that even a medium-sized Western tourist could fit through it. This entrance was 50% wider than the original ones. We could try to enter the bunker if we wanted to. And of course we wanted to try. It was super easy for the kids, but Marko’s guerrilla career came to an end when his shoulders couldn’t fit through the opening. Jaana managed to squeeze through the hole, but coming up from the bunker was another story. Because the opening was so tight, it was impossible to push up from the floor of the bunker. Jaana’s biceps muscle training has also been pretty scarce lately, so there she was, standing chest-deep in the bunker, unable to get up. Apparently this happens now and then, as two guides immediately jumped in to help. So she’s not guerrilla material either.
Later we got to test a 100m section through a tunnel that had been renovated for tourists. This was a very luxurious tunnel, with lights, air conditioning and concrete walls. The tunnel was also much wider than 40cmX40cm. Even so, Marko had to bear-walk the whole way. Jaana was also walking quite bent over, but at least she didn’t have to use her hands to crawl in the tunnel. The children, on the other hand, went through the tunnel squatting like the Viet Cong guerrillas.
Even thought the distance was no longer than 100m, we were sweating like pigs. It’s incomprehensive that the guerrillas lived in these tunnels for the last ten years of the war. Back then, the tunnels were dark, damp, hot and filled with snakes, scorpions and spiders. The tunnels stank also of sweat and bodily waste, because there were no toilets in the tunnel network.
In addition to the tunnels, we were shown many gruesome traps that Viet Cong used during the war in the jungle. Ronja did not want to listen to a more detailed explanation of how the traps worked, so she went a bit further. Risto listened to the explanations, but (hopefully) didn’t quite understand everything that was said.
The route also passed by a shooting range. Risto had been hoping to try shooting, and his disappointment was palpable when the guide told him that children were not allowed to shoot. Marko would also have liked to try a Kalashnikov or an M-16 assault rifle, but in the end, none of our group paid to go shooting because the shooting range was pretty poor. The million-year-old weapons were fixed in place, so tourists could basically just walk up to the weapon, pull the trigger, and there was a puff of dirt going off somewhere.
From the Cu Chi tunnels we continued on to the more relaxing scenery of the Mekong River. First we visited a small island where coconut candy was made. We got to taste them, but to our disappointment they didn’t taste very good. At the same place we got snake wine again, this time under the name “Happy Wine”. Jaana was also given a glass, so there was no other option but to gulp the drink down her throat. Not her favourite drink for sure.
Next, we continued our journey to the garden, where we were shown a variety of local fruits. We also got to taste some of them. In addition to the familiar pineapple and mango, the table was set with sapodilla, jackfruit, dragon fruit and guava. We had already tasted dragon fruit and guava in a few hotels, but sapodilla and jackfruit were new to us.
From the garden, we took a two kilometer boat ride along a narrow canal back to a larger boat waiting for us. The paddling boat was quite a wobbly one, so it was better to sit very still and in the middle of the boat, if you didn’t want to end up swimming in the brown water in the canal.
Back in Ho Chi Minh, we ended up eating again at the same restaurant as the day before. The staff remembered us, so the kids got dessert ice creams for free this time too. Then it was time to go back to the hotel to pack our bags, as the next day we were in for another change of scenery as we took the bus to Cambodia.