The path to Enlightenment

I figured in advance that today was to be all about enlightenment.  I was pleased to be right.  We took off early today because we were heading into the northwest, about 90 kms out of Ho Chi Minh City.  We were reminded all too quickly of where we were because even early morning the traffic here is nuts.  Very few cars on the roads - really only the little tour buses, a few taxis and a handful of cars.  I know Ive already mentioned it but there seem to be a bazillion motorcyclists getting around.  Vietnam is home to 90 million people, and 9 million of those live in HCMC itself.  And Id hazard a guess that most of that 9 million own a motorcycle and that the majority of those were out on the roads this am.  The traffic lights are hard to see because they are halfway down the posts they're on - kinda at eye height if your on a bike.  They use the countdown to light changing thing that most Asian countries seem to.  The only thing is that if you're in the lane turning right you can ignore the red light and keep going through!!

A snapshot of the traffic today from our van


First stop today was at the Cu Chi Tunnels.  Before stepping out of the van we armed ourselves with anti bug spray and these funky little badges also to scare away mossies.  This place was down a very long road in a tropical forest - a haven for little nippers.

The place itself was really quite eerie considering it played such an important part in the American War.  It really only took a few minutes to understand why Post Traumatic Stress features so heavily amongst those men who served here.  The villages made this massive underground tunnel system that was in some areas four levels deep.  They could pop out in one spot and then vanish only to reappear elsewhere like a ghost.  In the thick vegetation with no light it would have been terrifying.  It was really hot and steamy and with all the tropical forest they would have felt smothered.  We had quite a long walk around looking at some of the bunkers and bomb craters and tunnel entrances.  They have an American tank that was pretty well just abandoned after it struck a landmine, typical that they'd think a tank would work here in the jungle.

There was a whole collection of booby traps that they made with all kinds of metal and wood designed purely to trap and maim the American soldiers trying to find them.  Trouble was that they also got their own people as the whole area was very easy to get disorientated in - so much so that they really stayed in their own little areas so they didn't stumble upon their own traps or landmines.  They were really quite clever, not just about the very creative ways they found to take out their enemy.  Cooking was something that they needed to do, but it posed great risk as it could give away their location.  So, they created smoke vents that were 10's of metres away from their bunkers so even if that was found by the sniffer dogs there was certainly no guarantee of finding the source.  Likewise with the dirt that they removed from the tunnels - clearly a great pile of clayish mud would be a giveaway.  Instead they created "termite mounds" and filled in river beds so the soil just kinda vanished.  Amazing.

There was one  40 metre section that had been widened so that visitors could get a closer look.  Of course Nate (and then of course his mum) wanted to climb down into it to get a better look.  Nate could barely stand in it, and I had no hope of getting through as my shoulders got stuck even being bent over.

The highlight for Tony was his chance to fire off some rounds from an AK-47.  At $15 for 10 bullets he thought it was a bargain.  The rest of us were shocked about how noisy it was.  There were some other tourists that were using a 50 cal machine gun that certainly made the ground rumble.  Nate was terrified the whole time we were near the firing range - I think he must have very sensitive ears.  They were soothed by an ice cream though (thanks grandies!).

Pew Pew video footage

Overall it was a very thought provoking visit.  Not often you get to spend time where many people lost their lives in such horrible conditions. 

Back in the van and another 45 minute drive onto the Tay Ninh province to the Cao Dai Holy See Temple.  On the way to it I'm pretty sure that we were all thinking we could just skip it as we've seen pretty much all types of temples here.  So wrong.  This place is amazing.  The religion itself is very complex (wiki link).  Its actually relatively new, 1930's - some dude woke after being contacted by god in his dreams to create this religion and build this temple.  It certainly caught on and is the main religion in these provinces.  I guess to describe it, it has 'borrowed' tenets from Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism and Confusicsm.  The followers pray to a great big gold ball with an eye painted on it that sees all.  The devout pray 4 times a day - 6 hours apart.  We arrived just before 12 so got to roam around the non restricted part of the temple.  A couple of minutes before 12 we were ushered upstairs by these cranky wizened up little old worshippers who were more like ancient military police (or something out of Big Trouble In Little China).  The prayer service is quite long and can go for 50 minutes - they were all lined up, sitting on the floor chanting and swaying.

After feeding our souls it was off to another little restaurant to feed our bellies with yummy Vietnamese food.  Once that was done there was nothing left but to snooze during the 2 hour ride back to the hotel.  Such a great day and the last of our touring days here.  Ive learned a lot about southern Vietnam but am certainly aware of how much more there is to learn.

The last photo here is Nate with our driver and tour guide - hes a bit sad to say good bye to them after getting to know them over the last 3 days, but then thought that when we come back here again we can just order them up again!