A glimpse of Vietnam (Part 2)

Assalamualaikum,

"Harimau mati meninggalkan belang, manusia mati meninggalkan nama..."

As I promised, here goes the 2nd part my tour in Vietnam. In the 1st part, i've told mainly about shopping experience there. So, in this part, i want to focus on the tourist sightseeing place that i visited. Unfortunately, we didn't have the opportunity to visit many places, so we just visited 1 place which is Cu Chi Tunnel.

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A glimpse of Vietnam- Cu Chi Tunnel Experience...

A brief introduction : (took from Wikipedia)

The tunnels of Củ Chi are an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Củ Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam, and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country. The Củ Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War, and were the Viet Cong's base of operations for the Tết Offensive in 1968.

The tunnels were used by Viet Cong guerrillas as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters. The role of the tunnel systems should not be underestimated in its importance to the Viet Cong in resisting American operations and protracting the war, eventually culminating in an American withdrawal.

We went there on Thursday, 17th of March 2011. There's a pickup van that took us from hotel and to their headquarters. From there, we travelled by bus straight to Cu Chi Tunnel which took us about 1 and a half hours from Ho Chi Minh City to Cu Chi Tunnel.

Once there, we gathered around to buy tickets and that was the time i realized that we are the only Muslim Malaysian in the group. There's other who's from Japan, Belgium, Dubai, Australia and so on.

We toured around the area while listening to our tour guide explained about the place. Bla...bla....bla.....

The entrance to the tunnel that was used by the Vietnamese during the Vietcong War

I've entered it....with a smile

My mum's standing beside another entrance

Standing beside half-destroyed tank by the American soldiers

Took a picture with a wax Vietnamese soldier

Our group, exactly like 'tawanan perang'

While inside the tunnel, there're some light at the beginning, but the lights became dimmer and dimmer until all went black. It's damn dark and i can't see a thing. I can't even see my hands while i'm crawling....seriously, it's tooooo dark. So, whoever afraid of dark, or maybe have some kind of disease such as heart attack, or high blood are advisable not to enter the tunnel!!!

Unfortunately, i didn't snap any picture while inside the tunnel because it's too dark and my camera flash isn't working (kamera lama la katakan)....so, here's just a few picture that i've snap right after we got out.

Safely got out from the tunnel....

I don't know what's the name of this weird swirling tree....

We're being treated an ubi kayu and tea after the tunnel exploration finished

After we've finally got out of the tunnel safely, we were served an ubi kayu but they call it 'tapioca' and a tea. After all, we are SEA (South East Asian) country, we had a same type of meal during the war period.

Our adventures for that day had come to an end....we gathered again to ride the bus back to Ho Chi Minh City. Our journey for that days last around 6 hours. At 2.30 in the evening, we finally arrived back to our precious hotel.

My uncle, Pak Cik HCM (Ho Chi Minh)

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Selingan, Others non-related stuff, その他 ：

Since i'm a car enthusiasm, let me being sincere.....during my 5 days in Vietnam, eventhough the amount of motorcycle is far greater than car, but cars in Vietnam mostly are high-end cars. From what i have saw, BMW 5 & 7 series and Mercedes Benze S350, S600 are just like proton in Malaysia. They're everywhere. This shows that eventhough Vietnam is 'negara dunia ke-3' but the lifestyle of the Vietnamese is high-end. Maybe this can only be applied to the 'rich' there.

Plus, for my luck, i've got a chance to see world most & 2nd most expensive cars in the world. Right in front of my eyes.....right here, in Vietnam!!!

Rolls Royce Phantom : Most expensive car

Hummer Limousine : 2nd most expensive car

*p/s : The rank of expensiveness of the car is categorize by the brand of cars.
*p/s : The picture above was not taken in Vietnam as i didn't have time to snap it. I just took ot from the web....but it's true that i saw both of it in Vietnam

These are the others two car that i should show to all of you. Porsche Panamera: 1st 4-doors sports car and an antique car (don't know the name of it).

THE END (My travel diary)