My portion of this overseas trip would pick up in Ho Chi Minh City after Liz had already spent several days in Vietnam. The first obstacle was reaching Southeast Asia in the first place, almost as far away as it's possible to travel from our home in the Washington DC area. I was leaving on a Tuesday morning which started in normal enough fashion by taking our son to his daycare, with my parents scheduled to watch him for the week that I'd be traveling. Then I took the very long metro ride from our house out to Dulles Airport which locals know is way, way out in the Virginia suburbs. I made it to the airport with enough time to get lunch before my noon flight:
I was flying on Korean Air for this trip, with a direct flight from Washington DC to Seoul followed by a second flight from Seoul to Ho Chi Minh City. That initial flight lasted for about 15 hours followed by the second flight taking another six hours and made for an exceptionally long travel day. With all of the time zone changes involved, I was officially leaving at noon local time on a Tuesday and arriving in Vietnam at 11:30 PM on a Wednesday, losing about half a day in the process. Because I was flying westward for the whole trip, the sun actually never set over the course of the flight until right around the time that I touched down in Seoul. That allowed me to capture the picture above of a snow-covered portion of the Alaskan wilderness en route from my window seat, although most of the flight took place over cloud cover or over parts of the Pacific Ocean with nothing to see. The one saving grace was the amenities on the Korean Air flights, which had an outstanding selection of movies and television shows to watch along with several excellent meals. Korean Air was also noteworthy for having a K-Pop band do the video safety briefing before taking off which I would see four different times over the course of this trip.
As mentioned above, I transfered through Seoul where I had about an hour's worth of layover time before the second flight brought me to Ho Chi Minh City itself. I touched down at 11:30 PM local time into a bustling airport which did not reflect the late hours at all. Unfortunately I had been stuck at the back end of the airplane and therefore was one of the last individuals to get in line at customs which had these gargantuan queues backed up. There was nothing to do but wait for the next 60 minutes until I reached the front of the line, just what I wanted to be doing after traveling nonstop for the last 28 hours. I had only slept a little bit on the planes as I was trying to adjust to the time zone changes and I was pretty exhausted by this point. Eventually I made it through the lines and hired a taxi to take me to the hotel where Liz was staying in the downtown. Before leaving, I had earlier converted some money into the local Vietnamese Dong currency just so that I would be able to pay this fare, only to find that the driver asked to be paid in US Dollars at the end! I could have saved myself that trip to the currency exchange, heh. I made it to the hotel just after 1:00 AM and went to sleep almost immediately after meeting up with Liz.
We were staying at the Bach Suites Saigon hotel, a very nice if slightly cramped place to stay located just a few blocks away from the heart of the downtown. These pictures were taken in the morning to capture the small entrance and elegantly decorated lobby area which seemed to be intended to cater to Western visitors. The best part of this hotel was the complimentary breakfasts that it served, however, which we were able to enjoy on several different mornings. The hotel staff served up a full hot meal each time, with different variations on each day, including this morning when they were featuring different types of omelettes. I enjoyed feasting on bacon, sausage, fresh bread, and a curry dish with rice while Liz took advantage of the custom-order omelettes. We were also finally able to talk to each other a bit after my late arrival the previous night, before once again having to split up while Liz headed off to her work event.
The Bach Suites Saigon also featured this rooftop pool up on the top floor of its vertically-designed building. While this was a small pool that wasn't too well suited for exercise, it made up for that with its impressive views looking out over the rest of the city. We took some pictures in the early morning and then I came back one night in the evening to take an actual swim and get the nighttime perspective as well. There was one other couple present in the pool who left a little bit later, leaving me with the place to myself. It was highly pleasant to float in the water at the end of a long day and soak in the atmosphere of a bustling city all around me.
Anyway, those pictures of the hotel were slightly out of sequence and taken over the course of our stay there. As far as Thursday morning itself, I had a tour scheduled to take me outside of Ho Chi Minh City to see the Cu Chi Tunnels and the Mekong Delta. These were popular tourist attractions and there were a whole bunch of different tours that would take visitors to one or both of these destinations. The tour that I had booked left early in the morning, picking me up around 7:30 AM, as I found myself sharing a van with five other tourists. We had one Canadian, two British men who lived in Cornwall, and then a couple from Richmond, Virginia only an hour's drive away from where I lived - small world sometimes. The tour operator drove us through the northern suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City and stopped after about an hour at this handicraft operation. It specifically hired Vietnamese individuals who had some kind of disability and made various sorts of artwork which were then offered for sale to the tourists who arrived. We were given a short tour around this building, and while the artwork certainly looked nice enough, I wasn't really interested in any part of this tourist trap. There were a series of other tours arriving and departing the whole time that we were here so this is clearly a popular spot to bring the foreigners.
Another half hour's drive brought the tour van to the Cu Chi Tunnels themselves. This refers to the series of underground hideouts used by the Viet Cong in their long struggle against South Vietnam and the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. The tunnel network was extremely extensive and stretched for hundreds of miles, allowing Viet Cong soldiers to strike at military targets and then seemingly vanish back into the jungles where their underground hideouts were located. Today the tunnels have been preserved and transformed into a major tourist attraction which all of the various travel guides had suggested was a top attraction to see. Our guide provided a background overview on the military conflict and then took the group to see this booby trap with spikes at the bottom. It was colored bright green and fenced off for safety now, but back in the day it would have been nearly invisible until stepping on it triggered a fall down into the sharp punji sticks.
Nearby was one of the preserved entrances to the tunnel network. When covered with the fallen leaves that were everywhere in this jungle, it was impossible to tell apart from any other random portion of the landscape. The forest debris concealed a small wooden trapdoor leading down into the underground tunnels, with visitors allowed to try their hand at climbing in and out of the opening. This entrance was clearly not designed with Westerners in mind, as the average height of the Vietnamese is still a lot shorter even today; it was very noticeable how much shorter most people were compared to me throughout my time in Vietnam. This entrance was simply too small for several of the large men in our tour group to fit inside, though I was able to capture one of the two people from Richmond getting in and out. When it was my turn, I was able to clamber into the little hole although I forget to cover up the trapdoor with leaves which caused our guide to remark "You're dead!" humorously. The inside was a tiny space maybe about two feet / 60 centimeters in height; originally there would have been tunnels leading off but they had been blocked off by the tourism group for safety. This whole thing was wild and demonstrated how difficult it had been for American soldiers to fight against this kind of partisan operation.
From the concealed tunnel entrance, a path wound through the densely forested landscape towards several small exhibits. (I wanted to capture the scenery itself in at least a few photos to provide an impression of what this terrain looked like - not a great place to be conducting military operations.) One of these was an American M41 tank which had been destroyed by a mine in 1970 and then preserved here as a war trophy. The United States tried very hard to discover and stamp out these tunnels without much success, dropping enormous numbers of bombs and killing much of the foliage with Agent Orange and other destructive pesticides. The Viet Cong always seemed to be able to survive though, blending into the civilian population or using their knowledge of the local terrain to escape. It was a reversal of the same situation that the American colonists had found themselves in two centuries earlier in their own war for independence; sometimes being bigger and more powerful doesn't always lead to victory.
These were more exhibits along the main path at Cu Chi, demonstrating more of the deadly traps used by the Viet Cong to defend their tunnel network along with a reconstruction of one of their underground workshops. These workshops took American ordinance, both exploded and unexploded, and disassembled them for use in making improvised explosive devices, what would now be called IEDs. The homemade grenades created by stuffing small jars full of explosive material really stood out to me in this respect. It was definitely a weird feeling visiting this place and seeing these exhibits on the various ways that the Vietnamese had killed Americans just a few decades earlier during my parents' generation. Obviously time has passed since then and Vietnam and the United States have a pretty good relationship these days - but still, kind of a bizarre thing to be seeing as a tourist attraction!
One of the other big attractions here at Cu Chi was the shooting range. For an additional fee not covered in the tour price, visitors could choose to fire one of four different types of military weaponry. Several of these were American guns like the M60 and I believe that at least one of them was a Russian weapon. Those who wanted to fire the guns were given ten rounds of ammunition, and I don't think that most of the visitors understood that a gun like the M60 is fully automatic because many of them were firing off all ten rounds immediately in a single burst. Not a great use of that extra money spent! The gunfire was incredibly loud and could be heard all throughout Cu Chi while being particularly deafening here next to the shooting range. I'm personally not a fan of guns and had no desire to fire any of these weapons myself, instead waiting out the rest of the tour group (almost all of who did want to fire the guns) in the souvenir store.
After leaving the shooting range, we were given the opportunity to enter one of the preserved tunnels itself. This entrance had been reinforced to prevent collapse and expanded with stairs leading down into the tunnel to make it more accessible for visitors. The tunnel was also increased in height to make it easier to pass through; it was originally about 70-75 centimeters when used by the Viet Cong and had been expanded up to about a meter in height for the tourists. I was grateful for that because it was still a pretty tight squeeze even after the expansion; I think it would have been completely impassable for me at its original height. We were given the option of traveling 20 meters through the tunnels and then exiting, or else continuing onwards for 40 meters, 60 meters, 80 meters, or a full 100 meters, each of which had its own exit point. I would have been happy to travel the full 100 meters but the rest of the tour group wanted to leave after the initial 20 meters and I thought it was best to stay with them instead of going off on my own. I generally don't mind tight spaces too much but I would warn anyone who may get claustrophobic that this portion of the attraction is emphatically not for them.
Aside from that main tunnel intended for tourist visitors, there were several other side tunnels that were open to crawl through. I went through two more of these with part of the tour group and had the chance to experience the feeling of being trapped underground for a bit longer. These tunnels led to reconstructions of various underground rooms used by the Viet Cong, including a kitchen and a field hospital. They would have been entirely below the surface at the time but had been opened up to partial sunlight as part of these reconstructions. At the end of this tour around Ch Chi, our tour guide gave us one of the local vegetables to sample which would have been a mainstay of the diet for the Viet Cong. I do not remember what this was called and didn't particularly care for the taste, although that may have been because I was more thirsty than hungry at this point.
Fortunately we were due for lunch which our tour group ate together at this restaurant located right next to the Cu Chi Tunnels attraction. We had a delightful meal featuring salad, chicken curry, and a Vietnamese type of vegetable soup. It was quite hot outside due to south Vietnam's tropical latitude and the chance to sit in the shade and have something cool to drink was very much appreciated. After finishing up with lunch, we had to travel to our next destination in the Mekong Delta which was not close to Cu Chi at all. It took our van about 2.5 hours to make the drive southwards, which was somewhat tedious although it did give me a chance to see more of the landscape. Where this part of Vietnam wasn't buried in jungle, it seemed to consist of wet, low-lying terrain that was prone to flooding and highly suitable for growing rice. Most of the roads we traveled on were also densely populated, with people everywhere and roadside stands selling food all over the place. Vietnam was clearly still growing at an explosive rate, buildings going up everywhere at a rapid pace, much as I imagine the United States would have looked in the early 20th century.
Finally we arrived at the Mekong Delta in the afternoon and unloaded from the tour van at this port terminal. We were disembarking in the city of My Tho at the northern end of the river delta, which had a population of about 275,000 people at the time of writing. The port terminal building were pretty upscale and festively decorated for the winter holidays; we kept seeing lots of Christmas trees during our time in Vietnam which was a bit of a surprise. Just outside the port terminal was the Mekong River itself, one of the world's longest and most densely populated river networks. The river splits into a huge delta here in southwest Vietnam that extends for almost a hundred miles before spilling into the South China Sea. We would only be seeing a small portion of the overall delta, crossing over part of the river to Con Thoi Son ("Unicorn Island") where there were a number of tourist demonstrations intended to provide a sample of what life looked like here.
Our tour guide led us to one of the narrow boats that ply the river here in the Mekong Delta. The traditional gangplank for entry was missing and we actually had to walk across two other boats tied up together to hop down into the boat that we'd be using. Once we were aboard, we were served coconuts to drink the water inside for a bit of refreshment. I don't particularly like coconut-flavored water but beggars couldn't be choosers on a hot day like this. Then we were off, heading across the river to one of the large islands situated in the delta. The Mekong Delta is a major agricultural region in Vietnam, with rice cultivation and fishing as the most common industries. This is an exceptionally fertile area due to its hot temperatures and heavy rainfall though it's been a bit slower to modernize for the same reasons. The Mekong Delta is also a major region to be threatened by climate change as its low-lying nature means that it's highly vulnerable to sea level rise. Everything seems to revolve around the muddy brown waters of the river here and more people travel by boat than by car or bus.
Once we were over on Con Thoi Son, we disembarked from the boat and were taken through a series of tourist demonstrations. The first one showcased local artisans who were making candy out of coconut pulp, crushing the big plants into a paste and then baking it into various sweet treats. This wasn't my favorite kind of candy and I didn't find it tasty enough to buy any (though I have to admit that I'm also kind of a cheapskate when it comes to these things). Then we walked through a local market with all kinds of stuff for sale, mostly inexpensive tourist gifts designed to cater to the visitors but also some more exotic items:
This included a type of hard liquor with a dead scorpion and a dead snake inside (!) The local vendor insisted that this brought out the flavor and made the beverage a better drink which is a claim that I don't think is backed up by medical science. One of the members of our tour group actually bought this because he thought it would make a fun gift for a friend of his. Then there was the bee demonstration where we were offered the chance to hold up a wooden platform full of crawling insects. This was an experience where I was content to pass; I wouldn't have minded holding the thing if it was mandatory but I wasn't going to go out of my way to have a bunch of bees crawl over me. The bees were featured on this tour because we were immediately treated to a tea ceremony where the tea was flavored with honey from these bees. I'm not a tea drinker either but I have to say that the honey was quite good and really added to the taste of the drink. If I had to do this again, I would have bought some of the honey (which was of course for sale!) because Liz does like honey as a sweetener.
Next on the agenda was a small meal of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables with a live musical performance for accompaniment. There was watermelon and dragon fruit available to eat along with more local options that I didn't recognize (and I had to retroactively identify with the help of people on my Livestream when I featured these pictures for my viewers). As for the musical performers, they were using guitars along with a horizontal stringed instrument which was unfamiliar to me, together with several women who were performing vocals. I believe that they were singing a traditional Vietnamnese song although the words were all in Vietnamese and I won't pretend that I have any idea how they translated. I think everyone was starting to get tired by this point and it was helpful to take a short break here.
Once the small performance finished and everyone was done with eating, our tour group was directed onto a pair of golf carts which immediately sped off down the tiny roads crisscrossing the island. I had the impression that most people who live here either walk from place to place or take one of the omnipresent boats, with the various alleyways being too small for traditional car traffic. These things could move pretty well for their small size though as they quickly accelerated to about 20 miles per hour / 32 kilometers per hour. Other modes of transportation weren't quite as speedy as I managed to spot one horse-drawn cart which was the only horse that I would see anywhere throughout the day. I don't think Vietnam has the right climate for raising horses.
The golf carts had been bringing us to the featured attraction here on this island in the Mekong Delta: a ride on one of the traditional boats that we had been seeing everywhere throughout the area. These narrow wooden boats were clearly the main form of transportation throughout much of the delta and we were split up with three people seated per boat, delivered over into the expert care of two paddlers. My boat had a pair of women working those paddles, one up at the bow and another back at the stern, and they made the whole process look incredibly smooth and easy from long practice. The two boats that our tour group was using were quickly overwhelmed by dozen and dozens of other boats moving through this same watery channel. Some of them were carrying other tourists but most of them were not; this waterway was full of ordinary people going about their daily business, much as people living here had done for centuries in the past.
This was easily the best experience that I had on this tour. The whole thing was incredibly atmospheric, passing one boat after another as we made our way down this watery route in the middle of the Mekong Delta. It really felt like I was visiting a new culture in a very different part of the world from where I live; there was nothing at all like this back home. The climate was completely different and the local Vietnamese were obviously very comforable living in and on the water for every aspect of daily life. It was also worlds different from the urban environment of Ho Chi Minh City where I would be returning later this evening and spending the rest of my time in Vietnam.
I was also able to take this selfie while on the water which is one of my favorite pictures from this trip. The traditional straw hats that they gave us to wear really brought the whole thing together! 
Soon enough the boat ride came to its conclusion as we reached the end of the waterway running through the center of Con Thoi Son. We left the individual-sized boats and climbed back aboard the somewhat larger motorized boat which would carry the group back across the Mekong to the north bank again. (It was once again tricky getting on and off this boat with no guardrails or anything else to prevent someone from falling into the river.) The Mekong itself retained its dirty brown coloring as we made the return crossing, typical for the river since it carries an incredible amount of sediment this close to its terminus at the ocean. This helps make the river a teeming environment for local plant and animal life even though it's not something that people would want to swim in or drink from. We made it back to the port terminal as the sun was beginning to set in the western sky and returned to the tour van for the long trip back to Ho Chi Minh City. It took a little over two hours to make it back thanks to hitting rush hour traffic along the way, with the tour operators returning me back to my hotel after darkness had fallen.
That meant it was time to go get dinner! I was finally able to spend some time with my wife Liz and one of her work colleagues who went along with us for this meal. They had spent all day engaged in the actual reason for this trip, doing presentations for college-aged students in Vietnam, and everyone was ready to eat a good meal. We went to a vegetarian restaurant named Hum which was located only a few blocks away, a restaurant which was highly acclaimed for its creative menu choices. This vegetarian option wouldn't have been my first choice, however Hum did indeed serve us a good meal with picture-based menus that made it very easy to order. From what I remember, I was able to get a noodle bowl with one of their unique fruit-based drinks and we spent an enjoyable hour here for dinner.
That covers my initial day in Vietnam spent on this tour that took me outside of the city. The remainder of my time would be devoted to exploring Ho Chi Minh City itself which I would get to do with Liz now that the work portion of her trip was drawing to a close. The rest of our sightseeing in Vietnam is the subject of the next page of this travel report.
