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 2723 Ho Chi Minh City Tips.4358 Ho Chi Minh City Photos.0 Ho Chi Minh City Videos. Ho Chi Minh City Pages by iwys
Tips 1 - 4 of 4 Ho Chi Minh City Off The Beaten Path
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Just about every tourist who goes to Saigon takes an organised trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels. Experiencing the claustrophobia of the war-time tunnels is seen as an essential part of the Vietnam experience.
A section of tunnel has been especially widened for foreign tourists to either walk through bent double, or crawl through on hands and knees. Either way, you get hot, sweaty and uncomfortable and at a certain point you will start hoping that you see daylight soon.
At the beginning of the tour, your Vietnamese guide will call for volunteers to try to get into a Vietnamese-sized tunnel entrance that hasn't been widened. That's the one in the picture. Call me stupid. I am 1.94m tall and I volunteeered. Sqeezing in was not too hard, but getting out again was another matter. After, I'd huffed and puffed and taken my belt off, I was eventually hauled out.
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Both Kim Cafe and Sinh Cafe run half-day trips to the Cu Chi Tunnels. The one I took departed Kim Cafe at 8.20 am and returned at 2 pm. It cost US$4, excluding the tunnel entrance fee of 65,000 VND. During the trip, you sit down to watch a North Vietnamese propaganda film, made in 1967, see a variety of Vietcong booby traps, B52 bomb craters and a destroyed US tank. And, of course, you get to crawl through the tunnels.
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Mekong: Mekong Delta
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Actually, the Mekong Delta is not so much off the beaten path nowadays. There are regular 1, 2 and 3-day boat trips organised by Sinh Cafe and Kim Cafe amongst others.
I took the 1-day trip to My Tho and Ben Tre, departing Sinh Cafe at 8.15am and returning at 6.30pm. It cost US$7, including lunch. There is another 1-day trip, to Cai Be and Hoa Kanh, departing at 7.45 am and returning at 6pm. It costs the same.
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Mekong: Mekong Delta 2
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The mangrove swamps are still peaceful and atmospheric.
The 2-day trip departs Sinh Cafe at 7.45 am and returns at 6.30 pm the following day. It only costs US$14, including accommodation.
It takes in Cai Be, Vinh Long, Can Tho and Cai Rang.
You need to take the 2-day trip, if you want to see an active floating market.
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More Ho Chi Minh City Tips
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 Comments for iwys about Ho Chi Minh City | | | | |
gezbelle Wed Feb 28, 2007 01:40 UTC
thanks for sharing your hcmc tips. vietnam is on my list of "to-go" places and your tips have helped. the cu chi tunnels remind me of an experience i had in goreme, turkey in the darkened tunnels. | Nemorino Sat May 13, 2006 14:22 UTC
Yes, I also crawled through those Cu Chi Tunnels -- on my second visit to Vietnam in 1995. The first time, thirty years before, I was glad I could steer clear of that particular area. | hassan_abu Wed Apr 19, 2006 04:22 UTC
Sa-aun for sharing HCMC tips. Well, I actually loved the sweet potatoes (Viet Cong meal). Hope to try the Mekong Delta rive someday. Cheers, Abu | yellowbell Fri Feb 10, 2006 06:09 UTC
Hi Ian, At least you were courageous to get into those tunnels. I'm only 5ft and 100 lbs but I didnt dare. Those booby traps and War Remnants images bothered me, so much for my Red orientation! |
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