We had signed up for a Cu Chi Tunnels tour through TripAdvisor, who partners with Viator to do the tours. It was $26 per person for a half-day tour and included hotel pick up and drop off. I was a little nervous about it since it seemed too easy, but our tour guide was at our hotel right on time to pick us up. It was a small tour of 5 people and our tour guide, “Typhoon Honey, ” seemed hilarious at first, but he got old real fast. He was very crazy and said some strange stuff. We were excited about this tour, especially Sarah. Her dad was a veteran of the Vietnam War and he fought in the same area where we were going. Also, we were excited to learn more about the Vietnam War, because even though we knew about it, we didn’t really know details.

These tunnels are about 121 kilometers long and used by Viet Cong’s during the Vietnam War. They built these massive tunnels, with kitchens, and living quarters on different levels and the Cu Chi guerillas and their families lived in them for years during the war. These people had to crawl through tunnels to get to their kitchen. They lived mostly underground. I can’t even fathom trying to live like that. They were smart though in the way they created disguised air pockets and how they made sure no smoke was noticeable when they cooked. American soldiers didn’t even know the tunnels existed, so they would get attacked from anywhere out of nowhere.

It was about an hour ride to the tunnels from Ho Chi Minh, but we made an important stop on the way there. We stopped at this workshop area, where victims of the Agent Orange gas were making art to sell. Agent Orange is a damaging chemical that the American military sprayed on Vietnam land during the Vietnam War. It has life-altering effects, including genetic birth defects. These victims were all handicapped in some way from the chemical and instead of sitting around doing nothing, they wanted to work. This organization supplies them with jobs and supplies and they work hard. Their artwork is so impressive. I am excited to go back and purchase one of the larger pictures when I have more money. My grandma had asked me to bring her back bookmarks from my trip, so when I saw some there I thought that was a perfect one to get. It looked cool and I was helping a good cause.

It was packed with tour buses at the tunnels. We watched a short video and Typhoon Honey took us through the area. We got to crawl through some original tunnels, but they obviously made the tunnels much wider for tourists to get through. You, of course, don’t have to crawl through them (Sarah chickened out). We saw some crazy booby traps the Cu Chi guerillas would use. They had us try tapioca, which is I guess the only thing the families who lived in the tunnel ate because it was so easy to grow. It was interesting to see. I would definitely recommend taking a tour to the tunnels, but I love historical events like that. They also gave us the option to shoot some guns. I chose an AK47. It was around $20 to shoot 10 bullets, and you have to get a minimum of 10. I wouldn’t pay to shoot the gun next time. While it was cool to say I did it, the guy is holding onto you the whole time and also rushing you. I guess I imagined it would be like the American gun range, where they set you up and kind of let you do your thing. That part was just not especially enjoyable.

After the tour van dropped us back off, we got some lunch and made our way to the War Remnants Museum. So interesting! It is a must see. It only costs 15,000 dong to get in so that’s like less than $1. What I loved was that there weren’t massive amounts of reading, but way more interesting pictures. Sarah and I spent over two hours there and had the lights shut off on us when it was closing. It really made me hate how often the US has to be involved in wars and for how long.

For our last day in Ho Chi Minh, we had another awesome tour booked with the same company. It was to go explore the Mekong Delta ($38 a person). I was really looking forward to this one since they take you on a boat to the classic villages and feed you a Vietnamese lunch and snacks. Again they pick you up at your hotel. We sat in the lobby waiting for our tour guide, we were a little scared it would be Typhoon Honey again since he said he does the river tours, too. When it was past the time for them to pick us up, I called the number from the hotel phone. After giving them my booking reference number the guy on the phone said they had missed our reservation. He said someone would be over to get us and when I asked how long it would be, he hung up on me. After waiting about 20 minutes more I called back and the guy said the tour was not coming back for us. He said I could do the tour tomorrow but unfortunately, we were going to the airport that night. He said I could possibly get my money back. Excuse me? Possibly? A tour is going to forget to pick us up and not give us a refund? I don’t think so. I went right up to the room and typed up my angry email. Thankfully after two days they responded and gave us a full refund.

Well, darn. I was so disappointed and pissed off and just felt like we were having such bad luck in Vietnam. We had no plans, but I wasn’t going to let us just sit around in the room on our last day in Ho Chi Minh. We walked over to one of their more popular walking streets. It had a big statue of their former president, Ho Chi Minh, and some beautiful flowers in the garden. Along the street were restaurants and pricier shops. Down the middle were historical signs and pictures of events Ho Chi Minh had been a part of. Sarah and I stopped at a café for lunch and some delicious frappes. On our way back we went to the Ben Thanh Market. That’s a good spot for haggling. We bought some last minute souvenirs for our family and for ourselves.

We went back to our room to pack up our stuff before we went to go see one of their famous puppet shows, Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theater. We had never seen anything like it before. It is a little hard to explain, especially since while it was happening I wasn’t sure how it was being done. The puppeteers hide behind a screen and use long bamboo poles to control the puppets that are meters away. There are musicians on the side of the stage playing the songs and making the puppet noises. It was not in English but it wasn’t too hard to understand some of the stories. It was just a bunch of little skits rolled into 50 minutes. As soon as that was over we had to grab our stuff and catch a cab back to the airport.

We had asked our hotel reception to call us a cab, but that was another bad idea. They made us use their 7-seater airport shuttle, which I know was more expensive than if we had just gotten our own smaller cab. The whole ride to the airport I was mad at myself, but then I realized there was no point. Things happen and I have to go with the flow. I ended up spending more money than I would have liked, but I am blessed to have a good job. I will make all the money back that I wasted. Next time I will try to stay more on the budget, but I had an amazing trip with some of my best friends. I did some awesome things. While I would have loved to spend more time in all the countries I went to, I was ready to go home for now.