Day 13 - Vietnam Discovery from Hanoi to the Meekong Delta - 'Inside Vietnam' adventure with EXPLORE

Day 13 – Saigon

The final full day of a truly amazing journey through Vietnam.  We've been to so many wonderful destinations and seen a lot of what Vietnam has to offer.  As half of the group continued on to Cambodia today, we headed west to get them on their way.  We visited the Chu Chi tunnels today and it was super-hot and humid as always at about 31c.

The exhibits of the tunnels complex is set up to give you a glimpse into how the Vietnam war was fought and the conditions the combatants endured.  There are replicas of the numerous traps that were used during the war and guides show you how some of them operated.  These really do highlight the ingenuity humankind puts into inflicting maximum suffering on each other.

Unfortunately with the sweltering heat, humidity and cramped conditions of the tunnels, it was way too claustrophobic for me to venture into for crawling some twenty metres underground.  Those that braved those conditions said it's really tight down there and wouldn't be easy for everyone.  We saw various types of dugouts, tunnel entry points and how the smoke from underground cooking is dispersed so as to not give away the exact locations of the fighters.

Here it is also one of the very few places in Vietnam where the public can operate firearms as they are under extremely strict controls.  There are booming sounds thundering through the trees and the sharp, piercing cracklings of gunfire as we walked towards the firing range.

It does give you a chilling feeling as they are live weapons being fired.  It also gave us a slight insight into how it must have sounded during the hellish conditions of the fighting back then.

There are varying firearms on offer, from pistols and rifles to automatic weapons.  It's not an activity that any of our group are interested in taking part in.  It’s also really expensive. 

Our time as a group quickly drew to an end as we walked out of the complex.  Joseph is heading with the Cambodian bound travellers to the border.  From there they will walk the short distance to the Cambodian customs to meet their new guide for the coming week.  Those of us who remained were set to return with another guide back to Saigon for our final night together.

I'm not a big fan of these moments.  I've got to know this great group of people over the last two weeks and it is a genuinely sad moment.  We had one last group shot kindly taken by an elderly Japanese gentleman we accosted for photographic duties.  A last huddle and a last cheesy smile for the camera and we were done.  The minibus for taking them to the border was here, bags were loaded and the 'not sure how we do this' handshakes, thanks and gentle hugs (it's very hot remember!) were done in a jumbled fashion.

We waved at their Cambodia-bound bus as it departed, we'd joked about being forgotten and deleted from the WhatsApp group as they would have new friends to become acquainted with this evening.  It was all light-hearted of course but still, I will miss them all.

We took our two-hour ride back to our Central Saigon hotel, the traffic was heavy and shuffled us along the highways, slowly, back to the vibrant heart of Vietnams southern metropolis.  The mood was little quieter now on the bus.

A diminished but still jolly committee met at the rooftop bar for the evening pre-dinner drinks.  We had a good laugh and a couple of drinks later went down to our very quiet hotel restaurant and ordered again way more food than we were able to consume.  We've still not got the hang of ordering less food!  The pictures of the food were deceptive.  We really should have asked to see the size of the plates first!

So our final full day ended and we had another little farewell as Morag and Graham depart at 6am tomorrow to fly back home.  That leaves just Miles and me holding the fort.