Vietnam Trip! [ Day Two ] *(^_^)*

(I know it’s too late to blog this and I’m so sorry. :D )

For the second day of our trip, we went to the Cu Chi Tunnels in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). We were staying at a hotel in Mui Ne, so we had do drive to Ho Chi Minh. It was really far, so when we got there, it was already lunch time. Yeay food! :3

It was a really nice place. The restaurant was near a river, so there’s that bridge. While we were eating, we saw ducks. Hahaha. :D After that, we headed off to the Cu Chi Tunnels. :3

Cu Chi Tunnels. These tunnels were used by the Vietnamese to hide (in the war times). The entrance are camouflaged so the Americans wouldn’t find it. We were just walking around when Steven (our guide) stopped and told us that there was an entrance right around this spot:

Amazing, right? If really look at it, you’ll see it. You’re supposed to put leaves on the cover before going down and covering it again. (of course). Somebody showed us how to do it:

My sister and I tried it and it was fun. In the picture, my eyes were closed when the cover was above me because I didn’t want dirt and leaves to get in my face, but when I started to squat I opened it. :)

After that, we were shown a documentary film about the Cu Chi Tunnels. How deep, how they lived, stuff like that. It was amazing, but it’s black and white and obviously really old, but still interesting.

After this, I don’t really remember which stuff we visited first so I’ll just go ahead and blog randomly.

We went through this tunnel! As you can see (in the second picture), it’s really small. In the first picture, you’d think that it was bigger because I was able to stand up and all, but no. There was just a part where you had to go down, hence the large space. It’s actually really small so you had to crouch. It hurts in the back and the thighs. There are small lights so it’s not so dark. :)

I didn’t really notice the time, so I can’t say how long we stayed in there. Since we took lots of pictures, I’ll say that we stayed longer than we normally should. Some of the people with us decided to stay outside and wait for us at the exit, and they claim that they heard our voices because we were all being very loud. Hahaha. It was very hot inside, so when we got out, we were thankful for the wind. Hahaha. Such a fun experience. :D

Unfortunately, we were so busy taking in the awesomeness of the Vietnamese, we weren’t able to take much pictures. (but I’m still gonna blog about it)

• Hoang Cam’s smokeless stove

You’d think that they wouldn’t be able to cook because they’re staying in the tunnels. They just redirected the smoke so that it wouldn’t lead the Americans to where they were hiding. Their enemies can see the smoke, but it doesn’t lead them to the entrance of the tunnels. The Vietnamese covers the hole with burnt leaves (if I understood correctly). Haha so amazing. :D

• Recycling American’s bombs

They used the gunpowder and the other stuff to their advantage. They formed metal spikes that they used for the traps. Cool, huh? (the following pictures are not mine. I just found them on google.)

(L to R: Rolling Trap, Window Trap, Folding Chair Trap, Swinging Up Trap, Fish Trap, See-saw Trap, and the Clipping Armpit Trap)

There was another trap called the Door Trap but I couldn’t find a good picture. Hahaha. :D These traps are so amazing!

• Wearing slippers backwards

They made their slippers from old tires, and it was made in such a way that it could be worn backwards. Whenever the Americans followed their footprints (rather, slipperprints. hahaha), they wouldn’t be able to see the entrance of the tunnels because the Vietnamese wore the slippers backwards, which just confused their enemies. =)))

• How can they breathe normally?

The tunnels are a couple of meters underground. (There are are three levels, each one deeper than the other.) The tunnels that we went through were made wider and bigger to accommodate tourists. They have their little air holes so that they can breath normally. It’s build in such a way that even when it rains, the water can’t flow through their air holes. They are also near the Saigon River so they can get their water there. (they have a well inside the tunnels). 

Our trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels are so interesting and amazing! We learned so many things about Vietnam’s ingenuity. They were so smart! It’s really, really great. ♥

By the time that we were finished, it was time to eat dinner. We ate at this pretty restaurant:

The food is really, really delicious! The shrimp, the spring rolls.. oh how I love their spring rolls! ♥ The place is really nice and the food is great. We all had this drink that I wanted to have, and it was yummy. It was a great way to end the amazing day! :>

• First Day in Vietnam

• Pinanuod ko yung 17 Again nung madaling araw. Ang ganda nung movie tas ang funny rin. Hahaha. :)
• Natapos ko na yung goal ko of reading 50 books this year. Lol.
• Hindi parin ako makapag-blog ng Vietnam Trip namin kasi dala ni ate yung laptop. Nandun yung pictures eh. T_T
• Tas pagkatapos ng Vietnam Trip, Sagada Trip naman. Hahaha. Daming naka-line up. Di tuloy ako makapag-post ng ibang bagay sa tumblr ko. Masyadong male-left behind yung iba. XD
• Okay. Yun lang. :))

Vietnam Trip! [ Day One ] *(^_^) *

Our flight was around midnight. From the airport, it was a 5 hour drive to our hotel. We weren’t able to sleep in the airport since our flight is nighttime so it’s perfect that slept in the van. :3

When we reached our hotel, we couldn’t check in yet and the buffet breakfast is not yet ready, so we headed to the Fishing Village first. We saw how they were in the morning! There are cute round boats. Hahaha.  :D (later you’ll see me wearing a hat similar to those in the picture) :D

After going to the fishing village, we had our buffet breakfast. They had cereals! Hahaha. :3 We went to the sand dunes afterwards. (appx. 1 hour ride) There are different sand dunes: red, white, and yellow. The formations are … well, formed by the wind. :))

After that, we went to the red sand dunes. It was really, really, REALLY hot. I was wearing slippers and the hot sand was burning my poor feet. :( We were able to get on the top of the really small hill of red sand dune. My sister wanted us to try this thing where we slide to the bottom. I really thought we were going to slide, (I’m sorry there are no pictures. It’s so hard to describe.) but I was wrong. XD

I turns out there are just some kids whose gonna pull us down the small hill. That was fine with me if sand wasn’t getting in my body! My face, inside my shirt … ugh. The kids were in front of me, pulling this thing that will make us slide, and you can just imagine them were running down … and the sand was going straight to my face … inside my t-shirt … sticking to my neck because I was really sweating … UGH. Tumatakbo nga kasi sila diba? Tas dahil tumatakbo, napupunta sakin yung sand in a way kasi syempre tumataas yung paa. So hard to describe kahit in Tagalog. Kainis. :|

Our lunch consisted of mostly vegetables. I ate fried spring rolls, 2 oysters, thai rice, fish, and fruits.  You see that drink in the middle picture? That’s tea. It’s their water. They drink it after eating a meal. I  really don’t like the taste of it (bleh) so I just drank bottled water. :)

It was so uncomfortable, knowing that you have sand on your body while you’re eating. I was really trying to get it off (I know that I can’t get it all off. I just wanted to lessen the sand.) but it’s still really uncomfortable. And then there’s this tea that I didn’t like so I wasn’t even able to drink cold water. Huhu. Poor me. XD Just kidding. Lunch was delicious! :D

After eating lunch, we went to the hotel to check-in. Since I had a lot of sand inside my shirt and I wanted to take a bath so badly, so I did. My sister slept so I used her laptop but there wasn’t any proper internet connection so I decided to watch tv shows and movie clippings.

After resting (taking a bath and getting the sand off my body! Such a nice feeling), we went to the Poshanu Temple/Towers. :)

Before reaching the temples, you had to go through a short road. It was very fun because even though the sun’s beating down, it was windy and the view is fantastic. There were so many different-colored flowers! So cute. *(^_^)*

(that’s my new timeline cover hahaha)

Afterwards, we went to the Mui Ne Fairy Stream. Along those are some areas where they make fish sauce (patis). The feeling is magical. You’re walking on reddish/brownish sand and there’s water flowing on your feet.  It’s really one of the places that I liked. :>

There’s this part where you will come across the rocks that seem to have a mind of their own! The rock formation is beautiful and it really is something. :)

*Kinailangan kong doblehin yung picture para maging landscape yung picture. Malaki masyado yung picture kapag portrait eh. :)

In the fairy stream, there was this place where you can climb up the red sand dunes! I think it’s much bigger than the first one .. I’m not really sure. Anyway, I enjoyed this one more because the sand was not getting inside my shirt, and it wasn’t that hot. in fact, the weather was perfect! The sand feels good on my feet. It’s like I just want to bury my feet in the sand forever. :3

After that fun walk in the fairy stream, we went back to the hotel to go swimming. We had our dinner and then headed straight to bed. My sister and I started watching Looper (Joseph Gordon Levitt AHHH!!) but we didn’t finish it because we slept instead. :)