Miranda & Toddie's World Tour: Chi Chu Tunnels & the Museum of traditional medecine

Anyone who has travelled for more than your typical 2 week summer vacation will agree that its all to easy to develop a malaised attitude to 'yet' another spectacular event, vista or city if you've been experiencing them day after day after day. And unfortunatly that's exactly how Miranda & I first felt when we finally arrived in Ho Chi Mihn City, ('Saigon' as the locals call it,) the other week.

For sure the DVT inducing journey there, the climb up the 5 flights of spiral stairs at Miss Loi's guesthouse (with bulging 20kg backpacks) & the wet heat we encountered in the room (no AC) didnt help our lethargic attitude much. However, more so it was the energy & enthusiasim we knew we needed to venture out into 'another' fast paced & vibrant Asian city for 'another' restaurant meal and the language barriers & 'hassle' that could possible entail. (ed - dont worry we are enjoying ourselves really!!)

Surprising ourselves for once, we chickened out & opted for the easy pizza & coffee option in the local starbucks! Yep its a shame to say we have succumed & frequented a big western chain when there is so much else to choose from, but sometimes needs must & your bed beckons!

However refreshed & recharged, the next day, we struck out from Saigon for the inspiring Chi Chu Tunnels. True enough you might imagine that a series of holes in the ground couldn't be that interesting, but you would be quite wrong as they actually are! And to think that the Viet Cong hid in these cramped & claustrophobic tunnels for days on end (whilst attempting to avoid capture & the monumental arial bombardment being unleashed on them) is astonishing.

When not climbing around subterrainian tunnels in the pitch black on our hands and knees, we were shown numerous 'booby' traps that were used to catch food, protect openings & exits or maim & injure the enemies of the VC. This last point was somewhat more surprising than you might think as the guide confessed that VC would rather injury & immobilise enemies at first than simply kill them - as it 'tied up more resources to look after them'.. Finally some eejit (ed - that was not me!!) allowed Paul to fire off several rounds & pose for a few rambo style pictures..........!

Left & Centre Above:the 1st level of tunnels @ 3m. Hot, sticky & just that 'little' sweeter after Paul dropped his guts!

Right Above: Pauls get stuck trying to get out!

Left Below: The captured m10 tank.
Central below: Miranda meets the locals.(ed - more like , madame tussauds)

Right below: rambo...not!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------On our return to Saigon, we opted for a museum tour as the heat of the day was upon us. Mirandas obsession with health ( and illness) and alternative therapies and holistic attitude took us to the Museum of Traditional Vietnamese medecine. Housed in the backstreets of the city was a beautiful traditional wooden structured vietnamese house ( similar to the homestay accomodation in Hoi an) with 4 levels and some amazing ornate & very finely detailed woodcarvings. Here we had a private guide around the floors covering everything from the history of the founders of such medecine, to a room full of all the different ingredients you can use to concoct your drug!! With regard to the history, it seemed amazing to us both how the western world and now a large majority of the developing world are moving away from using such well researched, documented, trialled and proven methods in favour of using some test tube junk!!.. and costly at that. ( though we are not advocating using protected species like tigers etc!)