Ho Chi Minh City: Remnants of War

January 2, 2016 was the last tour day with Uniworld. We enjoyed a filling breakfast at the restaurant in the Park Hyatt. Breakfast included a well-appointed buffet as well as one item from the menu. I chose a salmon and egg bagel.

Visiting the Củ Chi Tunnels

After breakfast, we loaded up the buses and drove to the far side of town. Our destination was the Củ Chi tunnels, an immense network of underground tunnels the Viet Cong used to launch their offensive on Saigon. Now a tourist site, it's full of stark visual reminders of the war. Our tour guide walked us through the grounds and helped us understand all that we were seeing. I only regret that it's taken me over a year to write this blog entry, and I didn't take any notes, so my memory is a bit hazy.

One of the first exhibits upon walking in was a camouflaged entrance to a tunnel. Our guide—a fairly slight man—jumped in to show us how small it was.

When he asked for a volunteer to give it a try, Aaron hopped in. It was a tight squeeze.

This tour was a a combination of interesting historical facts and confrontation with the horror of war. Craters from U.S. B-52 bombings are everywhere (and many were filled in with the dirt from digging the tunnels).

There were many examples of the low-tech ways the Viet Cong waged war, including the variety of traps they used to capture (and often maim and potentially kill) the enemy walking above them. We had a celebrity sighting on our tour (Jillian Michaels from the biggest loser) and the look of horror on her face really captures what we were feeling when viewing these traps.

The engineering of the tunnels was interesting. Some people (and families) lived in them for months or years. They installed ventilation holes to make sure they could get air, and had an intricate method for venting smoke so they could even use a cook fire in the tunnels.

There is a section of tunnel that has been widened for Western visitors. Aaron and I ventured in. I wouldn't want to spend an hour in there, let alone days, weeks, months, or years.

We looked at some old war equipment, and some more "living exhibits," where people were demonstrating what life was like for the Viet Cong. We skipped the firing range, where tourists were shooting machine guns. We ended our visit in a small conference room (supposedly it used to be used by Viet Cong leadership to plan war strategy), where we watched a video to learn a bit more about the network of tunnels.

Lunch

Then, it was back to the bus and back to Central Saigon. Uniworld had organized a lunch for us in a private room of the Ly Club. The meal started with an amuse bouche, a meatball of some sort that did not stick with me for the 14 months since I ate this meal, nor was it listed on the menu.

Then, a plate of appetizers. Deep-fried spring rolls wrapped in tofu skin with meat and prawns and elderberry minced beef sauce on a rice cake.

This is this most meat-filled spring roll I've ever had!

Next up was oxtail soup.

Finally, our entree. I remember this being fantastic but with all the protein in the meal I was already getting full. Roasted duck breast in orange sauce, steamed spinach with garlic, and steamed rice in a lotus leaf.

For dessert, ice cream two ways.

War Remnants Museum

We had free time in the afternoon, but we asked our guide if it would be possible to visit the War Remnants museum. It had been an option the day prior, but we had chosen to rest instead. Another couple was interested, so he arranged for the bus to drop us off there, got tickets for us, and then had a cab ready to take us home after spending some time at the museum.

The museum was certainly ... interesting. There were some horrifying, but must-see (in my opinion) photos of people affected by exposure to agent orange. But the history was hard to pick out amongst all the propaganda. It was also a bit haphazardly laid out - a few floors in a simple block pattern, but then outside exhibits that weren't well-marked. We're glad we went, and we'd recommend others do ... but you don't need more than 30-60 minutes.

Farewell Dinner

After the museum we had time to rest just a bit before our  farewell dinner. We met the whole group in the lobby and walked up the street to a trendy restaurant in central Saigon—Xu Restaurant Lounge. Everything for this meal was served as part of a trio.

Out trio of appetizers, from left to right: crispy pork wonton, banh he (chive garlic dumplings), and banana flower salad.

Trio of entrees from left to right: coconut braised pork belly with pickled red cabbage and caramelized daikon, lemongrass skewered sea bass with sweet onions braised with wood ear mushroom and kafir lime leaf scented coconut milk, and chili prawns on a pomelo and mango salad.

Dessert, which was a quad rather than a trio. From left to right: coconut che, strawberry shortcake, white chocolate custard, chocolate kumquat truffle.

We had an enjoyable time with our table mates (by now we knew who we could manage to eat a meal with, and since this trip we've made plans to go on a European cruise with two of them in 2017!), but we were quite tired. We waited until it seemed appropriate to hand over the requisite tour manager tip envelope, and then left with the first group to leave the restaurant. It certainly is nice to return to the Park Hyatt when it's time for bed!

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