Honestly speaking, I reckon you skip the Cao Dai temple tour because it is insanely ridiculous to sit in the bus for 3.5 god damn hours (excuse my language!!) just to see a stupid temple in the middle of nowhere. Initial plan was just a half day tour of Cu Chi tunnel, which we didn't wanna go for as well. We planned to just hang out and chill in the city - stress free!!
Howeverrrr... S, friend of N's bought us the tickets out of goodwill and without telling us in advance, until we reached Saigon, so we had no choice but to endure it. Hmm..I reserve comments to myself, de-stressed myself with a can of local beer and tried to enjoy the trip. Plus, it was bloody hot and humid!! Argghhh... glad it's over!!
Here's some pics of Cao Dai temple, a mixture of Taoism, Confusionism and Buddhism.. pretty weird to my liking!!
* The nuns *
* Practically sulking when I took this pic *
* Shoes off before you enter the temple *
* Interior *
We stopped for lunch before we proceeded to Cu Chi tunnel, approximately 45 minutes away from the eatery.
* Our lunch - fried chicken & deep-fried spring rolls with rice *
I must say, the highlight of the tunnel tour was crawling into the scary, dark and tiny tunnel used by the Viet-kongs during the Vietnam war times. I was perpetually petrified halfway through the tunnel and totally freaked out when the tour guide moved at the speed of light and we couldn't catch up in time, leaving us in total darkness in the teeny weeny tunnel with extremely low oxygen level. We managed to find an exit mid-way with the help of fellow tour-mates behind us. Thank god! Btw, did I tell you that I'm claustrophobic?? Good, freaky experience though! Haha.. *pat on my shoulder* Am certainly very proud of myself for bracing through the freaky tunnel. However, don't count me in the next time!! No more next time!! * laughs *
Here's some pics of the Cu Chi tunnel tour:-
* Briefing of Cu Chi tunnel history *
We were made to watch a 20 minutes video on the history of Vietnam war in relevance to Cu Chi tunnel before given a literary briefing by our tour guide on how the tunnel was made..bla! bla! bla!.. And proceeded with a tour of the place, traps and weapons used during the war times.. some touristy war stuff to pose with etc.. Last stop was the tunnel. I might say I was amongst the brave ones as most of the people in our group chose to stay outside and watch us brave through the tunnel. Freaky adventure!! Well, I guess it's once in a life-time experience for us. BUT no more 2nd time, for sure!! Ever!!
* Tunnel during the war times *
* Entrance to hell *
After the insanely tiring day, we reached our hotels at 7pm.. wtf?? and had to bathe and change in a jiffy since S and friends will be picking us up at 8pm. Muscle ache hit us, especially at the thigh area due to the squatting and crawling session in the tunnel.. pffttt.. We practically had to drag ourselves around town the whole New Year's Eve. Tired to the core..
To be continued...
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