Day 3: Saigon - Cao Dai - Cu Chi Tunnel

For this day, we wore the same shirt which we bought at the night market, the Vietnam Flag shirt. Before we started the day, we had our breakfast at the hotel. Again, the French Baguette came as the breakfast menu and just like the previous day, I had a hard time to chew those hard bread. After we finished our meal, we went to Sinhtourist. That morning, The Sinhtourist was full with so many tourist. I could see a bus to Phnom Penh, bus to Mekong Delta River and some other destination. From this tour agent, I could conclude that tourism in Vietnam has developed into a massive business and the Vietnam government has succeed to develop their tourism section. Anyway, our Cao Dai – Cu Chi Tunnel full day tour was scheduled to depart at 8.00 a.m. but the tour was delayed until 8.30 a.m. Beside us, there were another four tour member. They were a couple from France, a 50s-year old man from Australia who was accompanied with a young lady from Vietnam. We used a minibus as our transportation and our tour leader was Mr. Anh. At 8.30 a.m., we departed from Sinhtourist.

At Sinhtourist. We wore our "uniform", the Vietnam Flag shirt.

The Distance between Saigon and Cao Dai temple is about 90 km. Mr. Anh said that the journey to Cao Dai temple would take about 3 hour. The minibus slowly left Saigon and entered the national road. As usual, I did some observations. The motorcycles were as fierce as usual. The panorama was almost exactly the same as Jalur Pantura (North Java Road), you know, with the rice field and buffalo. Oh ya, I think I haven’t told you that in Vietnam, the driver is in the left side and the car runs in the right side of the road.

Kk io slept

Panorama in the suburbs

typical panorama in the rural area

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

Apparently, the driver didn’t take us directly to the Cao Dai temple. After like one hour, They brought us to a some kind of handicraft center. The handicrafts here were made by a group of handicapped. We could visit the workshop and saw them make some handicrafts. Of course, we also could do some shoppings here but I didn’t recommend you to do shopping here. The price was just too expensive. For example, the keychain that I brought in the night market was 9000 VND each but in this place, with the exactly same design and material, the keychain’s price was 57000 VND. Such a money ripping right?

Handicapped handicraft. Pretty but very expensive

The workshop

Photos (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

After 20 minutes, Mr. Anh called us to go back to the minibus and the long ride continued. During the journey, Mr. Anh told many stories about Vietnam history, from the French colonization, the Vietnam war, the communist government, and the life in Vietnam after Doi Moi era. He said that life in Vietnam nowadays is becoming much better.

Finally, after total three hours ride from Saigon, we arrived at Cao Dai Temple, Tay Ninh Province. Maybe many of you have no idea about Cao Dai. Cao means high and Dai means platform, so it means higher place. Cao Dai is a kind of religion that combined Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism as their foundation with a little influence from Christianity and Islam. The temple itself was located in a large complex of Cao Daiist and was built in 1926.

There were so many symbols in the building and I didn’t really hear the explanation from Mr. Anh. The only thing that I could understand was The Divine Eye. In the temple, you could see an eye, left eye to be exact, in the center of the building. That’s Divine Eye. It’s a symbol of God, The Highest Power.

Cao Dai temple

The priests and the disciples

Our tour leader, Mr. Anh, explaining about Cao Dai

Photos (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

At 12 p.m. the noon prayer began. We entered the temple but before that we took off our shoes. We could see the Cao Dai disciples wearing white robe entered the temple. We also could see some Cao Dai priests. Some of them wore red robe, the other priests wore blue robe and there were also priests who wore yellow robe. Those three colors symbolize the three foundation of Cao Dai- yellow for Buddhism, blue for Taoism, and red for Confucianism.

Red, yellow, and blue robe

The disciples singing and playing music

Photos (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

The visitor were allowed to watch the noon prayer from the 2^nd floor. During the prayer, they were singing and chanting. The noon prayer took about 30 minutes but Mr. Anh asked us to go back to the minibus at 12.20 p.m. so we didn’t follow the prayer until finish. So, let’s move to the next destination!

The visitor are only allowed to watch at the second floor

The noon prayer. You also can see how beautiful the temple's interior

I think, the left statue is Jesus

Photos (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

Before went to the 2^nd destination, which was Cu Chi Tunnel, we had our lunch first at Nam Thanh Restaurant. The tour package didn’t include lunch so we must pay by our own cost. I ordered spring roll with rice (35.000 VND) and ice coffee milk (12.000 VND). My spring roll’s taste was quite good but of course not as great as in Quan An Ngon. In this restaurant, we asked the French couple, the Australians, and the Vietnamese girl to take picture together.

Posing at Cao Dai

This is our full team!

Photos (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

The journey from Cao Dai to Cu Chi tunnel took about 90 minutes. We arrived at Cu Chi Tunnel at about 3 p.m. To enter this place, we must pay 80.000 VND per person (the ticket wasn’t included in the tour package).

Cu Chi Tunnel entrance

Photos (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

Mr. Anh brought us to the hall. In the hall, there was a Cu Chi Tunnel diorama, a television and a DVD player and a Cu Chi map. First, Mr. Anh gave a brief explanation about the Vietnam War, the Vietnam Communist, and the tunnel itself. The Vietnams made a very long and deep tunnel, about 3 metres depth. Inside the tunnel, there were a hospital, kitchen, discussion room, bunker, and of course, the deadly trap for the foreigner who enter this tunnel. For me, the tunnel is quite complex and I can’t imagine how can the Vietnams build this structure, especially in their hard time. Mr. Anh even said that he stayed inside the tunnel when he was 2 years old. After Mr. Anh’s explanation, he played a documentary film about the Cu Chi area in the Vietnam War era.

Brief explanation about Cu chi tunnel

The map and the diorama

Photos (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

Before the film finished, Mr. Anh called us to follow him. The Cu Chi tunnel tour began. First, Mr. Anh showed us the small camouflage hole. There were a lot of camouflage hole in the Vietnam War. At first, an Vietnamese officer demonstrated to us how to enter that tiny hole. After that, our group were given a chance to try that. Without doubt, I said that I wanna try to enter the camouflage hole because that’s one of my “to-do-list” in Vietnam. Actually, it was not that hard to enter and hide in the hole, maybe because the hole was made bigger than the actual size for the tourism purpose. I strongly recommend you to try this! Zar and the French man also try to enter the hole.

The officer is demonstrating how to hide in the camuoflage hole

Oh, how I love this pose

Photos (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

The next interesting thing in Cu Chi tunnel was the trap. There were so many variation of trap made by the Vietnams. There were tiger trap, fish hook trap, clipping armpit trap and many more. Those traps were very effective to weaken the US soldiers. Besides the trap, there were also a Vietnamese soldier diorama.

Everyone gathered to see the trap

It is a tiger trap

Photos (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

See saw trap

Fish hook trap, it will make you suffer so much

Soldier diorama

Photos (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

For military lovers, you actually can try some weapons you like. Weapons like AK47, M16, and M30 are available. For AK47, the bullet’s price was 35.000 VND each but unfortunately, you must buy at least 10 bullets. That means, you must provide 350.000 VND if you really want to try AK47. Because of that, nobody in our group buy the bullets. Instead, we just did some poses with the weapon.

Yes, zar is pretending to shoot

Bomb

Photos (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

Finally, the next attraction is the tunnel itself. We went inside the tunnel! Mr. Anh said that the length of the tunnel is 50 metres but we could quit at the 25 m if we’re tired. Finally, we went down to the tunnel. It was very dark and the tunnel was narrow. Actually the tunnel has been widened for the tourism purpose. So, I really couldn’t imagine how narrow the origin tunnel. One thing, inside the tunnel, you must crawl. Don’t do the “jalan jongkok” like I did. Oh, for you who are claustrophobia, don’t ever go inside this tunnel.

The dark and narrow tunnel.

Our tour was ended here. Time to go back to the city. From Cu Chi, it took about 90 minutes to Saigon. At 6.30 p.m. we arrived at Sinhtourist office and then we walked straight to the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) for our dinner. The menu, of course, was very different from Indonesia and also cheaper than Indonesia. A package including rice, breast chicken, puree, cola, and soup only costed me 40.000 VND.

After dinner, we went back to the People’s Committee Hall. The building looked so pretty at the night. I recommend you to do the night shot here. So pretty.

Photos (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

Zar also took pictures at Trung Nguyen.

Trung Nguyen Statue

Irgi Fahrezi in Saigon???
Photos (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

After hunting pictures, we didn’t do nothing much. Ira, Rio, and Zar went straight to the hotel while the rest went back to the night market before back to the hotel.

Day 3 expenses

Lunch 47.000 VND

Cu Chi entrance ticket 80.000 VND

Mr. Anh’s tip 20.000 VND

Dinner at KFC 40.000 VND

Circle K 45.000 VND

Hotel payment 456.000 VND ( 152.000 VND per night)

Total 678.000 VND