chu chi Tunnels!!!

     The last day five us headed out to the Chu Chi Tunnels. Today was incredible. Not only did it only cost us $5 total (in comparison to the $36 it would have if we did it through the ship) but we had a chance to interact with the local people in their daily activities. The night before I had asked the Rex Hotel how to get there and had found out there was public transportation that would take us right there. We took the bus route that the man had told us to and ended up having to transfer once. The whole trip took about an hour and a half and only cost us 40 cents each!! Transferring was pretty funny because the man hadn’t mentioned us needing to do that so we didn’t know what bus to transfer to. When we went inside to ask, the employees who worked there all pointed at one guy I should be asking so I repeated my question to him. Although I could tell he understood me, he didn’t seem to want to help because he wouldn’t look at me. Since we didn’t really have any other options I just stood and stared at him until he finally decided to use his English and tell us what to do. I personally found that whole interaction hilarious as we stood there but was really grateful when he helped! Once we got to the tunnels, we found the information of what to buy was all in Vietnamese and the woman working there couldn’t understand any of the questions we were asking. Luckily, the people behind us were students studying abroad here who could speak both English and Vietnamese so he was able to ask our questions and translate back and forth for us. It was only $4 for a tour guide, to see a movie, have traditional Vietnamese food, and to go through the tunnels.
     Our luck continued because the two boys who were studying abroad there came with us on our tour and were able to translate what the tour guide was saying the whole time. If it hadn’t been for these boys, we would have had no idea what the guide was saying the whole time so we really lucked out!! The tunnels were incredible! They were even smaller than I thought they would be and very stuffy. We were all sweating bullets when we came out of them but it was well worth it. Our tour guide also brought us through a special extra set of tunnels that apparently nobody else from Semester at Sea did. It was a really long set of tunnels that wound in different directions, went down steep inclines and had stairs up and down. Our tour guide had the flashlight and ran through it so we were forced to run through after him. Mind you by run through I mean we were squatted down and running so our thighs were on fire!! Not only were they on fire while we followed him but for the next THREE days after! I could not believe it. I had an amazing time. What interested me the most was to see all the different types of clever traps that the Viet-cong had created to cover up the tunnels. I was really happy to get to see these tunnels because they were another one of my top 3 activities!!
     After the tunnels we went took the public busses back to Ho Chi Minh City, which again only cost forty cents. The trip was so much fun because we realized we were once again on the bus with a girl who had been on both of our busses on the way there. We talked to her and her friend for a bit who were both excited to use their English. Behind me sat a little boy and his mom which was extremely entertaining because I was playing hand games and doing little things to interact with the boy who was maybe two or three years old. Even though we didn’t speak the same language at all, we were still able to play and the mom seemed happy that I was keeping him entertained. It was fun to realize that playing with kids is universal, the same anywhere you go regardless of language barriers.
     When we got back to the city we bought some last minute things – a few postcards and paintings before grabbing a quick last bite to eat at Pho 24 again before heading back to the ship to leave for India. I loved Vietnam!!!!