After two and half weeks living in hotels and guesthouses since we started our trip, we rented a one-bedroom apartment Saigon. It felt good to finally unpack our suitcases and start settling into the city. The apartment is in a great location in District 1 and is in walking distance to good restaurants, cafes, and shopping. Meanwhile, we took another day trip out of the city a few days ago. This time we went to the Cao Dai Temple in Tay Ninh and the Cu Chi tunnels just outside of Saigon.
Cao Dai is a relatively new religion that was formed in 1926. Cao Dai is based on the principle that all religions have one same divine origin and are just different manifestations of one same truth. There are three prayer sessions at the Cao Dai temple each day and the public is allowed to enter to observe. We arrived just in time for the 12 PM prayer session.
Cao Dai Temple
On the way back to Saigon, we stopped at the Cu Chi tunnels. The Cu Chi tunnels are a complex network of underground tunnels used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War and were a great source of frustration for the U.S. military forces. The Viet Cong hid and lived in the tunnels during the day and came out at night to gather supplies and engage in battle. The Viet Cong built the underground passages just big enough for them to travel through but too narrow for Americans GIs to fit through and built booby traps all around and inside the tunnels. The Cu Chi tunnels are currently a popular tourist attraction, and a 100-meter section of the tunnels are made available for tourists to enter. I did not take any photos of the tunnels as I decided to travel light through them, but I can tell you they were extremely narrow, dark, and hot. I had to crawl through several sections on my hands and knees. It was not a pleasant experience.
We were lucky enough to have an excellent tour guide with us during the day named Billy Francois. Billy is of Filipino-Vietnamese decent and served as officer for the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. Throughout the day, he gave us his first hand account and perspectives on the war. Billy explained that one of the reasons why the U.S. lost the war is because Americans cannot do the Vietnamese squat. The Viet Cong could sit in the squatting position, shrinking themselves into small targets, for hours upon end waiting for the enemy while the Americans had to stand to shoot. He then taught the westerners in our group how to do the Vietnamese squat.
Westerners in our group attempting the Vietnamese squat.
Yen jumping out of a hole used by the Viet Cong for sneak attacks.
Entrance to the Cu Chi tunnels.