A Little Hacky Sac in the Square, a Little Pho Ga for Dinner and a Little Karaoke Fun!

In the square there were tons of groups playing Hacky Sac.  If the next Olympics includes this sport, the Vietnamese will be in luck!  They were pretty good.  We all tried it, but we weren't as good as we had hoped...

For dinner we had Pho (rice noodles) Ga (chicken).  Yum!  Also, the mango shakes are delicious here.

Then it was out for some Karaoke. Mark got into character as a recording artist whilst the two Swedes, Marten and Patrik, sang ABBA together! 

Grab the AK47 and M16 and then "Go Ahead and Make My Day"

So, as a part of the tour we were offered the opportunity to shoot real bullets of AK47s and M16s.  Wow, were they loud and powerful!  

As for the traps... Now I know why it was so awful/difficult for American soldiers.  I can't imagine walking into one of those.

Ok, so I kinda forgot about the whole Vietnam War thing...

Of course I know about what happened during the Vietnam War, but I really wasn't thinking about how any of the Vietnamese would think of Americans coming to their country.  My happy bubble of innocence was abruptly popped when we sat down at the first "station" of our Cu Chi Tunnels Tour. 

At this station, a big group of us sat down to view an informational movie about the tunnels.  The very "factual" movie described the Vietcong and their heroic killings of the 'devil' American soldiers.  Apparently, Americans were so horrible that we not only killed the people, but also destroyed their lands, homes, AND their pots and pans.  I tell you, I was going to say I was Swedish or Danish during the tour just to make sure I made it out of there alive.  

The tour, however, was very interesting.  The Vietcong used these tunnels during the Vietnam War in order to travel around undetected by American soldiers.  They had created an entire city with storage rooms, kitchens (with hidden ventilation air holes), and weaponry  making rooms.  

The tunnels were tiny and made only for the Vietnamese small body type.  In the tunnel it was pitch dark and there were bats.  It was creepy!

 

Good Morning Vietnam

... and hello motorbikes.  I don't think I have ever been so scared to cross a street in my life.  The millions of motorbikes in the city come with drivers who hold fast to the motto, "There is only rule: there are no rules".  These people are crazy! They drive on the wrong side of the road, they take left turns in the middle of ongoing traffic, and they will just cross in front of someone with no hesitation if they need to get to the other side of the road.  So, hopefully I make it back to Hong Kong in one piece!  

A little note about the bikes.  So, apparently girls choose guys according to the type of bike a guy owns.  No bike, no girl.  What's funny though is that last night when we went to dinner, there were a bunch of guys lined up along the sidewalk all alone with their bikes.  But, when we came back later in the evening, the guys all had a "special someone" sitting with them...  So, funny!