Cu Chi Tunnels

Today has been a great day! We had some fried eggs (op la) and bread for breakfast for $1.50. Love this place :) Then we hopped on a bus to the Cao Dai Great Temple. It was a crazy experience, Spike is going to try and post a vid. We got there during one of thier prayer times. There were hundreds of people kneeling, all dressed in white, praying. Others were in the back chanting and playing some kind of instruments.  The relgion believes in God and Mother Buddha as well as Sage...They seemed to have a slice of every religious pie. It was fun to see them pray. Then it was off to the Cu Chi Tunnels.

Our Vietnamese tour guide, named Minh, was wonderful.  He fought in the war along side our American soilders. He did alot of work translating Vietnamese into English for the US. It was really interesting to hear his take on what happened during the war. Yesterday at the War Remnants Museum and again today at the tunnels we felt sad that only the absolute worst of everything we did here is on display. So, it was refreshing to hear some non-communist thoughts on history. The tunnels were built by a group of South Vietnamese who were on the Communist side.  It is no wonder our troops could not find the bad guys. The jungle is super thick and the Vietnamese are very creative. The tunnels we crawled through have been enlarged and I felt a little claustrophobic.  I can't imagine the real thing.

Minh, fought in the war for 8 years against communism. When Saigon fell, he was in a refugee camp for 2 years and then was forced to work on a communist farm for 10 years. As he told us his story, he smiled and said that he never had time to be young. I am amazed how happy he is despite all he has been through.  He said his final goal is to be buried with a smile on his face because smiling is the universal language.  What a guy!

Here are some pictures and hopefully a video to watch.