We decided to book a tour through our Hotel to go to the Cu Chi tunnels and the Cao Dai temple. Unfortunately, there was a festival at the Cao Dai temple so we weren't able to go =( Would have been good though if we did go though. Pictures of the temple looked amazing!
It was an early start for us. It took about 1.5 hours to get there (including a toilet stop).
You could tell that the tunnels have become real commercialised. They made us watch a historic video (which looked like it was made in the 70s)! No one really watched it as everyone was too hot! After about 20 minutes of video our journey continued.
It was very interesting. Seeing how they made the tunnels, how they fit, and where the tunnels led to. They let you experience what it was like going in the tunnel (which was about 90cm wide). I didn't do it. I was too worried I was going to get stuck! Though, they did make a European style tunnel which was much bigger. We decided to crawl through it and even that felt claustrophobic! My legs were aching for days after that!
You just had to remember that they only went underground when they started bombing. They lived most of the time on the ground and used that as a form of shelter. It made you realise how smart the Vietnamese really were. Making a tunnel system by hand, creating a wide range of booby traps, it was skill!
Although it felt a bit commercialised, if you are a history fanatic then going to the Cu Chi tunnels is for you!
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Cu Chi Tunnels | Address: Cu Chi, Vietnam | Entry Fee: 19,000 Dong | I'd recommend going with a tour group to save you the hassle of driving out there
Next stop, the Saigon Skydeck at the Bitexo Financial Tower. We decided to go in as we always like to see cities from above when we travel to a new city. Even though the price is a bit steep, we still wanted to see what HCMC looked like! Going into the skydeck included the view, free viewing from the binoculars and a free bottle of water. To tell you the truth, we were in there for about 10 mins and that's about it =/
From the Skydeck you can access the cafe (on Level 50) and the bar (on level 52). We went straight up to the bar to have some drinks and waited for the sun to go down to take some night shots.
Bitexo Financial Tower | Address: 36 Ho Tung Mau, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1 HCMC | Hours: 9:30am-9:30pm | Entry Fee: 200,000 dong | I'd recommend going straight up to the heli bar on Level 52 which is open from 11:30am-2:00am.
Drink prices were pretty expensive, but they had happy hour from 1pm to 7pm. They don't really have a lot of variety for their happy hour (2 for 1 tiger beers and 4x half price cocktails). I went for the half price cocktails and they weren't too bad! Save some money I guess!
After the sun set we went back down to the skydeck to take some night shots. The place isn't packed. I'd say when we went in there twice there as about a total of 10 people on the level. I don't think it's that popular. You can just go straight up to Level 52 for drinks and can access the sky deck from there! I would definitely recommend going there for the view. Check it out during the day, it looks so much better!
Until then,
-V
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