Day 2: And the fun begins!!

Me making rice paper
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Up nice and early this morning as we had to have breakfast first and meet up with our tour by 8am.  Yes, that hurt us both!!

Breakfast is like any other meal here, so there were plenty of noodles and whatever else you'd find in a typical asian restaurant on offer.  Troy was adventurous, I stuck with toast.

We found out after we'd hopped out, much to our disbelief, that they've actually since been made bigger for fat Western tourists!!

After meeting up with our group we set out by bus for an hour and a half to go see the Co Chi Tunnels.  Along the way we stopped at a little rice paper making hut on the side of the road.  These are what spring rolls are made from, and I made 2!!

The Co Chi Tunnels were built by the Viet Cong during the war and are absolutely amazing!!  They are a series of tunnels that span about 5Km but are actually made up of 3 levels, 3, 6 and 10 meteres below ground, so total around 200Km.  The entrances were hidden very cleverly from the American troops and were absolutely tiny!!  We all had a go getting in and out of an entrance and then further along the way had a go at crawling through a section.  We found out after we'd hopped out, much to our disbelief, that they've actually since been made bigger for fat Western tourists!!  We had to crouch down and hop along to get through, and my Claustrophobia kicked in about half way when I realised there were people in front and behind me and I couldn't go back if I wanted to.  I freaked out a little, but with some gentle encouraging from Troy, I soldiered on!!

About half way through our tour of the area, we came to a shooting range, and Troy and the other guys on our trip were so excited to be able to shoot live rounds!!  Troy shot around 10 rounds from an AK47 and the noise was absolutely defening.  Our ears are still ringing.  And, he even hit the target on the last go!!

We all had a snooze on the bus ride back and hopped off in downtown Saigon for lunch.  Once again, another hand picked restaurant by Lam, and the food was absolutely delicious (and once again only around $30 for both of us!).  We then walked to the nearby Notre Dame Cathedral and main PO, two of the few buildings left intact from the bombings, remeniscent of the French influence here.

We were supposed to this bit of the tour tomorrow, but Lam squeezed it all in today so we can go visit the Mekong Delta tomorrow, something not actually on our tour.  We've just freshended up and are about to head out with some of the guys from our tour for a walk and some dinner.  I'm trying to convince everyone to go to an Italian Restaurant I spotted while were out today.  I'm loving the food here, but I need a break!!  We may be havng a big night tonight, so WATCH THIS SPACE!!  We'll update it as soon as we can.

MWAH!!