all along the mekong

HCM is by far the most buzzing and atmospheric city I have been to. It is one of those places where it feels like anything could happen around the next corner. There is something to amaze you at every turn from communist poster propaganda to a plethora of motorbikes. After a few days in the city we decided to head to one of the great rivers in Asia, the mekong river.

not having any transport in Vietnam we opted for a simple tour to take care of all the stresses for us. A couple of hours on a mini bus and we were straight onto a boat cruising down the river, witnessing first hand the size of the river and the people who rely on it for trade. At one point we switched from our motorized boat into a traditional Vietnamese sampan. The boat took us down a waterway off of the main river and we got to enjoy  a peaceful and  idyllic ride with tropical trees and plants surrounding us. This was by far the highlight on our tour

The tour also featured some exotic fruit tasting, an authentic Vietnamese meal (apparently), a ride in a tuk tuk and a visit to a coconut factory. The tour was a slightly different experience as for the most part we had not used tours to organize visits.The time on the water was awesome, As I tend to like anything involving water, but some of the tour was a bit lacklustre.I would have preferred to go by ourselves, although the tour was relatively cheap and saved us some hassle.

Having experienced our first tour we gave another one a chance, this time to the cu chi tunnels, a remnant of a guerilla warfare in the Vietnam war. our guide described the tunnel complex as hell on earth to US soldiers and it definitely looked like it from our perspective. The traps are lethal and inflict severe wounds to any unfortunate enough to be caught by them. The tunnels are an impressive feat and you can even go through some of the widened ones. It is pretty cool to crawl through the old tunnels, not for claustrophobia sufferes though, and gives you some idea of the conditions in the war. Tanks and recreations of the war are dotted about and our guide gave us some informative details of the sites significance and importance in the war. Also if your a gun fan you can even let fly some bullets with a choice of guns on a shooting range. If your dream is to shoot an AK-47, head to the cu chi tunnels.

To summarize our couple of days doing tours in Vietnam I would say this,great locations which are must do's in HCM and doing tours is helpful. although I'm not sold on them, I think not having freedom to walk at your own pace can be irritating, and the tours reminded me a bit of school trips. Still I can't really complain as they did introduce me to some great sights