Upon returning
from Hoi An, there was one thing left we all wanted to see, the
Cu Chi Tunnels. We went back to our favorite travel cafe, and checked
out the tours. We were leaving Vietnam the following day at 1:00 a.m.,
so we decided to sign up for a half day trip. i.e. leave at 8:30 a.m. and
return by 2:00 p.m., maybe do some shopping , see another museum, just
take it all in, before going to the airport.
Well our
'tour bus/van' finally showed up closer to 9:00 a.m...we were off. We drove
and drove, hitting tons of traffic, but eventually getting out of the city.
We kept seeing signs for the tunnels, but it seemed like we just kept driving
along. Okay by 11 o'clock we started thinking, there is no way we can see
the tunnels and get back by 2 p.m.. What the hell is going on here? I pull
out that trusty brochure, and read over our tour one more time. Nope, doesn't
sound right. Just below our tour listing was a write-up for another full
day tour, visiting not only the tunnels but a Caodai
temple.(the plan was to arrive there at noon for mass). Judging by
the time, it seems we somehow got suckered into this full day tour and
would be back in HCMC by 7 p.m. A bit of a rush to get anything else done
before going home.
To make
a long story short, I don't think the half day tour really existed that
day, so they threw us into the full day trip. We visited the Caodai temple,
which was unbelievable. On the way back the guide fell asleep, as a result
the driver took a wrong turn putting us about 45 mins out of our way, we
had engine trouble, we hit tons and tons of traffic, I inhaled double my
share of exhaust fumes sitting at the back of this bus...and we made it
to HCMC a little after 8 p.m., grabbed some dinner, a few souvenirs and
headed for the airport.