Pho 24/7

Wow, pho is everywhere! It is eaten breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. It's pretty cheap, high end is about $3-4, low end is about $1. Jill orders Dac Biet (special) while I usually order Tai (rare meat), but XL size, hehe. The iced coffee with condensed milk here is also good, I get about five of them per day!
We are close by Ben Tanh market where you can buy just about anything conterfeit. They can spot a tourist easily, grabbing you by the arm and legs to buy something. I felt like a rock star but also violated at the same time. I  bought 3 shirts for $4 dollars each. I could have gotten them cheaper, but they put the guilt trip with sad face story of how they are barely making any money. They also qoute you a different price if you need a bigger size. "More material, more price, but for you I make special deal, OK?" LOL. I also got a fake Tag Heuer watch. Price started at $45, but finally agreed on about $27. Turns out the watch is about 10 mins/day slow, no big deal though, it looks nice.




Cu Chi tunnels was way better than Mekong Delta tour. We were lucky to be in a small group with 3 other Canadians "on holiday" and our guide Jackie who was very funny and informative. He told us the real deal on the Vietnam War as he served as a 2nd lieutenant translator for the south and the American GI's. From his view, the war would have never been won by the US and South Vietnam b/c the VC guerrillas were just too resilient. Many soldiers and civilians died for no just cause. His face and eyes were "battle worn", but he did love his long hair! He kept on playing and fixing his hair a lot. Jackie had great stories of the war, the french occupation, and Vietnam now. "More accurate than Lonely Planet". I believe him.
 

The tunnels were small, dark, and hot! Crawling around for 10 mins makes you sweat like crazy! Also along the touryou here gun fire from a distance, but getting louder as we walked. There is a shooting range if you wanted to fire some M16 or AK47 guns. Holy shit, they were loud and scary! I can't believe the soldiers lived in this type of environment.

After Cu Chi tunnels, we got dropped off back to Ho Chi Minh to visit The War Remenants Museum. Interesting point of view on the Vietnam war. There was definitley some anti-US sentiment in the displays and news propaganda that was published. There was some real fighter planes, choppers, and tanks on display there as well.

Taking bus to Mui Ne today, 4 hours north, only $7 each way. Until then....