Sunday the 12th marked the start of pure tourism for all the hard work we have done in this country. So that would have to be rewarded with a good night rest… or not. A lovely 06:30 breakfast for the usual suspects awaited and for the ones lagging behind they had to make sure to be done by 07:10 to leave with the bus. However, the bus was delayed by 20 minutes which was enough time to wake up Amr who had decided to oversleep. Before we reached the Cu Chi tunnels with our amazing guide who will study in Belgium we already lost 3 people. Tudor felt sick on the bus ride and decided it was best to hop off, Abdel posted lovely food the evening prior but one of those dishes caused ruckus in his stomach and Dan decided to take a day to fully recharge in the hotel.
On the way from the hotel Simon, our tour guide, yes we upgraded from Peer to an actual tour guide, shared many interesting facts that because of and booklet shared by the committee prior to the trip allowed Lawrence to score many points with right answers. He then proceeded to let his inflated ego take over and ruin all his hard work. Simon also showed his observational qualities by pointing out that we were white and he was indeed yellow, yeah that’s right is what he said and all we could do was agree. Simon explained that the yellow star in their national flag is because of their yellow skin colour. In the bombardment of factual information and use of his catchphrase an interesting bet arose: How many times would the word pho be said this day? This national dish has already become a fan favorite amongst the group and not necessarily because of the taste. Twan bet that it wouldn’t surpass 300 and when the counter that was as reliable as Vietnamese traffic rules already reached 20 within the minute it sure looked like Twan would lose this bet.
Enough introduction, this day was about the Cu Chi tunnels and the Mekong delta. The first stop was the tunnels and after the Americans a new infestation had risen: tourists! Many groups were on the premises to learn about the Vietnam war from the perspective of the Vietnamese people and see how they fought the Americans with ingenuity and a biological advantage of being outrageously small. When we were allowed to go into a man cover which was already widened for fat tourists some of were made aware of our bulkier build. Mr Travel with all his research about the culture and life in Vietnam of course made the worst error of all by not only exposing the lid of the hole entirely but also ensuring that the content on top went down his shirt. Continuing onwards Simon shared the Vietnamese spirit of compassion and forgiveness by sharing how they were only protecting their land and never wanted to kill Americans. They simply wanted to seriously maim them which could then potentially lead to disease giving the final push. The forest was meant to become a place of fear so that the soldiers following simple orders would be too scared. For these they had traps with spiky bamboo and fishhooks that ensured the skin remained hooked after the trap deployed. A favorite was the door trap for which I can state that it would be worst to be hit by. When the door opened spikes would swing down, in case a soldier stopped it a lower piece would swing right into manly area and rendering them useless from there on out. Next to traps they also used guns and offered some untrained students the chance to spend their money and miss the target by a solid amount. Almost everyone took the opportunity to shoot an AK-47 however Amr tried his luck on the machine gun. Tijn had a few horrific shots which led the gun operator to remove the plywood which had led to a position not suited for taller people. Sina was surprised by the recoil unlike Björn who was ready to sacrifice his shoulder firing 20 rounds. Everyone enjoyed the experience except maybe for Lawrence who was so eager he fired all his shots within 3 seconds. After all the exposition it was time to enter the tunnels. 100 meters of hot, humid conditions while almost crawling on all fours. Some took the exit after 20 40, 60 or 80 meters but slightly claustrophobic Sina overcame her fears and crawled all the way till the end. In the narrow tunnels size does matter but Peer and Twan showed that it possible for everyone.
After the action-packed morning it was time for lunch which was only a 5 minute ride away. The bus driver heard this promise and knowing it was a 10 minute drive decided to but his foot down which nearly caused Mare to go flying through the bus. We had some Vietnamese cuisine and left right on time except for Robin who had missed the bus, or so Peer made him think for a solid minute before Robin was told to turn to his right were the bus was waiting for the latecomer. From there on it was a 2 hour bus ride to the Mekong delta, it would have been longer with a driver that had more will to live as he overtook trucks with limited space and decided speed bumps could be used for airtime. The bus was divided between people sleeping and playing wavelength. Tijn got to rank all the car brands he could think of whilst Peer had the most fun creating backstories that had absolutely nothing to do with the eventual question.
Then we arrived and took a boat to one of the islands. With blasting music and good vibes, we reached the island and took smaller boats of 4 steered by the local people to get to land. It seemed that Guus had seen a crocodile on the way there however the fear in his eyes was created by a boat that has most likely seen sturdier days and a local steering the boat as if she was cross-eyed. After taking a seat we were kindly received by sounds which were meant to singing. Guus was still distrusting of the locals it seemed as he had his back turned for the entire performance. After trying some local fruits that the flies also enjoyed it was time to see who would want a 3 meter long python in their neck which may or may not be domesticated. Tijn, being the true action hero that he is, offered to go first. It started out extremely noncha but after the snake started tightening around specific areas he quickly lost his cool and left the honor to the next in line. Peer almost received a kiss from the enormous reptile and after seeing about 10 people have the snake in their neck gym boy Rob used the tough guy excuse that the python was quite heavy and avoided his moment of terror. But after one close shave it was on to the next experience. The walkway was flooded with some water that for the average western person looked like it harbored more than 1 unknown disease. As true tourists we expected that is we did not want to go through it there was another way however when you want to learn how the locals live sometimes the only way to the tuk-tuk is through dirty water. Nienke who had been travelling with swollen ankles the entire day did not want to risk further exposure and used the back of Mr Travel to travel across the water. In the back Robin and Tijn had a battle going on to see who could be pissed off the most and after dogs ran by to make their legs be hit it as well the battle turned out to be a tie. A small tuk-tuk ride through the village later and the happiness had returned when it was time to see if we could be persuaded into buying overpriced and low quality souvenirs. This plan failed however the plan of some others to drink a Vodka shot from a bottle with a dead snake in it prevailed. Even Rob, maybe haunted by the loss of face with snakes earlier joined in for this one. Then it was time to take the boat back to shore and cheered on by country roads through the speakers and photographer Siemen overloading his memory card some more we made it back to the mainland. On this trip something else happened: It was a long time coming but the pho counter finally reached above 300 and instantly started rising more, with music through the speakers and a sunset the moment sparked great joy amongst the majority of the group. On the bus ride back Siemen, being the gentleman that he is, switched with Sina to give het more leg room and the followed up his act of chivalry by dropping half of Nienke’s ice for her swollen ankles on the floor. After scooping these back up it was time to go back to Ho Chi Minh City.
After a long ride back it was time to go out to eat and the group split apart. An Italian restaurant that was awfully familiar for Sina and Mare who had already been there twice was introduced to Siemen, Lawrence, Björn and Tijn. After the first 2 visits the amazing quality was not a surprise anymore but Björn casually started a conversation in Italian with the owner was. A smug little smile and some nice small talk caused Siemen to say something about Björn’s demeanor but he was left unfazed by people around him as he speaks Italian through duolingo and is therefore superior.
Then to finalize the eventful day half of the group went to play some cards where in the game of zweeds pesten Peer showed that he had no idea how to play the game whilst Björn showed that speaking Italian makes someone awful at playing cards. Before the day ended Aryan gave us the final score which without a doubt is 100% accurate. The pho counter ended at 621!
Thanks for reading it and in the words of Simon: It was a great day of tourism, yeah that’s right. And before you finish reading please check your belongings and make sure you don’t forget anything.