Cao Dai and Cu Chi Tunnels

My fourth day in Vietnam, which was March 1st, started at 8 am.  Me and Steph were on a SAS trip to the Cao Dai temple and Cu-Chi tunnels.  The Cao Dai temple was about a 3 hour drive from Saigon where I got some sleep in and also stared out the window.  We were finally outside the city and it was so pretty!  Rice paddies were everywhere, and the people working in them all had their rice hats on (the pointy hats that are round) and it looked like the essence of Viet Nam.  We got lunch before visiting the temple at a restaurant near the temple.  We had fried spring rolls (amazing), chicken legs, noodles with vegetables, bread and soup.  I think there was more but I forget.  After that, we went to the temple around 12 because we were going to watch a service there.  Services in a Cao Dai temple take place at 6 am, noon, 6 pm, and midnight…EVERYDAY!  Caodaiism is a combination of religions almost.  They are based on Buddha, saint and sage (I totally wiki-ed that).  Their symbol is the left eye in a triangle and that symbolizes the divine eye.  The temple itself is interesting.  It is bright!  It is in colors of yellow, blue, red and white.  And it is very detailed and decorative.  There is so much going on in the temple that its hard to explain all the interior designs.  We watched the service, where they are dressed in white (some in blue, some in red and some in yellow also)… and they all kneel on the ground and bow at certain times, and in the back of the temple on the 2nd floor there is a group singing and playing music.  It’s interesting.  After the service, we were waiting outside for some to go to the bathroom and a man came up to me and Steph and started talking to us.  He was Vietnamese and had such good English!  And he was explaining the outside of the temple to us, and how apparently in one of the pillars at the top, there was a body of one of the followers I think.  He told us how he went to university and that was where he learned his English, but he is a motorbike taxi driver. 
After the temple, we drove about an hour to Cu Chi where we went to the Cu Chi tunnels.  The Viet Cong used the tunnels during the war and they lived down there.  When we got there we watched a movie that was the Vietnamese side of the war.  It was talking about many people from the town of Cu Chi and how they killed Americans and how many each one killed and how they were giving awards for doing it.  After that, we toured the area and we came to one place and our guide uncovered a trap door!  It was just chilling in the middle of the ground and it was covered by leaves and no one knew it was there.  I thought we were just stopping there to make sure everyone was with us until this guide took the lid off.  The guide then got in and showed how the Viet Cong had used it and you couldn’t even tell it was there when he disappeared into the ground.  It was insane!  Then we each tried it and I was hesitant at first because it was so tiny but I did it.  And it led down to a network of tunnels but all we did was go down and then pop right back up.  It smelled so bad down there.  Wow… sorry this is random but on my iTunes the song Turn! Turn! Turn! By the Byrds just came on.  And it reminds me of American Dreams and this song was playing when JJ left for the Vietnam War.  I remember stupid things like that.  But anyway!
After that, we walked around some more and saw all the different type of booby traps they used in the war and it was insane!  There were so many different types… ones that your foot would go through a nail and be stuck in a cage, some that you would fall through and land on bamboo spikes… just so many… and that was so upsetting because of course, behind the booby traps are paintings of American’s falling into each one and how it hurts them…granted the paintings were more cartoon-ish and not as realistic but it was still upsetting.  After that, we went to another station there and saw how they made weapons.  Then, we finally got to a network of tunnels and were able to climb through them.  It was 100 meters long (you could stop at any set of steps during that 100 meters and get out) and it was sooooo small and dark and I got a little claustrophobic but I did all 100 meters of it!  I was luckily behind a girl with a flashlight so me and Steph stayed close to her.  After that, you could shoot guns at the shooting range if you wanted.  I chose not to because that is not something I am interested in.  I just thought it was so weird too that your at this war memorial type place yet they encourage you to go shoot AK 47s and all.  After people shot guns, we just went back to the bus and came back to the ship around 5ish.  I was EXHAUSTED after that day.  OH!  And by the way.. my stupid camera broke!  I was looking at pictures on the bus before we got to the temple… and then when I turned my camera on to take pictures the screen was completely black!  It still takes pictures but I just can’t see what I’m taking pictures of.  It s such a bummer because I still have like 2 months left and no camera!  But I plan on being a very skilled photographer by the end of the trip.  Haha. 
But I must go.  I’m going to an explorer seminar that Neha is in and it is about arranged marriages which I’m excited to learn about!  Wow, I sounded like a nerd right there.