Jan 9, 2013 -Visiting the infamous Chu chi tunnels turned out to be an epic fail today. At 6 am, we were picked up by a large bus packed with younger tourists. Upon arrivig at the facility, we watched in horror as those same kids posed dramatically for pictures beside each Ho Chi MInh statue they came across. One 19 yr old kiwi who was standing before HO CHI with grateful, tear glazed eyes announce,"dude, he is my idol" to his singlet wearing friend .
The main attraction @ Cu Chi are the small, impressive sniper traps which are hidden by grass and connected to the man made tunnels which lie underground on 3 different stories for over 200 kilometers. The Viet Kong formally used them as an underground highway system in order to fight and hide from U.S. soldiers. Presently, tourists from all over are allowed to play paintball with their friends nearby, eerily shoot bullets at cans, shop or crawl ino the previously used sniper holes for a quick photograph. Massive lines of foreigners on desperate quests to document themselves climbing and popping out of sniper holes made me immediatly wince. I realized that I too secretly yearned to follow the mob and take the "cliched" photo, knowing full well that doing this would turn me into them..... Or, did just having this little "sub rosa" hidden within me mean that I AM THEM???? And if that's the case, how on earth will I make people finally accept me for who I am "pretending" to be???
I ended up passing on it, and pitied the suffering my Facebook's photo album section would undergo as a result of it!!!!!! David Sedaris wrote that, " All of us take pride and pleasure in the fact that we are unique, but I'm afraid that when all is said and done the police are right: it all comes down to fingerprints". Our
p.s.- Our Vietnamese tour guide must have either shotgunned three red bulls or just freebased cocaine 12 min prior to receiving a microphone on the bus, because he would not shut up. No less than 70 times, my ears burned as he mispronounced and repeated the words ,"guerrilla soldier", (substituting the "g" with a "r" sound, and the "s" with a "w").
After continuously ranting at tourists ignorant refusal to feast upon, "dewishhhhusss dog meat", he serenaded us on the bus.....
The main attraction @ Cu Chi are the small, impressive sniper traps which are hidden by grass and connected to the man made tunnels which lie underground on 3 different stories for over 200 kilometers. The Viet Kong formally used them as an underground highway system in order to fight and hide from U.S. soldiers. Presently, tourists from all over are allowed to play paintball with their friends nearby, eerily shoot bullets at cans, shop or crawl ino the previously used sniper holes for a quick photograph. Massive lines of foreigners on desperate quests to document themselves climbing and popping out of sniper holes made me immediatly wince. I realized that I too secretly yearned to follow the mob and take the "cliched" photo, knowing full well that doing this would turn me into them..... Or, did just having this little "sub rosa" hidden within me mean that I AM THEM???? And if that's the case, how on earth will I make people finally accept me for who I am "pretending" to be???
I ended up passing on it, and pitied the suffering my Facebook's photo album section would undergo as a result of it!!!!!! David Sedaris wrote that, " All of us take pride and pleasure in the fact that we are unique, but I'm afraid that when all is said and done the police are right: it all comes down to fingerprints". Our
p.s.- Our Vietnamese tour guide must have either shotgunned three red bulls or just freebased cocaine 12 min prior to receiving a microphone on the bus, because he would not shut up. No less than 70 times, my ears burned as he mispronounced and repeated the words ,"guerrilla soldier", (substituting the "g" with a "r" sound, and the "s" with a "w").
After continuously ranting at tourists ignorant refusal to feast upon, "dewishhhhusss dog meat", he serenaded us on the bus.....
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