Morning, take a half-day tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels,
75 km Northwest of downtown Ho Chi Minh City,
which were once a major underground hideout and
resistance base of Viet Cong forces during the two
wars against the French and later on Americans. The
tunnels, entirely hand-dug, formed a highly intricate
network of interlinked multilevel passageways at times stretched as far as the Cambodian border
and totalling over 120 km in length. Its complexity was beyond imagination containing meeting
rooms, kitchens, wells, clinics, schools, depots,
trenches and emergency exits all aimed for guerrilla
warfare. The tunnels were deep and strong enough to
withstand destructive bombings and self-contained
enough to outlast prolonged sieges. Back to Saigon
Afternoon, take a half-day city tour to visit outside of
Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica (is renovating until
2023), a neo-Roman cathedral built by the colonial French with materials entirely imported
from Marseilles, Saigon Central Post Office, which
was designed and constructed in the early 20th
Century by the famous French architect Gustave
Eiffel. Then, visit the War Remnants Museum, which
features an extensive collection of exhibits including weaponry, photos and documentation on Vietnam’s
wars with the French and Americans. End of day, you
have free time to go shopping at Ben Thanh Market
