I woke up after 6 and headed out around 7am to a nearby market where I got a mango before heading towards the river but turning back to make the market meeting point at 8am. There were a few groups and a few tour guides. My guide was there but not the rest of my group while 2 Germans didn't have a guide. Some groups headed off with their full complements while we waited. After 15 minutes I suggested that we go as a group and the other tour guide can take the other group so the guide called Huey Huey agreed and off we went to the same places I'd been to yesterday the opera house, city hall, cathedral and post office. This guide was better and had more to say including details like the French painting buildings yellow as thr paint lasts longer in the heat and sunlight. At 10am we came to the war remnants museum where the guide was not going to go in as he's not allowed to talk in there. As the tour was going to end soon I headed off to the Chinese consulate where there was quite a queue of people and around 10.50 I made it to the consultant and got a form for visa application and gound that it takes 4 days so I was going to have to do it in Hanoi. I decided to go to the Cu chi tunnels and as I didn't know closing times I headed there straight rather than visit a museum in town first. I got lucky catching a bus (13) when I got to the road they go along and it went a fair distance for 7k and then at the Cu chi town bus station I caught another bus (79) which took me to the entrance. I paid the 90k entrance and went and saw the temple there at Ben Duoc. After that I didn't know where the tunnels were and ended up wandering all round the area coming to a swimming pool (could have been nice), a lake (also good for picnics), and a fake village which included some fake dead cows to demonstrate the war. Finally some people directed me to the tunnels and it was right where I was earlier. I sat and watched a bad documentary before our guide took 5 of ys and another French group who just arrived to the tunnels. We went into a few tunnels including a 30 metre one which was tough going as I had my large backpack. There was a guy and girl from Sydney and he wanted to shoot some guns. I was going to join him but the Indian guy from our group said the last bus was at 5pm and it was 4.30 now so I headed back with him. We sat outside a shop where I bought peanuts and water and talked about travel mainly. He was from the south and travelled without his family as they couldn't afford to all go. He also looked younger than his age of 50 and when the bus came we talked some more. Back in the city we went separate ways and I headed to the river to cross and see a church there. I got a sandwich on the way which had a real spice kick to it but I couldn't find a way across the river as it seemed to be a car tunnel only.
I walked back into the city and the internet place I'd seen before didn't actually have any computers in the building so it was probably just wifi. I read some boards about the history of Vietnam and also about things the communist government are doing, the people of Saigon are not as happy as the rest of the Country being communist so the propaganda is probably to make them more accepting. It got late so I headed back and met John-Paul and he said the Aussies had left. We chatted for a little but both went to bed earlier at 11.
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