DSCN1054, a photo by Heather April on Flickr.
Day 13
Today we traveled by bus to the Caodai Temple, built in 1926 in the village of Long Hoa, Tay Ninh. The temple is such a beautiful place. The cao dai religion was founded in an attempt to combine all of the religious philosophies in Vietnam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism, Spiritisim, Christianity and Islam. The main goal of the discipline is to prevent reincarnation, which can be achieved by the performance of certain human duties: killing, lying, luxurious living, sensuality and stealing are also not allowed. While at this stop, I ran across the street and purchased fresh fruit from a vendor who didn't speak English. I was so proud of my street sense and I thanked them in their language. :)
Our next stop was the Cu Chi tunnel network, which was the revolutionary base of the Saigon Cu Chi people otherwise known as the Viet Cong (guerrilla fighters) during the Tet Offensive. They lived in a dense jungle area near the Saigon River and at the outskirts of the main city. They hand built seventy five miles of narrow and deep tunnels in a complex network that really confounded the US soldier. The tunnels expanded further out too, throughout most of the country but the purpose of these specific tunnels were to protect Saigon. The Viet Cong were masters of traps and hiding their daily activities by using trenches, tunnels and outhouses dug deep in the earth, and covered with natural cover. I was able to get inside of a tunnel and crawl around a bit. It was intense. The guide told us the tunnel had been widened for foreign visitors but it was still really narrow, short, and hot. There were a couple of tunnel entries the original size, which you can see in the pictures. There were craters in the ground made by B52 bombers and there was an old US tank on display, taken out by the Viet Cong. It is winter time in Vietnam now but the jungle weather was 90-95 with 80% humidity. Ugh!
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