Today's ride took us to the CuChi tunnels, located about an hour drive northwest of Saigon. The ride meandered though rubber plantations, rice fields and graveyards. Sometimes the functions not mutually exclusive. At one intersection we happened upon a makeshift market where vendors were selling rats that were caught out by the fields for sale for food. Also included were large snakes in cheesecloth-type bags, still writhing around. Not my kind of cycle rest stop. Thankfully our first rest stop was more my speed at a rice paper "factory" where a thin solution of rice dough was rolled out on a steam drum and then dried in the sun on bamboo screens. There were two women in the operation, one tending the fire and steam of the drum and the other ladling out the rice mixture and transferring to the screen. With rat-free rice cakes for snacks, we then continued on through the rubber plantations, where each tree was about uniform size and shape, planted three meters apart. It looked like a stage set of a forest. Our next stop was at a local cafe which was very modest, a shade roof covering a room of hammocks, but on so lazy and comfortable. I think I want to bring that business model back to Brooklyn... Outdoor coffee shops with hammocks (and free wifi?)

30km later we arrived at the Cu Chi tunnels. An immense network of interconnecting underground tunnels which were used as the base of VC operations for the Tet Offensive in 1968. Over 20 years in the making, these passageways were chiseled by hand and span over 200km! They are three layers deep at some points and include kitchens, water sources, hospitals, and weapons storage. An amazing infrastructural feat, awful story. The area was filled with booby traps, and secret doors to the tunnels. Our guide, an ex-VC guerilla, lived in and fought from the tunnels for 5 years, starting at the age of 16. They had a small length of tunnel widened slightly for western tourists to pass through, just 200m or so... I did the crawl through, glad I didn't get stuck like Winnie the Pooh. It was incredible to think of living in that space and under the conditions of war for 5 years.

After the tunnels, we continued our ride to lunch where we said farewell to our bikes and the cycling part of the journey. Back to Saigon for yet another massage and then we went on our farewell dinner. Our final morning was a walking tour of district 1, we looped by the Post Office, Notre Dame Basilica (complete with posed wedding photos outside), the Reunification Palace and War Museum. The War Museum was absolutely devastating. I couldn't make it through the entire exhibition, and skipped the detailed coverage on Agent Orange. A rather somber note to leave the country, but felt it was an important pilgrimage to make just the same. Next stop, Cambodia!