Cu Chi Tunnels Chi district – Ho Chi Minh City

Cu Chi Tunnels is a 200 km colossal network of connecting underground tunnels in the Cu Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City. During the Vietnam War it was a location for several military campaigns. Also it was a base of Viet Cong, the army resisting the United States and South Vietnamese governments. Nowadays this is an important war memorial and a popular tourist attraction. The tunnels are a part of a much bigger underground network of the country. In Ci Chi there are two different tunnel display sites – Ben Dinh and Ben Duoc. MEKONG EYES

How to organize a trip?
The majority of tourist companies in Vietnam can organize a trip for you, including a transfer to/ from the hotel and a guided tour. If you organize your trip by yourself and reach the destination from Ho Chi Minh City, you can buy the ticket for entrance the tunnels on the spot, Mekong & Phu Quoc island (5 days, 4 nights)

How to get there?
If you decide to use a service of a tourist company, most probably they will provide you a private car or a bus with a pick-up at your hotel.
In a case you want to travel to Cu Chi on your own, you should take a Bus #13 that leaves from the BẾN CV 23/9 bus station (between Lê Lai and Nguyên Thi Nghia, near to KFC restaurant). Its last stop is Cu Chi. Bus fare is approximately $0,3 (7,000 VND), and the ride is about 1,5 hours. When you arrive arrive to Cu Chi bus station, you should take a Bus #79. The ride will last about 45 minutes and cost $0,25 (6,000 VND). The bus will reach a T-junction with Ben Duoc on the left and Ben Dinh on the right, which are in nearly 20 minutes of walking.

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Cu Chi Tunnels Chi district – Ho Chi Minh City

Prices and programme
A private half-day tour arranged by a tourist office may cost from $40 to $75, depends on size of the vehicle. If your reach Cu Chi on your own, for the admission to the tunnels, either Ben Dinh or Ben Duoc, you will have to pay about $4 (90,000 VND) for a guided 45 – 60 min tour. The programme of the tours at both tunnels is pretty much similar and includes a 15-minute black and white propaganda film, tunnel tour and displays of booby traps. In the end of the tour, you will get a chance to taste a steamed tapioca, which is a popular in this region food.

Ben Dinh Tunnels
As we’ve mentioned before, there are two tunnels in Cu Chi. The village of Ben Dinh is located nearly 50 km from Ho Chi Minh City. The tunnels here are a very touristic spot, that’s why sometimes, especially during the high season, it may be overcrowded. Most of the companies will bring you here. But not all of them will tell you that Ben Dinh tunnels have been a part of a real network and were specially created only for tourists.  

Ben Duoc Tunnels
These are the original tunnels that were used by the soldiers of the Vietnamese army and Cu Chi people, who have managed to live, eat, sleep, work and plan the military activities here. Usually they were staying here during a daytime and going out only at night in order to get some supplies or attack the enemy. Also more than 10,000 people lost their lives here. The tour in the tunnels lasts for approximately one hour. Also just next to the tunnels there is a Ben Duoc temple, which is also worth visiting.

Dangers
Don’t forget that while visiting Cu Chi Tunnels you should always carry some insect repelling. Inside the tunnels, watch out for bats, as there is a lot of them here. If you get bitten or scratched by one, you should immediately visit a doctor, as bats may carry rabies

4 Best Local Foods in Hoian

There are a number of local delicacies specific to Hoi An that travellers must eat when they visit Hoi An, especially 4 Best Local Foods in Hoian. You can get authentic taste for a dollar a plate. You cannot leave Hoi An without trying Cao Lau- Hoi an's signature dish,  chicken rice, white rose and quang noodle. These foods are the 4 Best Local Foods in Hoian. Centre Vietnam tours

1. Cao lau- Hoi An's signature dish

Cao lau is  a delectable dark pork broth with fat yellow noodles, slices of juicy pork,  served with bean sprouts, green vegetables, slices of and crispy croutons. The noodles must be made with the water from one of the closely guarded ancient Cham wells hidden throughout Hoi An.
Why Cao Lau is so special and one of the 4 Best Local Foods in Hoian?

Water as it must come from an ancient Cham wells around Hoi An

Vegetable have to be taken from Tra Que vegetable village

The ashes which use to soak the noodle have to be taken from Cham Island

Where to try Cao Lau in Hoi An?

If you are looking for local taste and local price, you should go to Thanh Cao Lau (24 Thai Phien St). Price: 25,000 VND. Open hour: All day but they will close very soon in the noon and night if the ingredient is over. Best Halong bay cruise

If you prefer the comfort of a restaurant with air con, walk down to Ms Vy’s Morning Glory restaurant on 106 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street in the centre of town.

4 Best Local Foods in Hoian

2. Hoi An Chicken Rice - Com Ga  Hoi An
Hoi An chicken rice -Com ga is delicious fluffy rice cooked in chicken stock with a tiny bit of turmeric for colour, thrown in a wok and served with boiled, coarsely shredded chicken Chicken in this dish is torn into small pieces and then mashed with crushed onions, Vietnamese coriander and the other spices. This mixing step is important and clearly shows the delicacy of the cooker.. The dish is then served up with very spicy chili sauce, pepper to slow the heart various coating mix chicken liver hard, extremely attractive. Before being served to customers, the springy chicken pieces and fragrant rice are decorated with peppermint, papaya, and salted onions. MANGO CRUISE

Where to try a dish of Chicken rice in Hoi An?

In Hoi An center: try Com Ga Huong on the pavement outside 48 Le Loi Street (near Thu Thuy Cloth Shop). Huong’s opens daily at around 14:00 and stops serving once the pot is clean.

Outside center: Com Ga Ba Buoi at 22 Phan Chu Trinh. It is family-run restaurants and have been set up in the 1950s. Prices here vary (for tourists) but expect to pay around 30-40,000 VND depending on their mood.

In tourist’s restaurant, yoi can try Mermaid – 2 Tran Phu and Miss Ly’s Cafe on 22 Nguyen Hue.

Please check video for How to make Hoi An Chicken Rice

3. White Rose  Hoi An
White rose - an appetizer named for its shape when presented properly – White Rose is a type of shrimp dumpling made from translucent white dough bunched up to look like a rose.

Ingredients such as shrimp and pork are placed on top the carefully folded noodles and topped with crispy shallot. The unique dipping sauce is made of shrimp broth, hot chilies, lemon and sugar.

Water must be drowned from the old Ba Le well, which is filtered and purified 15-20 times before being mixed with the rice paste to form airy dough.

Where to try a plate of White rose in Hoi An?

Local Restaurant: Banh Bao Banh Vac: 533 Hai Ba Trung St. Price: 4 USD/ 1 dish

The recipe for these dumplings is secret, held by one family in Hoi An who supplies all the restaurants. At 533 Hai Ba Trung Street, Tran Tuan Ngai is a third generation secret keeper of the traditional white rose recipe.

Check our vide: How to make white rose Hoi An?

4. Quang Noodle

The noodle is yellow or white in color and made from rice flour. It is mixed with shrimp, pork and vegetables, and topped with grilled rice paper and spices. This noodle dish is a complex mixture of flavors and texture. The vibrant wide yellow tumeric noodles, sesame rice crackers, roasted peanuts, fresh herbs, and flavourful. Unlike these noodle soups, mì Quảng is served with very little broth and almost like a dry noodle dish or noodle salad with the broth serving to bring all the flavors together.

Quang soft noodle soup tastes best when being served with a variety of herbs, such as mint leaves, houttunya, cabbage, onion, coriander and so on.

What makes Quang noodle soups unique is the richness of the broth, the lack of it and the crushed peanut toppings on the noodles.

7 Things not to do in Vietnam - a Cultural Guide

Travel broadens the mind but stray outside of the local laws and customs and you’ll find yourself on the receiving end of angry locals, or worse still, getting deported or locked up in jail. Follow these etiquette and cultural hints when exploring Vietnam;

Don’t blog in Vietnam – If you thought blogging about government affairs in Vietnam is cool, you better think again. Unlike most countries where you are free to blog about the government, in Vietnam, you certainly aren’t. Whether what you were blogging about was sensitive or not, it’d be ten times better to just use that keyboard to type about the weather in Vietnam. Talk about anything like corruption in the government or even the Vietnam War and you’ll either be deported, or you’ll be thinking about freedom behind steel bars. Blogging, in Vietnam, should be about your personal experiences. Blogging about the government is a no-go-zone. Vietnam travel

Keep your leisure time healthy – Despite having the freedom to blog about your personal experiences, you should know that anything that depicts pornography is highly illegal. Prostitution also happens to be illegal. If you’re the kind of person that loves going to bars and nightclubs, flirting with a couple of women and then taking them back to your crib, this isn’t the place for you. Even sharing a room with a Vietnamese of the opposite sex is wrong and co-habiting is completely a no-go option. Though this law is nowadays not so strict about this, you can never be too sure when things might get serious. Calypso Cruise

As with all destinations, it’s important to practice common sense and these tips are here to assist. Regular readers of our blog know that we adore Vietnam as a travel destination and have indeed produced many posts on the subject; My Hanoi Travel Experience: My Favourite Destination in the World, What to do in Ho Chi Minh City, 5 Weird and wonderful hotels in Vietnam and many more.

Women’s dress in Vietnam – For women, the laws are even stricter then for a man. You can’t wear revealing clothing anywhere in Vietnam apart from your own bedroom. Foreigners aren’t excluded from this law and there are some who have been called rude names for wearing sexy, revealing or low cut clothing whilst out and about. Reveal less and you might just survive in Vietnam. Showing off your bust and letting the men see how attractive your legs are will do you no good. Instead, you might end up spending the night in a cell, or you might even be on your way back to your home country. DAY TRIP CRUISE

7 Things not to do in Vietnam - a Cultural Guide

Don’t attempt to drive when in Vietnam – Your driver’s license is as good as useless in Vietnam. Having an International Driver’s License makes no difference either. However good you are at driving, you also can’t be issued with a VN driver’s license. Only a Vietnamese can obtain a driver’s license. So, kindly don’t bother driving in Vietnam if you can’t prove that you are Vietnamese. And with the roads choc-a-block 24/7 it’s no great loss to forgo driving for the duration of your holiday.

Update; whilst you can’t use your own drivers licence in Vietnam you can apply for a Vietnamese licence should you wish to, for example if you plan a lengthy stay and is required by law to drive a car or motorcycle in Vietnam. Visitors can apply via the Hanoi Department of Public Works and Transportation and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Public Works and Transportation, contact details can be found on the FCO Official site.


Stay safe in Vietnam – Also, the police in Vietnam aren’t interested in cases such as your bag was stolen or you got ripped off by a merchant. These cases, in the eyes of the police, aren’t crimes. They are regarded as civil matters of dispute. So, it’d be a good idea to always watch out for conmen, distraction thieves and pickpockets. They can lurk anywhere since stealing your property wouldn’t end up being a police matter. If you do lose something, hire a private investigator or someone of the sort. After that, hope that he/she isn’t a con as well. If he/she is, leave the police out of it. Always check the latest official safety and travel advice prior to travel.

Camera action – Despite criminal deception not being a major issue to the police, your camera might turn out to be a big issue. Restrain from taking pictures of military installations. All you’ll be really looking for is an unexpected arrest in which you’ll be taking pictures of your life in prison.

Drugs in Vietnam – Finally, transportation of illegal drugs is among the most offensive crimes in Vietnam. The maximum penalty for this crime is death. Though you might catch a glimpse of one or two people smoking marijuana in the streets, don’t ever be fooled into doing the same.