as a tourist

We had the chance to visit many tourist attractions, such as Ben Thanh Market, Mekong River, Cu Chi Tunnels and a water puppet show. Through these visits, I have concluded that Vietnam does not have much to offer in their tourism industry, but would still remain attractive to tourists who seek to experience a slice of Vietnam as seen through the eyes of the locals.


ben thanh market

Of these attractions, I found the Cu Chi Tunnels to be the most fun and also insightful. The Tunnels were first constructed in 1948 and then later used in the Vietnam War by the Viet Cong from 1959 to 1975. They were dug by hand at a pace of 5m per day but still managed to build 200km of tunnels in spite of this, which shows the strength and determination of the Vietnamese to survive against all odds.

We had the chance to go into the tunnels and had lots of fun in there. We were trying to recreate the scenario experienced by the poor Viet Cong soldiers when they were attacked by the US army. We tried to move through the tunnel at the fastest speed possible because there were imaginary enemies chasing us from behind, all the while shouting and screaming "BOMB! BOMB! POISONOUS GAS! AHHH!" and sweating because all our activities turned the tunnel into a pressure cooker.


BOMB! BOMB!

All in all, I felt that these tourist attractions still managed to retain a bit of old charm, despite already undergone much changes from their original state in order to cater to tourists. I believe that it is this charm that would help attract more tourists, and Vietnam should try to keep it this way, rather than turn into another identity-less tourist haven that we can so commonly find throughout the world.