On our last day in Vietnam, Dain, Becca and I were on the same trip yet
again, going to the Cai Dai Temple and the Cu Chi Tunnels. The temple
was about 2 hours away, and we got to walk around it and then watch a 1
hour ceremony. Basically, Cai Dai is a local religion founded in the
1930s that combines the ideas of three different religions and has 3
different saviors. One a french writer, one Sun Yet-sen of China, and
one I honestly can't remember. The decoration was clearly ornate and
what was totally crazy was that this wasn't just a temple but rather an
entire city surrounding it. We didn't have much time to explore, but I
could only see an exit in one direction while the rest just contained
building after building after building. Before entering the temple, we
had to remove our shoes and to watch the ceremony we had to travel to
the 2nd level balcony as we weren't allowed on the same floor as those
participating (I'm not exactly sure what they are called). At 12 on the
dot a bell rang and hundreds of people droned in robes came walking out
an an organized line and took their spots on the floor. Some of those in
the front had on colored robes, I'm assuming these were the high ranking
church officials, while the rest were in white. One man in yellow sat
clearly at the front. Most of the time they sat in complete silence, but
every now and then certain bells would ring and certain actions would be
performed. I assume they were silently praying, but I wish I knew for
sure what was happening in front of me.
We then drove to lunch at a place not too far away from the temple.
Again, I was able to eat SO much and it was incredible. I had soup, and
noodles, and spring rolls, and fries. Yummmmmmmmmmmm. We got into a bit
of trouble with the waitresses because we all walked up the street to
buy drinks since she was trying to charge us $3 for a small bottle and
it was .50cents up the street for a huge one, but thankfully one of the
RDs on our trip spoke Vietnamese and did the explaining/arguing/who
knows what for us. After using the restroom (which is noteworthy for two
reasons, 1) because the doors were see through from the outside, which
means everyone waiting could see us in the bathroom, and 2) because this
was the beginning of by far the worst bathroom-related experience of my
life), we headed out.
**Disclaimer: Toilet Talk ahead**
The tunnels were about an hour away, and as we continued I realized it
was a very poor idea to have drunk 2 1-L bottles at lunch. As I felt my
bladder continue to fill, I noticed the bumps in the road and the
traffic ahead. Screaming in pain, I literally dug my head into Dain to
cry, simply hoping that some liquid would leave my body. We kept asking
the guide how long and repetitively he said we were almost there. One
time, he even pulled into a parking lot, and as I got ready to sprint
out, he told us it was just an entrance to a shrine that wasn't open but
have fun taking a picture from the bus window (thanks, man). The tunnels
were still 20 minutes away! AHHHHHHH. I started huffing and puffing and
I know my face must have been beat red. Writing this entry, I literally
am starting to feel the pain I felt, which I can guarantee you was a
worse full, un-relieving, feeling than that one time I had to have my
entire bladder filled at a doctors office just to see what my body did
with it. Before this, I thought that was the greatest relief moment of
my life, but this was probably about to be even better, if I could make
it there. Honestly, this is the first time in my adult life I considered
the fact that I really may not be able to hold it. Half the bus was
looking at me in this raging, tearful pain, and when we finally pulled
into the tunnels I was at the exit to the bus before it even stopped
moving. When it opened, I ignored everything our guide was saying and
sprinted to the restroom (thankfully, Dain had gone on a trip here day 1
in Vietnam, and knew where they were), and I came out 2 minutes later
never having felt so relieved in my life. Lesson learned: do not drink
so much water in such a short time. So even though I used the restroom a
mere 90 minutes prior, it made no difference and I had to resort to
crying in hopes of relieving my bladder. I am so blessed to live in a
country where public restrooms are fairly frequent.
**End Toilet Talk**
Anyway, the tunnels were neat after that. Unfortunately, because of all
the traffic it was near to closing time and we had to rather rush
through, but we still got the time to climb through a few of them and
see some the artifacts. For those who may not know, the Cu Chi Tunnels
were a series of very small underground passage ways that linked the
entire Vietnamese army during the war. The tunnels were literally so
small that they had to be enlarged so that tourists could fit through in
the aftermath. A large American would have stood no chance of fitting
inside, but even those who we consider normal sized struggle. If little
5 foot tall, 100 pound Alisa could barely fit my whole body inside, I
have no idea how Vietnamese men fit in even smaller passages. Seeing the
tunnels was the reason we went, so it wasn't that upsetting that some of
the other displays, like food preparation and range shooting, were closed.
After the tunnels we headed back to the ship and went to enjoy our last
night in Vietnam BBQ! It's a very special day when the ship serves
something different than questionable meat and potatoes, so BBQ day was
like heaven! A hot dog has never tasted so good. Dessert was chocolate
ice cream, also quite a rarity. I don't even want to try to think of how
much I ate that day, but every bite of that hot dog was like sunshine
and rainbows. At home, I don't even like chocolate ice cream, but that
day, man it was fantastic. It should be specialty food days everyday!
Next, we had just two days before we docked in Hong Kong, whoa.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
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