Củ Chi - the land of steel, the wall of copper

I've been to Cu Chi few times. It's a suburban district of Saigon and about 30km away from city. Not very far so yesterday with friends we decided to ride on our bicycle to this land of steel. Why we call Củ Chi - the land of steel, the wall of copper? It's surely related to the extremely outstanding tunnel during the war, to the legendary fighting and surviving spirit from the people living in this underground labyrinth.

                  The caoutchouc plantation, seeing such a green I'd love to dive into it to cool off from the summer heat.

Very famous with their tunnel network, especially to the tourists from overseas, I've also been to this site few times, my first time was a big nightmare, when I went there with my Korean colleague. He was convinced by the guide to experience the second level (*) by walking within a distance of around 20m, I followed, but a few seconds later I felt unbreathable, I really wanted to go back. Listening to our guide's instructions, I took a left turn, they continued their way. I realized I was left alone in the tunnel. Absolutely alone. No light. It was hard to breath, to crouch on my knees, to navigate in the dark, even though what I should have done was only to go straight - one way. I didn't go, I ran. Now I'm still so proud of myself as better than anyone I know exactly what's the excitement by seeing "the light at the end of the tunnel". 

                        To experience my feelings please check out this video from Global Nomads Group. 

Our first stop was at the eatery "Bún giò heo" (rice noodles with hog's ham hock). To my surprise, I never heard about this dish before, we have "big noodles" (bánh canh) but with rice noodles? 

               Famous rice noodles with hog's ham hock but My first time to try this dish. 

Something new but actually we have rice noodles with everything and everywhere! The place was very crowded due to the sunday morning but we were able to find a table for four of us.

               The hog's ham hock is huge, the soup is good but with rice noodles? 

We arrived to our destination around 9:00 am. Actually we got nothing special in this ride, just like an usual "training" for long ride, so while the others took a rest, I looked around and saw a tree called "caviar tree", it's actually a "Panama cherry", but here in Vietnam we call "caviar" due to the fruit's inside texture.

               "Caviar tree" is an unforgettable image in everyone's childhood.

             Many kids love eating these cherries, just for fun, while gathering under the tree's shadow.  

                 Look at the fruit, you understand why we call "caviar fruit" 

It's rare to find "caviar trees" in Saigon, but in the suburb or country side - quite many. I remember when I was a kid, our family came back to Quang Ngai, my mother hometown, for summer holidays, I loved spending time in the shade of this tree, instead of the afternoon nap at my grandparents house, just to pick the caviar fruits or to watch other kids playing.

                Jackfruit - one of the most popular fruits in South Vietnam.            

Just next to my friend's house - there is a land for sale, with some jackfruit trees. I'm not sure when is a jackfruit season, but judging by those fruits I see on the tree, it could be right now from May to July. You may see jackfruit in sale as street food everywhere in city, it's a kind of healthy snack. We love to eat it after lunch as dessert or later on during the tea-break in the office, it's sweet, starchy with special smell - a combination of apple, pineapple and banana(!).

             and here you go, we picked the fruit from the tree,  the flesh is fresh, sweet, a bit wet. 

After tasting the unexpected childhood's sweet - caviar fruit and the super sweet jackfruit "mít", we decided to go back to the city earlier, to avoid the heat of strong sun during this period of time. I regretted that I didn't have time to visit the tunnel again and also promised to myself , next time I get some super fresh goat's milk and cassava - the two famous specialities from the land of steel, the wall of copper.

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(*) The Cu chi tunnel has three levels, at the first level where we walk quite comfortably, then we move down to one more deeper level (6m deep from the surface) - the second, here we can only crouch and the last one - the third level (8m deep), we crawl. It's very very rare for anyone who dare to go down to the third level. I was told that long in the past some young foreign tourist got lost in the lowest level and he was found, unfortunately, dead after a few days.