From the outside, the temple appeared roughly similar to a Christian church - maybe a little more richly ornamented than your average church:
Inside, the decorations were even more obviously Asian, with a fair share of dragons and serpents lurking on the pillars.
We arrived just in time to witness the noon prayer service. According to our guide, the people wearing white were all lay people; only the ones in red, blue, or yellow robes were monks. Like the religion itself, the ceremony seemed to be a mix of elements taken from various other religions. Even though I wouldn't consider myself an expert on religions, I think I could identify elements from at least three different religions. The use of incense sticks reminded me of Buddhism; the sitting position during prayer and frequent bowing of Islam; and the musicians placed on a balcony at the back of the temple of Christian churches - although the music itself was definitely of Asian origin.
After leaving the temple, we went to visit a sight of a completely different nature: the Cu Chi tunnels. These tunnels, located in southern Vietnam, were used during the Vietnam war by the the army of North Vietnam to hide from the South Vietnamese or American armies, and to move without being noticed by them. North Vietnam emerged as a victor from this war, and so their perspective shapes how the tunnels are presented to the visitors: while Wikipedia gives much attention to the dire living conditions in the tunnels, the presentation on-site focuses almost entirely on their effectiveness.
The entrances to the tunnel system were all very well concealed, and didn't require outside help to maintain their concealment after somebody entered. Their small size definitely helped hiding them - or would you have expected a person to be able to enter a hole this size?
The tunnels were an ingenious system with three layers at different depths, air ventilation shafts hidden in man-made termite hills, and booby-trapped dead ends. Apropos booby traps: there were plenty of traps on the surface, too, to keep the enemy from exploring the jungle. For the local people, the traps were clearly marked on trees a few meters before the trap. If you didn't know the markings, however, you were likely to fall into a pit and be speared by bamboo sticks (in this example, at least; other types of traps had other mechanisms of trapping and inflicting pain):
Another "attraction" on the grounds of Cu Chi was a shooting range where visitors could fire a variety of rifles and machine guns that had been in use during the Vietnam war. I had contemplated taking the opportunity, just for the experience of having once shot a gun, but after I heard the first shots from a distance after entering the tunnel compound I decided I didn't ever want to. Gunshots are a terrifying sound to hear, especially if you're standing in unfamiliar terrain and essentially can't see any further than the next couple of trees. My decision was confirmed again when we got close to the shooting range. In a distance of maybe 10 to 15 meters from the shooters, the shots were incredibly loud - so loud that the first one made me jump in shock.
Just before leaving the Cu Chi tunnel complex, we finally had the chance to pass through a small stretch of tunnel ourselves. The original tunnels were only 50 cm wide and 80 cm high - a small Vietnamese person would have much less difficulty navigating such a tunnel than a tall European. The touristy tunnel stretch has therefore been widened to be 80 cm wide and 130 cm high. Even so, walking is only possible with bent knees and a bent back - crawling might have been more comfortable than that.
There were five exits in the 100 meters of tourist tunnel, to allow people to exit as soon as they've had enough. Just before the final exit, the tunnel suddenly shrank back to its original size, finally forcing me into a crawl. When I got there, the people directly in front of and behind me had already left the tunnel at one of the previous exits, so I couldn't see or hear anybody else. Suddenly I was unsure - was this really the right way? Had I missed a turn? Should I have left at the previous exit? Since turning around was all but impossible, my only option was to press on. I was quite relieved to find the next (and last) exit soon after.
To give you an impression of the tunnel interior, this is a shot from a place where there was a change of levels in the tunnel. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any reference objects in the picture, but the tunnel was not a lot wider than my shoulders, and with 130 cm at its highest point just high enough for a low crouch.
On the way back to Saigon, we saw forests of uniform trees from the bus window, all with a diagonal cut in the stem and a small cup attached just below. It took me a while to figure out what they were, but finally I remembered that the guide had mentioned natural rubber as a major source of income in the region. The first time ever I had seen a rubber plantation!
