Gibbons at the Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Center. The man giving our tour explained that they make that siren like noise when they are being aggressive and that they do not like large groups of females.

Over the weekend, we took a trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels and a wildlife rescue center. The tunnels were quite eerie. For those of you that have never heard of the Cu Chi Tunnels, they are a series of tunnels near Saigon that were used during the Vietnam War. These tunnels were very important because they provided refuge for resistance fighters. Even though the tunnels had been widened for Western tourists and reinforced with cement, it was still quite a tight fit for our whole group, which consisted entirely of small females. I was telling everyone how excited I was to see them but when the time came to actually go in them I was so scared! The tunnels were very dark and full of bats. I've always been a little scared of bats but living in Vietnam, I've been getting used to the ones that fly around at night. However, I was still not prepared to be in a very small tunnel with them. After having bats fly within an inch of my face in two of the short tunnels, I was a lame tourist and refused to go in any more of them.

A random place where you could eat potatoes by lantern underground...

The Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Center was a lot more fun. The center takes care of animals, most of them threatened or endangered species, that were being sold on the black market then confiscated by the government. Above is a video of some of the gibbons that we saw. The center also had Asiatic bears, endangered otter species, exotic birds, snakes, and a species of turtles that only have about 100 remaining in the world. The animals that were only recently taken away from their homes are rehabilitated and released into their natural habitats while others that have been out of the wild for too long to survive on their own will stay in the center or at a zoo forever.

We also went to a beautiful temple near Cu Chi that commemorated the soldiers from Cu Chi that died during the war. Finally, we ate at a place near the water that had a great view. There we ate a massive feast. There was so much good food and I felt very full after wards. I will be gone for the whole weekend this weekend because my roommate is taking me to her boyfriend's cousin's wedding. I am so excited to see a real Vietnamese wedding and meet Trang's family!