Saturday, May 18

We visited the Cu Chi tunnels, a series of underground passages used by the Vietnamese during the Vietnam war. The tunnels were extremely small and created perfectly to act as a hidden transportation system for the Vietnamese during the war. We began by watching a video that depicted  the Vietnam War; The video had a lot of Vietnamese propaganda, it was certainly "their side of the story." We then got a chance to walk through the tunnels; they were only around 3 feet high so I had to crawl through on my hands and knees. It was extremely hot, I couldn't imagine being an American soldier having to wear a backpack, combat boots, and a heavy flak jacket. We arrived early back at the hotel, and finally had an opportunity to get some extra rest. I walked over to the park later, and played pickup basketball with some Vietnamese men. One guy who I met, Quan, worked with an American company who sold dishwashers in wholesale. I wasn't able to understand much more because he did not speak great English. We had an awesome time playing however; we worked the best pick and roll combo. As a huge fan of basketball, it was a great experience to play in a foreign place. It was interesting the difference in playing styles; the Vietnamese used much more teamwork and synchronization rather than playing American style isolation. It has been a common trend that basketball players outside the United States play with a lot less selfishness. The NBA has progressed to become a far different game of basketball than how it was been traditionally played, and it has reflected upon American youth basketball.