02 February 2013

South East Asia Adventure | Rice papers and bomb craters - the Cu Chi Tunnels


The Cu Chi tunnels were not high on my list of places to visit – maybe its collective american guilt or something, but they were on the itinerary so we spent the hours on a bumpy ride to see them.  The park itself is a bit kitchy but you can’t help but take a shaky breath when you see the bomb craters and the innovative human traps and imagine thousands of soldiers running a war and living underground for months on end.  



The highlight of the park though was seeing a woman methodically and patiently frying rice water on an outdoor stove to make rice papers, rolling them off the pan on to something like a sushi roller, spreading them out carefully on bamboo pads and finally setting them out to air dry.  Just like making crepes I guess but these are tissue paper thin and so light they must float, attributes I have yet to find in the rice papers bought in Santa Cruz, and I've tried two different brands so far.

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