Day 120 – Ho Chi Minh City
Tour of Cu Chi Tunnels
Today we started our half day tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels, which involved hotel pick up at 8:30am. The company that ran the tour was called Kim Travels, and it was really well organised. During the drive to the tunnels, there was a brief introduction about Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City and the Cu Chi Tunnels. After this, several documentaries were shown on the bus’ TV that talked about the Vietnam War and Agent Orange.
The tunnels were used during the Vietnam War by the Vietnamese, as a base of operation and refuge from air strikes. The tunnel network expands all over Vietnam, but the Cu Chi Tunnels are one of the well known and closer ones to Ho Chi Minh City.
Before the tunnels, we stopped at a Handicapped Handicrafts Factory / Shop, where our guide told us, the workers are all victims of the war with most having disabilities due to agent orange. The government created these factories so that they would have employment and tourists can purchase the art work. The work is quite expensive, but the profits should go to a good cause.
Once we went to the tunnels, we were taken through the entrance / gift shop, that has a few bomb shells and weapons on display. Then our guide took us to the a sign showing a cross section of the tunnels, where he gave us lots of information about them. One of the most interesting facts, was that in certain locations, USA bases were actually made on top of existing tunnels, giving the Viet Cong easy access to attack them.
Then we were shown the entrance to a tunnel. The entrance was very small, and once closed, it was almost impossible to see. There was also exhibits showing the wide variety of booby traps. Essential everything, from door frames to chairs were mutated into traps, designed to cripple more than kill the opposition.
Well hidden tunnel entrance
Essentially everything was thought out, and despite the low resources, the Viet Cong, used everything at their disposal to ultimately win the war. They even wore special slippers at night time that would show the foot prints going in the opposite direction making tracking very difficult.
The area is littered with these Woman making rice paper Made from tyres Shoes designed to look like you are walking in the opposite direction
The final thing we did, was walk…well crouch/crawl, through a section of the tunnel. It was around waist height with hardly room to look around. There are several off shoots if you don’t want to go all the way to the end, but a few of us went all the way and I must say, the tunnel life is not for me.
Inside the Cu Chi Tunnels End of the tunnel An recreation of the kitchen exhaust system
By the time we returned to Ho Chi Minh City, it was 3:30pm, which is not bad for a half day tour. However, this meant we were starving. We went to the Ben Thanh Street Food Market, and had a very late lunch. The rest of the day was just relaxing, or crossing the road feeling like Simba with a horde of wilder beast surrounding us.
Street Food Market
