Cu Chi Tunnels

To escape bombardment from French forces, and then US forces during the Vietnam War, Vietnamese communist soldiers built a network of tunnels throughout the country. I visited the Cu Chi Tunnels just outside Saigon. Here a network of 125 miles of tunnels and underground rooms was dug using the most primitive tools.



A wicker basket and a short hoe. That's it. (The hoe is standing upright with the blade on the bottom facing backwards.)

There were meeting rooms, cafeterias and hospitals underground. Vents were dug to allow air in and to let smoke out. Soldiers could spend weeks underground if necessary.

Here is a model showing multiple levels and passageways. In the bottom right corner is an emergency exit into the Saigon River.



Hidden entrances all over the countryside allowed the Communist soldiers to appear seemingly out of nowhere to ambush enemy forces, then disappear just as quickly.

Here I am squeezing into one of the entrances.



Sections of the tunnels are opened for tourists to crawl through. This particular passage was enlarged to accomodate visitors.



The US had superior weaponry -- we always have the best toys -- so the locals had to improvise. There's an exhibit at the tunnels showing the nasty traps they devised using wood and scrap metal. This one uses a common folding chair in a concealed hole.



You fall through the hole into the webbing of the chair. When it slams shut it drives metal spikes into your body. The tour guides seem to enjoy the reactions of tourists when they demonstrate the traps. (They use a stick to trigger them, in case you're wondering.)

It was a long, strange day. There were two busloads of tourists and one "English-speaking" tour guide. He didn't speak the language so much as he had memorized a script. He didn't have much to say so he would repeat himself.

"The tunnels connect to the river. Underground. Underground the tunnels connect to the river. The tunnels underground connect to the river. Connect to the river. The tunnels underground connect to the river."

So it took him four times as long to say ... nothing. If you don't speak English, hey, that's OK, I don't expect that on tour in Vietnam. But don't waste my time!

There was one Vietnamese couple in the group. Now I would certainly not suggest that Vietnamese tourists shouldn't see Vietnamese tourist attractions. But why did they join an English-speaking group? (And why did all of us have to sit on the bus and wait for 20 minutes while they ate their breakfast?)

As an American I certainly wouldn't join a tour group of Vietnamese or Russians or other non-English speaking tourists if I was visiting the White House or Gettysburg or some other American tourist attraction.

So our guide would do his Rain Man bit with us and then talk to the Vietnamese couple for ten minutes. As a result our "half-day" tour got us back to Saigon at 3:30 p.m. Usually tour groups include a buffet lunch or at least stop somewhere where can buy our own. Aside from the ice cream at the tunnels, there was no opportunity at any time during the day for us to buy food.

Ok, I'm being a little harsh. They did feed us.



Mmm ... tapioca root. (With ground peanuts to dip it in!)

Or, as our guide explained: "This is the tapi-you-KAH. The soldiers eat the tapi-you-KAH. The tapi-you-KAH root. The soldiers eat. The soldiers eat the tapi-you-KAH. The tapi-you-KAH."