Day 7: Ho Chi Minh

Since Stacey had to fly all the way back to New York, she left a day earlier than the rest of us.  So at 3:30am we were up to see her off and wish her a safe flight.  Save travels, MVP Stacey!

The guys and I decided to travel an hour outside of the city to see the Cu Chi Tunnels.  Before leaving, we started off with a delicious bowl of "pho", the most common breakfast, lunch and dinner in Vietnam.

Digging began on the Cu Chi tunnels in the 1940's, during Vietnam's war with France.  During the American war they were expanded to stretch from Ho Chi Minh to the Cambodian border.  According to Lonely Planet, in the district of Cu Chi alone, there were over 250km of tunnels.  These tunnels included hospitals, kitchens, sewing rooms for making uniforms, and rooms for making weapons.  During the American war over 16,000 people lived in the tunnels including both soldiers and families.

 The tunnels had a large part in the eventual American pull-out.  The Americans built a base in the area, but unknowingly placed it right on top of an existing tunnel network.  It took the troops months to figure out why they kept getting shot at in their tents at night.  According to the Lonely Planet, "The US and Australian troops...launched large-scale ground operations involving tens of thousands of troops but failed to locate the tunnels' hidden entrances, some of which were under water.  To deny the VC cover and supplies, rice paddies were defoliated, huge swathes of jungles bulldozed, and villages evacuated and razed.  The Americans also sprayed chemical defoliants on the area aerially and a few months later ignited the vegetation with gasoline and napalm.  But the VC remained safe and sound in their tunnels.  Eventually the US began sending men down the tunnels.  The 'tunnel rats' sustained appallingly high casualty rates in underground fire fights.  After this the Americans began using German shepherds, trained to use smell to locate trapdoors and guerrillas.  However the VC began washing with American soap and wearing the uniforms of captured US troops to throw them off.  Many dogs were maimed in booby traps and the operation was called off.  Finally, in the late 1960's, American B-52's carpet-bombed the whole area, destroying most of the tunnels along with everything else around.  The gesture was militarily useless by then because the US was already on its way out of the war.  The tunnels had served their purpose."

Upon arrival at the tunnels we watched a (propaganda) video about typical life in the tunnels, highlighting various peasants that were crucial in defeating the Americans.

One entry point to the tunnels

A trap involving a rotating door and bamboo spikes

The original tunnels.  Our guide said that during the war the Vietnamese were much smaller due to a lack of nutrition and that today most Vietnamese could not fit into the tunnels.

Examples of many of the traps used during the American war

Land mines

B-52 bomb crater

The tunnels have been more than doubled in height for tourists.  They were still very cramped and pitch black inside.  It's crazy to think that people stayed underground in them for weeks at a time.  Our tour guide was born in a hospital nearby, but remembered living in them with his parents when he was a child.

Early the next morning we woke up and headed back to winter in Beijing.