Not for the Claustrophobic

Today was an early rise because we were taking a bus out to the Chu Chi tunnels that were used by the Viet Cong during the American War.

Back in the 1940’s during the French IndoChina war many of the people living in the Cu Chi section of Saigon began building tunnels under their homes leading to underground chambers where they could store food and hide during the terrifying bombing raids. To allow for alternate exits many families began to connect their tunnels with their neighbours.

Later, during the American War these tunnels became very strategic to the Viet Cong. They could make their way south through Laos and Cambodia via the Ho Chi Minh Trail and sneak into the Cu Chi district of Saigon. They began to use the tunnels, enlarging the network and adding multiple levels with chambers for food storage, sleeping and hiding out during American bombings and raids. Even some bunkers were used as basic medical centres.

The whole area was ingeniously developed using an elaborate system to dispose of the soil that came from digging the tunnels. Some of the soil was scattered over large areas using basket sieves. Some was added to or made to look like termite mounds. Sometimes they would set off a small bomb to create a crater and then add the extracted soil around it to make it look like a larger bomb had been detonated. Every so often a bamboo stick was inserted into the ground to provide air shafts. Many of these came out of the ground through the termite mounds. Entrances to the tunnels were camouflaged by leaves laid out over a wooden cover. The tunnels were very narrow and there is no way anybody suffering from claustrophobia could have entered them even if they were small enough.

The area was protected by booby traps of all kinds. Any one of them would have dire consequences to the person who set them off. This proved to be an effective method of wearing down the enemy who outnumbered them and who also had much better weaponry. The Americans were at a distinct disadvantage because even if they did discover a tunnel they were usually too large to get through. They used sniffer dogs to help find the entrances to the tunnels and then used specially trained personnel called “tunnel rats” who were smaller in stature and usually wiry to enter them and force out any Viet Cong hiding there. It was a dangerous mission for all involved especially because of the booby traps. This was also one of the areas where Agent Orange was used to defoliate the surrounding trees and bushes to aid in finding the tunnel entrances.

Some of our smaller and more courageous actually did a foray through one of the tunnels. I decided it wasn’t my cup of tea but the excursion itself was certainly educational.

An hour or more on the bus before we got back to our hotel but the air conditioning made the ride quite comfortable. Our guide, Bien, gave us a bit of history about his own family who were living in South Vietnam during the war. After reunification his sister had to undergo two years of re-education since she had been working for the South Vietnamese government.

A group of us chose to go just up the street from the hotel to a restaurant for lunch where we made plans to visit the Fine Arts Museum. The Museum wasn’t quite what we expected. There was a huge emphasis on paintings done during the war, many of which were not overly inspiring. It seemed that so much of their previous history and the current cultural works have been lost in an obsession with a terrible but relatively short period of time. The buildings housing the museum need a lot of maintenance and there seemed to be minimal security even where there were more valuable exhibits.

It was very hot so we lasted only about an hour before heading back to the hotel for Happy Hour and a dip in the pool.

We ended the day with dinner at a French restaurant called Le Garlik which was a bit more expensive but still well within our range and the service was excellent.

When we emerged from the restaurant the streets were alive with people and music and noise, so we strolled up and down to breathe it all in then made our way back to the hotel.

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