Going Underground....

Trip Start Sep 15, 2008
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Trip End Jan 01, 2009


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Flag of Vietnam  ,
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Similar to the way we felt after returning to Hanoi after our beach time-out in Halong Bay, returning to Saigon after 8 days on Phu Quoc was a shock to the system. We didn't want to buy a counterfeit book, take a tuk tuk, rent a motorbike, look at a menu, buy sunglasses, or sign-up for a tour but the dozens of touts still persisted. The traffic was still crazy. The air was still polluted. City life.
The first order of business was to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels where Viet Cong guerrillas held off the larger and more sophisticated US army for 4 years (3.5 years longer than the US anticipated). Our guide Le was a history major in University and specialized in War Tours all over the country. Not only was he full of war factoids he also had many stories to tell that were passed down from his father and uncles from their involvement in the war.
Historical Spiel:
The tunnels were initially used by farmers for personal bomb shelters during the war Sliding into the tunnel
Sliding into the tunnel
 . At one point the Viet Cong Guerrillas, who were aligned with the Northern Army, decided the tunnels could be a major advantage in the fighting so they started to expand the tunnel network. At their height the tunnels spanned hundreds of hectares with more than 200km of tunnels.
At the tunnels we were first shown a Vietnamese documentary that was filmed during the war and explained how the tunnels were used and highlighted several "American Killer Heroes" from the Viet Cong forces. Next we had the chance to drop into and crawl through a regulation size tunnel, as they were used during the war. Later we crawled through the tourist tunnels, which have all been enlarged for fat westerners, which was still a very tight squeeze. We also learned about the many traps, weapons, and tools used by the Viet Cong. They were a very resourceful group, making shoes from tires and grenades from unexploded bombs.
Now what else would top off a historical war museum better than shooting an AK-47? The National Shooting Range is a part of the tunnel visit. $10 for the AK or if you're man enough, $12 to shoot a massive 60mil machine gun. We figured the AK-47 would suffice and it was actually quite easy to shoot, which makes sense given it's wide spread popularity.
Back in town we visited the city market, which was nothing special, and had some Pho.
Cambodia in the morn!
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