Cu Chi Hotels
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Charlie's Underground
Entry 42 of 87 | show all | print this entry |
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I've had a mild fascination with what's known here as "The American War". It flared up while hiking on Cat Ba Island in Ha Long Bay, and then resurfaced in Da Nang. Today I got a huge Vietnam War fix when we visited the Cu Chi tunnels.
The town of Cu Chi was right near a major US outpost during the war. The locals dug an underground maze of tunnels in which they lived and fought the Americans. We started our tour of Cu Chi by watching a "documentary" film about the heroes of Cu Chi during the war. It was a hilarious taste of propaganda. At first. As the phrase "crazy batch of devils" was used more and more frequently in describing the Americans, the film degraded to the point of being straight up disturbing. They kept showing the locals of Cu Chi who received multiple medals honoring their fighting. One medal they each received was specifically for killing at least a hundred Americans. That hit me harder than I expected. The day became more somber and informative. Not to say that it wasn't also fun.
After the film (and a quick presentation with maps and models) we went to one of the hidden tunnel entrances. I was the first one to go in. It was exciting, yet strange how a tool of war could so quickly become an irreverant touristic novelty. That sentiment stayed fresh in my mind as we saw demonstrations of all the different booby traps used in Cu Chi a few decades ago. Then we came to a tank that had been blown up by anti-tank mines. I got a shot of Jon in the driver's seat. I really did enjoy myself there, but ambivalence hung over me the whole time. From the tank we came to the shooting range. For 20,000 dong per round, you could fire any gun used by either side during the war. I chose to abstain. Jon and Andreanne followed suit.
Our group walked along winding paths that followed the crests between blasts from artillery and B-52 bombs. Our last portion of the tour was an unguided trip down into the tunnels. It was amazing down there. The whole system was insanely complex and dark. I can't imagine how they could have lived down there for years at a time. I could go into detail about tunnel ventilation or water sources, but that can all be looked up. What's vital is that my curiosity about the war has been satiated for now. I'm not sure how much more I could handle. And of course, I'm saying that just before leaving for Cambodia. Killing Fields, here I come. More thumbnails ...
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