Highlights of Vietnam and Cambodia
Day Twelve – 26 January 2015
Weather – hot but still not too oppressive.
Today is a free day but an optional to the Cu Chi Tunnels is offered. Twist my rubber arm. Thom had to remind the women that it’s the Cu Chi Tunnels – pronounced Chew Chee – and not Gucci.
No one gets off the bus.
Thom tells us the tunnels were first built starting in 1948 in response to the opposition to the French. They were built first to connect villages, some as long as 48 km. When the US came, guess where they built a base?
Yeah, smack dab on top of these network of tunnels.
Bet you know where I’m going with this.
The Viet Cong were only too happy to take advantage of this, striking at the base from within. The US was baffled as to how they were managing to get into the base and started to use defoliant to clear the forest around the base. They also dropped a half million tons of ordinance on the area. Both were ineffective against the tunnels. They could have been standing right on one of the entrances and never know it.
The Vietnamese started to build more tunnels and deeper tunnels. The red stone clay ground in the area was perfect as it hardened like cement and didn’t even need bracing. They went down 3 levels with each tunnel getting smaller. The first one is down about 4 m, the second is 6 m down and the third is 8 to 10 me down. Thom has been down to the second level but said he didn’t want to go down to the third. And he’s not a big guy.
The tunnels were used as a bomb shelter for the locals and could fit 2000 people. Up to 1968, they could come and go fairly freely as the forest covered their movements but after the defoliants were used to destroy the forest, they could only move in and out at night. The kitchens could only have the fires going in the early morning when the mist hid their smoke and the exhaust ports were located away from where the kitchens were underground. As the continued to dig the tunnels, the dirt was thrown into the rivers or used to fill up bomb craters. They had no power and oil lamps were used but sparingly as the smoke was too much for the small spaces. No one person knew where all the tunnels were so that avoided having large sections discovered. In fact, they went unnoticed in many cases and some were re-discovered. So still remain undiscovered. In one case, a road was relocated so as not to disturb an area of newly discovered tunnels.
The areas around the tunnels were also host to a number of booby traps.
They were first designed to catch animals and modified for the war. We got a demonstration of several types of traps used during the war.
In many cases, the traps were design to maim, not kill as it would be demoralizing to the other soldiers and the US public to see so many wounded. And on the battlefield, it’s advantageous to wound rather than kill enemy soldiers as a wounded man means 3 soldiers have been removed from battle. One wounded and two to carry him.
But I get ahead of myself.
We arrived at the tunnels and Thom said not to get too excited when we entered a tunnel to have our tickets checked. He said it’s only an underpass to get across the road.
Yeah, there’s a story in there somewhere.
We get through the underpass and come upon another group with a really skinny girl in this tiny hole.
Then a soldier hops in holds the cover over his head and drops down to show how concealed the entrance was.
From here, we move on to something that looks like a termite hill but it is in reality an air vent.
Pretty ingenious.
Thom said that they remained undetected at first because the Vietnamese put black pepper in the area and the dogs would sneeze and runaway. So, after a while, they figured this out and when the dogs sneezed, they knew they were on to something. So, the Vietnamese started to use items from US soldiers to put near the air vent so that the dogs smelled something familiar.
The area around the tunnels is treed now but these are all new trees and the new ones are numbered. Which means that pretty well every tree is numbered.
He showed us a trench with an entrance and a group of mannequins showing what life was like in the area. We got the booby trap demonstration and visited an M-41 tank that had been disabled in the area. US ordinance was also collected and used to fashion into a number of items including the spikes used in the booby traps.
There was a soldier demonstrating how tires were used to make sandals.
From here, we have a chance to go down into the tunnel. There are two sections and Thom says that if one had heart problems then the tunnel is not for you. If one has asthma then the tunnel is not for you. And if one is afraid of the dark then the tunnel is not for you.
Cool. The tunnel is for me.
Just.
It’s a chore to just duck-walk through about 10 m of very hot tunnel. I can’t imagine living here. Or fighting here.
There are two sections of tunnel, but most opt to not do the second section which turns out to be shorter than the first. Everyone gets out okay.
Then we walk to a shop area where you can hear gunshots. It’s a firing range where one can shoot the AK-47, M-16, a jeep mounted .50 calibre and more. The AK costs $2 a round.
I go through $40 pretty quick.
The weapon is actually held down by the barrel so that you can’t actually handle the weapon (no risk of someone turning around and saying “oh it jammed” as they keep pulling the trigger). You can hold and aim it normally in its secured position.
The AK kept misfiring but the soldier in charge just collected them and gave me more to replace them. I found the AK a lot like the old FN-C1 that we used to have. More metallic feel to it. Not the plastic feel of the M-16 type that Canada uses now.
After a few of us burned through the $$ fast, we moved on to view a film made during the war by the Vietnamese about life in the tunnels. Very interesting. Love how they used the term “American killer hero” to refer to some of their troops. Kinda like the Fox News of Vietnam in the 60s.
When we were done, we got back to the bus and headed back to Saigon. The optional only cost $22 I believe…or was it $14. We were done early in the afternoon and that gave me time go to the Ben Thanh market to get some last minute souvenirs. I ran into some tourmates there and since I wasn’t ready to go back, one stayed with me and the others left (they took a taxi as some are still fearful crossing the street).
We did our last tour of all the stalls and I got a t-shirt that said Vietnam was a country, not a war. There are others that are much less ‘correct’ and while interesting, they’re not something I can wear. We head off for our scooter dancing session to the hotel. We keep running into construction that cuts off our route and end up back to the river, but on the way, I realize we’re at the base of the Bitexco building. We decide to go up to the observation deck for a look-see.
First thing I see is why the construction keeps cutting us off. The entire street for about a kilometer is under construction, so going to the river is the only way to get to the other side.
We take about 20 minutes to look around and my tourmate says we can see the helipad. She manages to sweet talk us through the bar there and we’re able to take a look at the helipad.
We finish our walk which included walking in the street at rush hour where the construction ended. You can marvel at the video.
I have a couple hours to get ready for the Farewell Dinner for Vietnam. It’s farewell to three tourmates and Thom as he doesn’t come to Cambodia with us. The dinner is held at the former residence of US Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge.
The current owner has maintained the home as it was although it’s smaller than it was when Lodge was here as part of the property was sold off. The owner doesn’t speak very much English but greets us and invites us to check out the rest of the house including the bedrooms. The place is gorgeous.
In a smaller bedroom, someone got curious and opened the bathroom door to find a bunch of stuff piled in there as if someone had stuck it there in a rush. Pretty funny. Not sure if the rooms are actually used by the owner or if it’s maintained as is.
Then we all sit down for a short film on Lodge and his time as ambassador. When it was done, we all sat down to another set menu.
Today is a tourmate’s birthday and we’ve all signed a card and he gets a cake. One tourmate had misheard who the card was for and thought it was the driver’s birthday, so she signed the card ‘thanks for getting us safely to our destinations.’
Well, you want to see a table erupt. Before long we were adding other possible things she could have said…like “thanks for the ride” or “thanks for taking me to places I didn’t know existed.”
The cake was delicious.
We finished up by 10, and thankfully, have a late start in the morning.
Go to Day Eleven
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