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About Cu Chi Tunnels of Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. A destination known for its famous war with the Americans throughout the 1960’s until 1975. Learn all about what life was like in the jungle with an interesting visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels, located 70 km from downtown.

In the heart of the jungle, 200km of tunnels were well hidden from American soldiers. Originally built to protect the Vietnamese from French air strikes in the lat 1940’s to 1950’s, they were re-used during the 60’s as a staging ground for attacks on American troops.

The land was bombarded with napalm and agent orange in an attempt to wipe out the tunnels. Soldiers knew that they were there, but it was almost impossible to find. The jungle was wiped out and became a waste land, but you would never know it today. Trees and plants have grown back showing just how resilient this earth is.

Some guides are actual former soldiers that acted as translators for the Americans. They are filled with a wealth of information and if you really listen and forget that you are on a kitschy tour exploiting the horrors of war, you can learn a great deal about the tactics used by a people filled with strong will to defeat a more powerful enemy.

The Viet Cong were very clever indeed. They would run through the jungle and disappear by sneaking into cave entrances camouflaged by having termite hills placed on top. Cayenne pepper would be sprinkled around the entrance to disrupt the search dogs senses. The cave entrances were small too. So small that even if the Americans found them, the large G.I.’s would not fit through. A blast would make the opening larger but it would also alert the people underground that they had been found and they could slip away to another part of the cave. They even had escape routes leading to the river to be swept away to safety.

When they did manage to make their way into the tunnels, they were greeted with booby traps. False floors caused the enemy to fall into a bed of sharpened bamboo poles. Spikes were placed on the floors and traps were set everywhere. You had to know your way around the tunnel to escape injury.

Not only did the Americans have to deal with booby traps, heat and fear of not knowing what was around any corner in the jungle. They had the added burden of foot rot. Their heavy army boots didn’t allow for room to breathe and being in water and humidity took its toll on their feet making it impossible to walk. The Vietnamese avoided this by wearing sandals made of tire rubber allowing their feet to breathe. These sandals are on display at the tunnels and you can even buy a pair as a souvenir.

It is impossible to imagine how people managed to live in these tunnels for several years. The passageways were very tight at less than a meter high and they were dark and filled with disease. They had to deal with insects and venomous snakes and the fear of being found out. However, the Vietnamese managed to carve out a way of life however building kitchens, living areas and first aid stations.

Your tour will take you to all of the different types of living quarters and rooms. It is a comfortable tour and the tunnel walls have even been blasted out to make it larger and more comfortable for tourists. However, there are still some original entrances available to be explored and you will have the opportunity to go into an original tunnel yourself and crawl for 150 meters experiencing what it was like during the war.

First you will have to enter through a small hole in the ground. This is enough to make many tourists chicken out. Some people won’t even be able to fit inside and will not even have the option to go. But if you can manage to squeeze through, be sure to do so. You will have the one true experience of the day, feeling what it actually must have been like for a soldier to crawl through this claustrophobic space.

During your tour you will learn little tricks like how the Viet Cong tracked U.S. soldiers by following these fascinating plants that actually pointed in the direction that people walked. As you brush by, the leaves of the plants curl in the direction that you are heading. A dead giveaway for the unsuspecting American soldier. You will try to food of the Viet Cong and you will visit different rooms that were camouflaged above ground, learning all about how the Vietnamese kept themselves from being discovered.

You will learn and experience a lot during your time at the Cu chi Tunnels, but it is not over yet. Before leaving, you can even fire an automatic weapon at the firing range. See what it feels like to fire an automatic weapon.

Visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels will definitely give you a feeling as to what life was like during the Vietnam War. It is unbelievable to think that these tunnels remained in tact through two major wars. One with the French and one with the Americans. If you are visiting Ho Chi Minh, they are certainly worth a visit.

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