His top day

It was definitely the top day for our local tour guide, Dong at the Cu Chi Tunnel (Fighting Tunnel). The Tunnel System embodies the undaunted will, intelligence and pride of Cu Chi people. Dong being a Cu Chi resident then was proud to be a part of Vietnamese revolutionary heroism.

He may have related the heroic stories hundreds of times, still the tourists find it hard not to be impressed by his sing-song style narrations.

Cu Chi tunnel is one of the famous battlegrounds of the Vietnam War. It is a big underground tunnel system that was secretly dug out by hand. The tunnels extended three levels deep.

We were led to an open-sided hut. There, on a big-screen TV set, the Vietnam War plays on: B-52's drop strings of bombs, villagers run for cover, communist guerrillas fight back.

A narrator said,

"Cu Chi, the land of many gardens, peaceful all round under shady trees... Then mercilessly American bombers have ruthlessly decided to kill this gentle piece of countryside... Like a crazy bunch of devils they fired into women and children... The Americans wanted to turn Cu Chi into a dead land, but Cu Chi will never die..."

Imagine fighting a war underground in the suffocating, sweltering blackness of tunnels, barely tall enough for a man to crawl, let alone walk.

I did not crawl in the tunnel though I was very enthusiastic. But hubby said, you would be boarding a plane in the afternoon. "With soiled and dirty clothes?" The consolation prize for not experiencing the tunnel "walk", I ate the food, tapioca (of course, steamed nicely and very creamy) that the people ate during the difficult times. And I posed for a picture!


Dong enthusiastically demonstrated the booby traps designed to harass and frustrate Americans. A wrong turn could send them plunging onto the traps.


For a dollar (USD) a bullet, those looking for that "Nam experience" can have a go at firing an AK-47 or an ageing US-made M16.

The woods are dotted with souvenir kiosks selling items like lighters, pens made from bullets, a bullet on a chain, rubber sandals and T-shirts with "I've been to the Cu Chin Tunnel". These sandals are made from car tyres, not souvenir items. Probably won by the Vietnamese?