The Cu Chi Tunnel Experience

We left for this private tour with Kevin on Feb 28 / 20 with an 8:30 am start.  What an amazing day says Naomi.  Bob is taking control of this edition of our trip because it was always on his "wish list" and now he has one more of his bucket list places with a BIG checkmark beside it....nice!!

The Cu Chi tunnel complex sits about 50km north of Saigon at the village of Ben Dinh and is one of many scattered about Vietnam that probably got started with the resistance movement against the French and expanded and enlarged in the war against the Americans.

The tunnels at Cu Chi have been enlarged to accommodate us big fat N. Americans.

Typical clothing of the Viet Cong at the time

One of the guides giving a short talk about how the VC utilized the jungle to make hidden booby traps...then he asked if anyone recognized the hidden door to the tunnels  that he was standing by. This was the environment that the American soldiers faced each time they entered the jungle.

One of the many bunkers that dotted the area. They were usually not very deep underground but some of them were very deep to escape the bombs from the B52 bombers. This was a cooking bunker and exhaust gases vented at a distance away from the bunker so that the American troops if nearby would bomb the smoke not the bunker.

This tunnel entrance was used in a hurry to drop down deeper below ground to escape the bombing

Poor light conditions but this tunnel was used to travel horizontally between bunkers

Eating and meeting and planning bunker...or just a place to hang out?

Imagine this tunnel at half the height and one third narrower.

Again not the best lighting but this is mosquito netting around a hospital bed

Bob the Tunnel Rat. I asked my tunnel guide if there were snakes and poisonous spiders down here and he said "yes" and then scurried off ahead of me....!

Oh YAH! Me and my Big Buddha Belly survived the tunnels intact! My knees were a little sore but my guide actually walked bent over backwards "encouraging" to go faster!

Another sigh of relief! Short lived as it was as I became a casualty of one of the many booby traps in the area.

Very convenient and thoughtful of them to provide a cover from the sun and rain. I don't think they had them during the war

This was the start of a very lonnng 20 meters on my knees!  Naomi really wanted to go and got all the way to the start but knew she could not crawl on her knee on the hard packed clay like earth...so difficult after her knee surgery Jan 7th!  Instead she remained top side to take pics when I emerged from the tunnels.

OK Ok! I'm going Naomi! Just stop pushing me!

These 2 shots show firing ports from in the bunker

I just know he's thinking " ok fat boy, let's see how you make out"

Never wasting anything that could be reused..turning rubber tires into very efficient sandals. They were designed to be worn backwards...another effort to confuse the enemy....they would walk one direction but the sandal prints would show they were heading the opposite way....ingenious.  

This is a vertical shaft straight down and a simple bamboo single poled ladder would be hidden nearby.  The dirt (clay) was dug at night and carried to the river so that the Americans would not be aware of the digging of new tunnels.

At the firing range. They used to have more options such as handguns but apparently one Korean tourist shot himself (suicide) so now they just using various long guns secured by their barrels to the barrel rest.

Bob's shots were far more accurate than Naomi's....go figure.

Bob and Naomi trying the AK47 as used by the VC. These are original weapons as used in the war

Now we are using the American M16. It became the main weapon for the American GI's and it was known to jam when you least wanted it to...it happened to me after 4 shots. We never did get a chance to check our targets. They did have other rifles and machine guns available but shooting here was not cheap

Watch out! There could be a booby trap close by!

Some examples of different types of underground bunkers, used for cooking, sleeping, weapon and equipment making as well. They have been opened up and roofed with thatching for the tourist trade.

Some examples of booby traps that a GI could expect to encounter

This tank sits where it was hit by delay mine...the crew made it out but were killed trying to evade the VC

In this shot and the next few we see man made termite mounds that were used to disguise fresh air vents and also for cooking exhaust vents

During the war these mounds were in the midst of thick jungle, not exposed like now

During the war this main access would be well camoflaged

Let's see how one could completely disappear in the middle of the jungle..

Gone!! This what an American patrol would encounter...where is the spider hole in this shot?

Naomi using her foot to compare with this spider hole.

That spider hole connects to a bunker through this tunnel

A horizontal swinging door trap.

Hard to see but those are sharpened and feces covered bamboo 'punji' sticks in that hole.

A spider hole. A VC would pop out after an American patrol would pass by, shoot, then down the hole he goes.

Look Dad! I fit perfectly!

Now she is gone! Cover with leaves and it disappears!

Average sized Caucasian trying to fit into an Oriental sized spider hole...a bit tight

Sometimes they might fill these craters with water and stock them with fish....or sometimes fill the craters with their digging of tunnels at night and then cover them with jungle leaves etc making the crater disappear.

Zoom in to see the woven basket that they used to carry away the tunnel dirt. It usually done at night, they would throw it the river or maybe fill in a bomb crater

A map of the overall area that includes a native village. About 40,000 local people died in this area.  The local people believe there are many ghosts in the area.  So, as you drive to the site you see many dogs on the entrances to the homes.  This is because they believe animals can sense the ghosts better than humans and then their families will be protected by the statues.

More nasty surprises!

Ah! The swinging door trap. You step through a village hut's doorway and down swings this contraption...it was meant to kill. Bob just happened to be standing there when some stupid foreign tourist just had to demonstrate it! Two of those spines straddled my left forearm, bit of a scratch and one spine hit at the beltline and almost punched right through. Not many people nowadays can say they fell victim to a Vietnamese booby trap!

Another booby trap. Some of these traps were meant more to maim rather than kill because a wounded person required first aid from another fighter thus lessening the number of people shooting at you

Hard to make out but here is your basic trench that covered many kms through the jungle

We headed to the pool once back at our hotel.  We are heading to the port tomorrow to get on our Mekong River Cruise.  See you there.