Tanks and Tunnels

Yet another early start this morning.... we need to come home for a rest! I have promised a lie-in on Sunday.

We were picked up just before 8 and driven out of the city to Cu Chi and one of the tunnel sites. We were going to Ben Duoc which is a little bit further than the main tourist site and somewhat quieter, about a 2 hour drive, although the first hour was getting out of the traffic of Ho Chi Minh (still Saigon to the locals). We had booked a tour with a company that avoids the main tourist traps. We had the option of a private tour or a small group tour. We had booked the small group tour as Simon thought that after 3 weeks he might be sick of talking to me and need some other company! Well tough s**t , I booked and paid for a group tour and we had a private tour! In fact, we had a driver and 2 tour guides as one was in training.

We arrived at the tunnel site which was very quiet.

There were some bombed out America helicopters and tanks littered around the site on route to an information centre that showed the structure of the tunnels - 3 levels. The top level reserved for the kitchens, the generals quarters , the soldiers and the briefing rooms. The lowers levels for children and the elderly, and storage. There was also a map that showed the vast area the tunnels covered. It was huge. For the Viet Cong, life in the tunnels was difficult. Air, food and water was scarce and the the tunnels were infested with scorpions, spiders and vermin. Most of the time, soldiers would spend the day in the tunnels working or resting and come out only at night to scavenge for supplies, tend their crops or engage the enemy in battle.

We watched an information film - in fact it was a 1960s VietCong propaganda movie featuring a brave fighting school girl.

We entered the tunnels, they are very tight for us Westerners. You have to crouch down to manoeuvre through them. We saw kitchen areas, the work areas, briefing rooms, hospital room and the General's quarters. We had many opportunities to crawl/crouch through the tunnels but after the second lot of 10 metres , we opted out! It really did kill the knees and Simon's shoulders were too broad so he had to squat down even further. We had a tunnel guide who went first to check for scorpions, snakes and any other nasties.

We were then shown the traps that were set for the enemy. Ingenious, made from sharpened bamboo but inflicted so much damage, pain and death on the intended victims.

We headed back to Ho Chi Minh and spent the afternoon at the War Remnants Museum. This is predominantly a photographic exhibition and some of the photos were really horrific. Most of the photos showed the atrocities of war inflicted by the Americans, so I did feel it was a bit one-sided. Outside there is a collection of tanks, helicopters and planes.

We were starting to feel quite hot and sticky so decided to head back to the hotel for a quick dip in the hotel pool.

We are staying in a Club Room which provides cocktails, drinks and canapés from 5:30 to 7:30. We had a very pleasant, relaxing evening and decided not to go out for dinner.

There was so much choice and we have an even earlier start tomorrow morning. We are being picked up at 7am as we head off to the Mekong Delta for 2 days. We won't have WiFi so we will be offline. More updates when we return!