Cu Chi Tunnels by Matt

Tango led us on a tour round the tunnels to learn how the Viet Cong lived in the jungle during the war with Americans.

Following on from the educational but harrowing museum, this is a small sample of the huge area where the VC laboriously dug 200km of an underground city using nothing but small spades. We learnt of many tactics to evade the enemy, such as fake termite mounds to disguise the air vents and special shafts to disperse the cooking smoke like morning mist. Just as ingenious, though horrifying, there were mocked up booby traps on proud display, with names such as the seesaw, fish hook and armpit, their gruesome purpose to impale the enemy with as much pain and ensnarement as possible.

There included an opportunity to crawl through some of the tunnels which, although had been enlarged for tourists, still forced me on my hands and knees in the dirt. The kids then tried a real tunnel size which was a squeeze even for them!

To think that so many people lived and fought for their country for so many years in these conditions was unimaginable. An on-site firing range only served to accentuate the horrors they went through with the bursts of AK-47s and sharp rifle shots.Read more