Day 39- Tunnels and French architecture

After a reasonably heavy night last night there were a few sore heads at 8am this morning when we met to go to the Cu Chi tunnels. These are a complex network of tunnels lived in by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. The tunnels length equates to around 250km and this was set over three levels. The first level being 3m deep, the second being 6m deep and the third being 10m deep. The tunnels were incredibly narrow with the opening only being 60cm x 60cm. This was intentional as the Viet Cong people were very small and the bigger Americans then couldn’t fit down the hole.

In addition to the tunnels we saw a variety of traps that the Viet Cong would set in an attempt to capture and injure American soldiers.

The tunnels are built in a really well thought out way in regards to the fact that they had ammunition stores, residences and even a kitchen. The Viet Cong created air vents that looked like termite hills to allow the oxygen in.

This wasn’t just a show and tell exercise, we had the

opportunity to go down into one of the tunnels which was interesting. The gaps were tiny!

This afternoon we took a visit to the war Remnants Museum

which was very informative and interesting. The purpose of the museum was to inform about the Vietnam war. I must admit I learnt so much about the war and the impact on society.

After this we went to have a look at some of the buildings around Ho Chi Minh. This included the reunification palace, notre damn cathedral, old post office and opera house. The architecture is French as these buildings were built during the French reign.

Tonight’s plan is a lovely 10 hour overnight train before we get to Nha Trang.

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