It was an hour trip on the bus before the first stop, we had to stop off at a disabled crafts workshop and gift shop, the work they made was exquisite but too higher a price for me, not did I have any way of carrying it home or for the rest of the trip.
From there we headed to Cu Chi, were we start off by watching a nice little propaganda video about the area, afterwards our guide explained using a map how there were several different sets of tunnels, one for each village. This meant that you could only enter your own tunnels as booby traps were common to stop US troops if they found tunnel entrances. The current maps they so have are only guess work as no one really knows exactly where each set of tunnels go. Even the old men who lived and fought in them cannot say exactly where they lead.
From the map we went around the area with our guide pointing out different aspects of the tunnels, he showed us one of the hidden entrances that they have found and myself and another in our group had a go at going in and out as the Viet kong did. I fit relatively well but I'm a bit too tall for it to be 'comfortable'.
He then showed us the booby traps that the locals repurposed for fighting; like spike traps and other variations all designed to maim and allow snipers to locate enemy patrols. They were pretty nasty as most had barbed ends so you couldn't remove them without causing more damage. Ingenuity seems to have been what won this battle rather than size.
He also showed us the uniforms that were worn along with how they hid their tracks (wear your sandals backwards) and made their sandals (old truck tyre and leather, lasts for decades supposedly) then we got to crawl through some of the tunnels that had been cleared of mines and other traps, they had been widened slightly but I was able to get through fairly easily, folded over double. It was nice and cool underground, the soil is mostly hard clay so the ground had compacted and was very stable and even smelt quite nice. I wouldn't want to live down there as is, but it wasn't as bad as I had thought.
When we came up after 35m we headed to an underground hospital set up (more dug into the ground than under). We were told that they had one good doctor and 24 nurses, then some of us headed through anther series of tunnels that came out in a meeting room as from there more tunnels that lead to a kitchen. All of there were fairly short distances but the heat from the coals when we came into the kitchen was horrid. It's like opening the door when it's a heat wave.
Some of the workers in the centre then gave us some food that the fighters would've eaten daily which was soaked tapioca root, which you dip in a mix of sugar and crushed peanuts and pan dang tea (which is really nice). From there he explained that to hide the kitchens smoke they ran multiple bamboo pipes 10m away from the kitchen to disperse the smoke as well as cooking in the morning when it was foggy. Oxygen holes were built on the same idea only they are on a 45 degree angle to prevent rain water and to maximise oxygen capture.
We then headed out to the shooting range where you have the choice of shooting an AK47, M16, or M60 (Rambo style). I split 10 bullets for an AK47 with one of the guys from my hotel and yes I have video of me shooting. I got very close to the targets but didn't quite hit any, which for having never fired a gun i think is pretty decent. The muzzle of the gun is fixed but the butt of the gun is free, there was a surprisingly small amount of recoil from the AK, I had expected it to be more. We also saw how they make the rice paper for spring rolls, they make rice water then they get cooked almost like crêpes then dried on bamboo mats. I napped on the bus ride home then checked to see when my enrollment started once I was back at the hotel. Nicola and I then went for a walk to find the main ticketing office for Vietnam airlines to see if we could move our return flights so we come home earlier, and have more time before uni starts. Unfortunately they were closed for Tet so we will try again tomorrow. On our way back we dropped into a little French bakery (Tous les jours?) and grabbed some amazing chicken sandwiches (lovely baguettes and filling) and I grabbed a croissant as I knew I would be hungry afterwards. We then headed back to the hotel and relaxed and watched movies on HBO in the main area as planned what we were going to do for the next three days.
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