While me going traveling was about 40% just one day deciding that this was what I wanted to do. There were a few countries and places that I had always wanted to visit that were the catalysts for me actually wanting to go explore the world in the first place. The Củ Chi tunnels in Vietnam was one of these places. I doubt Ollie can even remember the conversation we had upon his return to the UK after he did a similar trip 4 years ago but what he told me about these tunnels here as well as the killing field and S21 prison in Cambodia they blew my mind and I thought back then that they were 3 places I really wanted to see for myself. So when I finally arrived at the Củ Chi tunnels, a place I never actually thought I would end visiting for myself, gave me a strange sense of achievement and the coming true of a small dream I'd had some 4 years earlier. I am writing this several weeks after vising the tunnels as well as after visiting the Killing Fields and the S21 Prison and while the Củ Chi tunnels did not really effect me emotionally like the 2 later places had, I did however find the place absolutely fascinating and only confirmed exactly why this had been such a big reason I had wanted to see the world.
The Củ Chi tunnels are basically a vast network of tiny underground tunnels that extend all over the country and were used by the Veit Cong during the Vietnam war. There was also a great deal of mantraps dotted around the site all using different and ingenious ways of killing/maiming/trapping anyone unfortunate enough to get caught in one. The basic gist of things in this area was that any American that ended up in the area was pretty much going to get merked. As the Viet Cong knew the area so well and with the vast network of tunnels and traps they had, an American was going to end up dead somehow be it from combat or ending up in one of the traps. As well as for general combat the tunnels were used for storage of supplies, as underground hospitals and even living quarters.
The day was pretty much like the sort of thing you would experience on a school trip back in the days of primary school. We all turned up after the 3 hours mini bus ride from Ho Chi Mihn city and were taken into a small army bunker to watch a 15 minute documentary about the tunnels made up mainly of archive footage showing the people who built the tunnels and what life was like for them living and fighting around them. Some of the most memorable stuff from the video was the footage of young children and teenagers with machine guns. One girl who could not have been more than about 14 rocked up at one point with a massive RPG and shoots at what I can only assume were some yanks from over the edge of a bunker. This proper surprised me so much so I let out a rather loud "Holy shit" disturbing the row in front of me who turned round and gave me a disproving look.
Unfortunately there was one negative aspect to the day and that was the speed to which I was taken around the site. The tunnels are quite a big tourist attraction (obviously) and they get a lot of visitors. The site is quite small and they cannot really get many people in the tunnels or other attractions at once so our guide was really rushing us through so that the next group could get in. I had read that this was the case before we went so it wasn't a complete surprise it just would have been nice to have experienced the place at a lot slower pace and really take in everything that was on offer rather than just being whizzed along on what felt like a tourist conveyor belt.
Like I said at the beginning I found the whole place extremely fascinating and the dedication and the lengths the people of Củ Chi went to defending their land was just amazing. It was a brilliant trip well worth every penny paid and a day that I will remember for a long time, not only for being a fascinating insight into the life of the Vietnamese during the war but as well for doing something that played such a big part in the reason I wanted to go travel the world in the first place.
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