Thursday, December 9, 2010

CuChi Tunnles

At the American Surplus Market
Me and My Bros Hanging with the VietCong.
The Cu Chi tunnels were constructed during the second world war by the Vietminh, who were predecessors to the Viet Cong ,to relay messages to and from villages and to fight occupying forces. It took 25 years to construct 120 Km of tunnels using only hand tools. The tunnels were finished in the early sixties just after the Vietnam War started. When tension started to build in Vietnam the Southern Government started the SHP, or the Strategic Hamlet Program. The villagers would position bamboo pikes in the ground 20 times deep to protect the village, but when the Viet Cong built the tunnels they could capture villages by going underground and resurfacing on the other side of the Hamlet. When the Vietnam war broke out in 1959 the Cu Chi area was declared a free zone so bombers could drop extra bombs before returning to base and U.S. troops could shoot at almost anything.

On My Way Down the Secret Hole
On the fourth day we were in Saigon we drove out to the Cu Chi tunnels, an hour and a half out of town. When we first arrived our guide took us to the information hut and showed an "documentary video on the area". As usual the whole movie was propaganda. It showed the Viet Cong living peacefully and the bombs from America were destroying their lives, but it didn't show the Viet Cong doing anything to the American Troops. When we were done with that horrible movie we explored all around the site. I got to go into a secret entrance, we also saw live traps working. There was one trap, that when walked on, would  flip over and push you into a pit with metal spikes. We then walked to the shooting range and you could shoot any thing from a M60 to a K63 hand gun. I shot a M16 and a Carbine. The range was pretty pathetic because the guns were bolted to the stand so you couldn't feel the kick, or aim at the target. We walked to the entrance of the tunnels and  crawled 100 meters. The tunnels were bigger than I expected, it was widened for westerners, because the Vietnamese are so small.

Set to Crawl Inside the Tunnles
When we finished the Cu Chi tunnels I thought that the visit was just mediocre. I thought that it was too touristy and everyone was saying "don't go far!" when we were crawling through the tunnels, and were freaking out that three "helpless" kids can't use common sense and save themselves, but I say "nothing ventured nothing gained."

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