Well, I did it again. With a little apprehension I signed up for another organized day tour, as much for a break from the city as anything. Cu Chi is (today) a good size town located at the furthest reaches of the Saigon megopolis. Forty years ago, it was the site of the famous Cu Chi tunnels - an elaborate system of underground tunnels, dug several stories deep and stretching out for 250km. The tunnels were first built by the Viet Minh to fight the French and then upgraded by the Viet Cong to fight the Americans. The tunnels essentially allowed the VC to control an entire district within a stone's throw of the Saigon. When the Americans moved in to suppress the enemy activity, they ended up building a base right on top of the tunnel system without knowing it. In the end, the Americans destroyed most of the tunnels with massive B-52 bombing raids. Out of 16,000 VC fighters who used the tunnels during the war only abourt 6,000 survived. Today, the tunnels, in addition to attracting the regular contingent of foreign day trippers from Saigon, also serve as sort of a Gettysburg for regular Vietnamese. Lots of local tourists, especially school kids. As it turns out, I got lucky and was assigned a great tour guide. "Slim Jim," a joke-cracking, thin as a rail, Saigonese guy picked our crew up in the city and spent the day with us. He had spent a couple of years in the South Vietnamese army and just sort of fell through the cracks of the purges that took place after the war. After a three-month stint in a "reeducation camp" where he was forced to learn the finer points of communist theory, the government turned him loose and he returned to his pre-war job as an English teacher. Now he spends his days dragging tourists through the tunnels and brushing up on his English slang. "FUBAR" (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition) was his word of the day, in addition to "wakey, wakey" and "shake a leg."
The tunnels, although definitely upgraded for tourists (enlarged considerably), were actually pretty cool and worth the long drive out. The Vietnamese government has done a good job building an interpretative center and the place doesn't have the usual circus atmosphere that you find at many other Vietnamese historic sites. It really is fascinating to see the War from the perspective of the other side...and just to be reminded that there are always two sides. That being said, I can't imagine what it would have been like to have been an American soldier out here. Not good.
The tunnels complex today is situated in a forest - 40 years ago the whole area was a wasteland. One of the strangest sensations was walking quietly through the trees and listening to rounds being fired from rifles and machine guns over at the nearby shooting range. Oh yeah, there's a shooting range. At the end of the tour, we were all given the chance to take a few
shots with our weapon of choice, for a fee, of course. I passed - but the Europeans in the group loved it. I suppose if you've never had any real exposure to guns, this would be a pretty far out experience. One of the Dutch girls in the group decided that a couple of shots were enough for her - too loud - so she gave me the rest of the magazine to pop off. I won't lie, it was pretty fun.
shots with our weapon of choice, for a fee, of course. I passed - but the Europeans in the group loved it. I suppose if you've never had any real exposure to guns, this would be a pretty far out experience. One of the Dutch girls in the group decided that a couple of shots were enough for her - too loud - so she gave me the rest of the magazine to pop off. I won't lie, it was pretty fun.
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