Chu Chi Tunnels near Saigon

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Today we visited the Chu Chi tunnels just outside Saigon. We left our hotel at around 8am and spent about an hour and a half in a Saigon rush hour traffic jam. Eventually we got out of the city on to a road where the traffic actually moved, and most of the time it moved in one direction which is unusual for this part of the world. Most of the time almost anything goes.

The first stop was a small farm where they farmed a few acres of rubber plant trees, raised a few pigs and chickens. We were greeted first of all by Moma pig and thirteen six day old piglets, they were just sooo cute. After cooing over the piglets we were taught how to make rice paper. First the rice is boiled and ground until in a thick milky consistency. The liquid is spread on to a flat round stone with a fire beside it. The mixture is spread into a circular shape and the lid put down. After a few seconds the lid is raised, the paper lifted with a flat stick and the rice paper is then rolled not o a sort of rolling pin and then laid on woven mat to cool. Not sure when I might need this skill again but at least I now know how!!

Second stop was Chu Chi tunnels, we sat and watched an old video about the Vietnamese war from their perspective. After this we learnt how the tunnels were made and how they used their hunting skills to make booby traps for the American soldiers. The tunnels were on three levels, they made a dining room, a place to cook and a place to make bombs and each tunnel connected to a different level. The tunnels were incredibly small, obviously Vietnamese men and women and much smaller frame than Americans And so the tunnels were extremely small. They were only able to stay in them for approx. eight hours a day. There are now some some slightly larger tunnels that have been purpose built for the tourists so they may enjoy!!!!!! The experience. These purpose built tunnels are around one hundred meters in length and this is split into three sections so if you feel you cannot cope you have the option to come out. I only managed the first section as the further you went the air became very hot and it felt difficult to breathe.

In the afternoon we visited the war remnants museum, this was quite depressing to see exactly what one human being can inflict on another. The suffering depicted in some of the photos was unbelievable and the effects of the dioxins and poisons that were used was horrific. Lets hope these will never ever be used again.

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