On the first morning we were picked up by a guide at our hotel and we headed off to the much anticipated Cu Chi tunnels. The Cu Chi area is to the North West of Ho Chi Minh and appears at first to be an area of countryside. To discover the truth about the area you have to go underground - literally! The network of tunnels were built over a twenty five year period starting in the 1940s during the war with the French. However, they gained their fame in the 1960s during the war against the USA when they enabled the Vietcong to control a large area close to the US controlled Saigon. US ground offensives were unsuccessful and resulted in the USA using huge fire power to bomb the whole area. It is now a place of pilgrimage for many Vietnamese.
The tour began with a black and white film about the area and the tunnels which was basically anti-American propaganda! Our first exploring was done above ground looking at the tunnel entrances and traps that were laid to catch US forces.
Some of the holes that the Viet Cong squeezed in to were tiny and very hard to spot.
Finally, much to the satisfaction of the boys, we headed underground. I hadn't been looking forward to that section enormously but I told the boys I was up for it. William and Oliver were in the lead and had it easy due to their size.
They shot off ahead and Sam and I were scrabbling around on all fours or bent double trying to keep up! At a couple of points we were not sure we would make it through!
In the evening we headed to the night market where we put our bartering skills, finely honed in Shanghai, to the test. This involved our first experience of the night traffic and crossing the road. Many people had advised us that there would be no gap in the flow of bikes so the best thing to do was to start crossing and maintain place whilst signalling to the traffic your presence. This we did and, miraculously, it worked!
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