The Cu Chi tunnels are north of Saigon, in a wooded area, where the Viet Cong used to live and fight underground against the American and south Vietnamese troops. There are 200km's of tunnels, up to 8 metres underground, and they contain kitchens, bedrooms, meeting rooms, and fighting bunkers. Until you see them, you wonder how anybody could hide such a tunnel system, but then you see the way that the entrances were hidden. Spot the tunnel - there's one in the photo on the left.
There you are - the hatch was hidden under the leaves. We'd all walked right past it until the tour guide doubled back and showed us what we'd missed. What a great photo opportunity! A chance to stand in a real wartime tunnel, and have my photo taken. I couldn't resist. I vaguely remember the guide saying that the Americans hadn't been able to get down the tunnels, because they'd been built for the small Vietnamese build, not the bulky Westerner ones. It was a bit of a squeeze, and I couldn't get my chest in at all, but at least I got the photo.
Can you lip read? If so, you might be able to see what I'm saying in photo number 3. I've just discovered that getting my hips through on the way
down was a lot easier than lifting them back
up. Although I had the strength to lift myself upwards, I didn't have enough to squeeze my hips back up, when I was also bending my legs to find the tunnel edges to get an extra bit of lift. Hmm, looks like I'll have to buy an annual pass, as I may not be getting out of here in a hurry!
Phew - the Vietnamese army guide, and a Japanese tourist who looked like he was straight off the set of Banzai, came to my rescue. It turned out that after me, nobody else in our group wanted to try it - especially after the guide talked about the fact that cobras tended to wander into the holes to lay their eggs. Later we all walked through a specially widened-for-tourists network of tunnels, covering 30m, bent double so that I was almost touching my toes. Now I've seen them, I can understand how they must have petrified the troops that were sent in to clear them (you had to be careful if you were short and thin in the US Army).
After all that, I was glad to get back to the madness of city traffic and the guest house. We had time to shower and change, before we packed up, paid our bill (2 million Dong!), and got a taxi to the railway station, for our sleeper train north to Danang. Most backpackers travel through Vietnam by bus - a ticket from south to north costs $21, with as many stops as you want - because of the cost. But we prefer travelling by train, and the girls love sleeper trains. So despite the fact it costs twice as much, we took the train option. We opted for a 4-berth soft-sleeper cabin, and didn't have to share with anybody, and could lock our door overnight so that we didn't have to worry about our rucksacks getting pinched. By 10, we were all in bed, and because of the freezing air-conditioning, tucked under duvets and sheets.