Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) - Củ Chi Tunnels

Back in the day, an elaborate network of tunnels spanned 75-miles underneath Củ Chi district, with areas designated for kitchens, conference rooms, sleeping quarters and munitions bunkers. It's sort of ironic that the Củ Chi tunnels, originally established to drive out invading foreigners, now attract many thousands of tourists annually. The portion accessible to the general public has been widened to compensate for "fat American asses" (I overheard a tour guide say this to his group). Even with the broadened passages, claustrophobia kicked in not long into my dimly lit fifty meter crawl.


A tunnel left in its original state. It's hard to imagine people living in such cramped conditions. Hobbes for scale:

An old U.S tank sits where it fell. A delay mine put this one out of commission in 1970:

Trapdoors leading to spiked pits are on display near the entrance of the exhibit:


The original tunnel entrances do not accomodate for larger frames unfortunately, so I couldn't climb in this one for a photo op. The Viet Cong had similar entrances hidden all over the area, including a number by the U.S. 25th Infantry division's base camp. I've read that Viet Cong geurillas would pop out randomly, take a few pot shots at the U.S troops and go back into hiding:

The firing range in the compound is out of bounds except for paying customers. Unfortunately, it costs a buck a round and that kind of thing is not in my budget. I did snag a couple of photos and a souvenir shell casing before we got kicked out.


Sadly, the visit felt a little rushed thanks to sporadic heavy rains and our surly Viet Cong tour guide.

Taxi dashboard shrine:

Preparing our mid-afternoon snack: