I was once asked in an interview, if you could invite any 4 people, dead or alive, to dinner, who would they be? Well, I completely fluffed that question, not a single well-thought-out inspirational individual came to mind, and when I finally answered it was truly cliché! But having been in Vietnam I now have the name of someone who would definitely feature on my list should I ever get asked that question again. Would the person asking that question know who he was? No. So who is this mysterious person I hear you ask? Well, I can’t publish his name for reasons that will become apparent, but all you need to know is that he is a Cu Chi tunnel survivor with a lot of stories to tell!
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The best Cu Chi Tunnel Tour in town
Having left the Cu Chi tunnels until our last day, and after much deliberation, we finally booked with Vietnam Adventure Tours. As we were waiting in their offices that morning all I could think was “I’ve made a mistake, there are far too many of us, there will be no personal touch, I should have gone for a private guide, this company just churns out tour after tour, we are simply going to be herded around like cattle.”
How wrong was I! That morning we met the best tour guide we’ve ever come across, a war veteran, a Southern Vietnamese officer who fought in Cu Chi alongside the US army; one of the lucky ones to have survived. Unlike the majority of other tours we’ve been on in Vietnam, he was not interested in towing the communist line, he wanted us to know HIS story. And his story wasn’t anti-communist, it wasn’t anti-Viet Cong, it also wasn’t anti-USA, and it definitely wasn’t pro-South Vietnamese Army, it was simply the truth. That in war nobody wins (well, the industry does, we all know war is very lucrative).
In this blog, I will share with you what we learned during our Cu Chi Tunnel Tour. It is by far one of the best historical tours I have been on, and one I highly recommend you add to your Vietnam Itinerary.
So, what did we learn about the Cu Chi Tunnels?
The 120km network of tunnels known as the Cu Chi Tunnels, were originally built by the Viet Minh to connect villages during the fight against the French in the 1940s. During the Vietnam-American War the existing tunnel system was repaired, and the network expanded linking villages all the way from the Saigon River to the Cambodian border. These tunnels have been preserved by the Vietnamese government and turned into a Memorial Park which is open to visitors who want to learn about the Vietnamese-American War. More on how you can visit them below.
The Iron Triangle
The Cu Chi district became the logistical and strategical headquarters for the Viet Cong (the Communist National Liberation front fighting against the Southern Vietnamese Army and USA). The tunnels became not only the living quarters and combat ground for the Viet Cong, but they also served as communication and supply routes. The proximity of the Cu Chi Tunnels to Saigon posed a real threat to the Southern Vietnamese army (and therefore the US troops) so the US built a base in the area to help control and fight the Viet Cong (VC). Unbeknown to them however, they built it on top of the tunnel network! Suddenly getting provisions became a lot easier for the Viet Cong, they just had to pop up at night and help themselves! The US was without a doubt a much more powerful army than the Viet Cong, most of whom were farmers rebelling against Diêm (the prime minister), but what the VC soldiers lacked in strength they made up for in tenacity and cunning. The guerrilla fighters were never seen but always there. They appeared out of nowhere, they attacked in the middle of the night, they set up thousands of bogey traps and yet they were nearly impossible to find.
A game of hide and seek, Viet Cong style
It took some time for the US and SVA to figure out they had tunnels. It took them even longer to figure out they had built their base on top of the network! Apparently, the VC would come on to base at night to gather food and ammunition. They even stole some American soap and clothes so that when sniffer dogs were sent after them, they mistook the smell for a friendly smell and therefore would not pursue it. Crafty!
Finding the tunnels proved hard though, even after they knew they were looking for them. Every tunnel entrance was concealed, with booby traps leading up to it. If the army did get close enough to find the entrance, they didn’t have a hope of getting in! The holes were made big enough only for a Vietnamese to fit in and even then, they would have had to drag themselves along on their stomachs, maybe manage to crawl on the larger sections.
But the Americans would send dogs down, they’d gas the entrances, they’d try and flood them. Yet the VC never rushed out as expected. How?! What the US didn’t realise is that the Cu Chi tunnels were built in triangles so when they started attacking one entrance they simply moved to another point of the triangle. The drainage they had set up to secure them from the floods working to save them from the US efforts.
War tactics to flush the Viet Cong out
Once out tour guide and his troop found a large uncovered entrance. They got tonnes of water from the Saigon river and started flushing it down the hole and waiting for all the Viet Cong soldiers to come out. Sometime later, with no Viet Cong in sight a call came down from soldiers positioned by the river to say “All the water you’ve just taken from the river is back in the river”. All they’d done is discovered one of the VCs drains! They didn’t need to hide them!
Wanting to get into the tunnels they specifically recruited and trained small stature soldiers, called Tunnel Rats, to go into the tunnels. Unfortunately, the death rate amongst these was 50-50 due to the booby traps, the venomous snakes and scorpions as well as all the other creatures that shared the tunnels. Those who made it out alive after close combat were often deaf due to shooting their guns in such an enclosed space or sick from rat wee or bat poo. Our tour guide had led some of those attacks. You could tell in his facial expressions the remorse he felt at the number of men he led to their deaths.
Life in the tunnels
The tunnels housed over 16,000 individuals and included living quarters, hospitals, classrooms, kitchens, and tool-making areas across 3 levels. They constructed entire underground villages! The VCs relied heavily on the bombs left by the US army to create ammunition, as well as the arms and clothes they stole from the American soldiers they managed to kill. They didn’t have many resources however they made the most of their surroundings, for example, creating weapons out of bamboo. Their favourite booby trap was bamboo sticks concealed under leaves so that when soldiers jumped out of the helicopter or fell into a hole they got impelled. The communist tour talks about the ingeniousness of the VC and the elaborate booby traps they created. In reality, they didn’t have the resources for any of those. They were simple, yet still deadly! The Viet Cong and villagers lived underground in horrific conditions. They had limited air, food, and sanitation; disease was rampant. The same creatures I mentioned above (venomous snakes, scorpions, spiders) were also the enemy of the VC, however, they learned to live with them. A great example of this would be their use of termites. The American Forces searched and searched for the air outlets. If they could find their air supply and block it then they could surely win. However, these were nowhere to be found. Why? They didn’t rely on large holes, they worked with the termites! They relied on the termite mounds for air. Ingenious! Of course, the American troops and Vietnamese soldiers were looking for something much bigger, they didn’t give a second glance to a termite mound! It took them a very long time to figure it out!
Experiencing life underground
The Ben Dinh Tunnels are part of the Cu Chi tunnels. After the war ended the tunnels were preserved and opened to tourists so that they could learn about the Vietnam War (or American War as they refer to it in Vietnam). It is this section of the tunnels that you will visit as part of the tour. The tunnels have been enlarged to accommodate tourists, but they are still tight and restrictive. However, it is 100% worth going into the tunnels so that you can experience the many war facilities that exist underground. You will see surgery rooms, kitchens, meeting rooms, and even a classroom. You will get an idea of the squalid conditions in which people lived.
There is an alternative set of tunnels which we didn’t visit but which I have heard are less touristy. These are the Ben Duoc Tunnels. The drive to Ben Duoc is longer but the exhibits are meant to be more realistic. The tunnels haven’t been enlarged as much (so no big feasts the day before!), and they didn’t experience as many bombings, therefore they haven’t been reconstructed in the same way the tunnels in Ben Dinh have.
How did they survive the bombings?
The one question the US and SVA couldn’t answer however was “How come we are bombing the hell out of the area with bombs that penetrate up to 10 metres and yet they aren’t dead?!?”. Every one of us was asked these questions repeatedly throughout the day. 4 hours of thinking about it and yet not a single one of us guessed it. The US Army base! Living and sheltering next to or underneath it was the safest place. The US was never going to bomb themselves!! Ingenious! There is no doubt that the Viet Cong were crafty and unparalleled when it came to guerrilla warfare. They are branded as the heroes by the Communist Government, yet, where are those who endured such hardship living in tunnels for so long? Where are the true heroes of the Vietnam War? Despite their astounding contribution to the victory of the Communist Northern Vietnamese party, they were left with nothing. Many of them have been left blind after so many years underground, deaf, malnourished, deformed, infested with parasites… And despite this, the government gave them nothing, and simply hid them out of view so that the heroic propaganda could be spread, and the story could boast a happy ending. A quarter of the people living in the tunnels died, certainly not a happy ending.
Make sure you join a Cu Chi Tunnel Tour
Many Cu Chi Tunnel Tours are operating from Ho Chi Minh City. They start from as little as £14 for a small group tour on Viator and you can choose from all manner of experiences. Some combine it with a Mekong River Cruise. Others offer luxury packages. To be honest, I think the most important thing you want to look out for is a good guide! You want someone who is going to bring the tour alive, to share the real story and not the communist propaganda that you become accustomed to during your Vietnamese travels. As I mentioned above we travelled with Vietnamese Adventure Tours who you can book with directly on Get Your Guide for just £15.
It is also possible to visit the Cu Chi tunnels on your own but I really don’t see the point as you would just be looking at a network of underground tunnels without knowing what you were looking at. You want someone who can bring Vietnam’s history alive for you, and only the local guides can do that. If you did travel there on your own, the entrance fees are 110K dong (£3.55) for adults. When you add the cost of the taxi or bus to get there, you might as well have booked a tour!
10 out of 10 for the tour guide!
Our tour guide did an amazing job of taking us through his time in the army, giving us facts as well as recollections of things that happened to him. You could still see the pain in his eyes when he told certain stories. And every time a shot went off (they have a firing range) there was a flicker of pain that you would miss unless you were looking. Having a shooting range is no doubt a fun activity for visitors, but seeing the expression on his face made me realise it wasn’t particularly thoughtful as it brought back too many bad memories for those who had first-hand experience of the war. However, despite the seriousness he still managed to deliver the tour with a great sense of humour, picking on us, challenging us to answer questions, betting us a can of beer to come up with answers or asking us to lift the gun from the tank 10 times with one hand (which only he managed). Without a doubt one of the best tour guides we’ve ever had. I came to Vietnam knowing very little about the Vietnam War, and I must say, my eyes were opened. I honestly can’t recommend a Cu Chi Tunnels tour highly enough. There are so many options online, but if you can I’d definitely book with Vietnam Adventure Travel.
Find out what else we got up to in Vietnam!
