The tour started with a visit to the Cao Dai Temple, a Caodaism church practicing all fates. The church was of great size and had many intricate carvings both outside and inside. We had some time to walk around the complex on our own, it was a strange combination of architectural relics from such faiths as Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity. Three times a day, the main alter is filled with devout Caodaists praying and we were fortunate enough to witness the mass at noon as music and chanting filled the main alter. After our visit to the church and some lunch, we made our way to the part of the trip we were looking forward to the most, the tunnels! 
The Cu Chi Tunnels are in Cu Chi, a rural district 30 km north-west of Ho Chi Minh City. Cu Chi played an important role during the two resistance wars as the Viet-Cong (South Vietnamese communists) developed a network of tunnels totaling more than 250km as an underground system of strategic movement during the wars to overthrow the southern Vietnamese government backed by the Americans. The main tunnels are 60 to 70 cm wide and from 80 to 90 cm high, can you say SUPER TEENY WEENY!! The tunnels are approximately 3 to 10m under a layer of earth able to sustain the weight of 50 ton tanks, heavy artillery and bombs of up to 100kg. The network of tunnels had various accommodations from meeting rooms, to a medical clinic to a kitchen and eating area with traps and escape routes to the Saigon River. Disguised underneath foliage and earth, the entrances and exits were often covered with foliage, ground cover as well as pepper spray to distract German Shepards from sniffing them out. In addition, they formed termite like mounds out of dirt to disguise the air vents they had created in the underground tunnels.
As we started our walk into the forest, the first thing we heard were the sounds of guns going off. We had read before arriving that there is a shooting range at the tunnel site which allows visitors to shoot from a variety of guns using real bullets. The sounds of the guns in the distance while we were walking around the area made us think of how it must have been 30 years ago during the war.
Our first stop was at an original entrance to the tunnels. The opening could not have been more than a foot by a foot and a half in size. We were amazed at the size and could not understand how the Viet-Cong could get into and out of these openings so quickly during a time of war. It also made us wonder how small the tunnels themselves actually were. Chris was the first to hop into the opening .It was a quite squeeze in but he was not able to immerse himself the entire way down as it was too tight.
We continued in the forest where we came upon replicas of various booby traps that the Viet-Cong used during the war. Most of these used metal spikes in one way or another which would pierce the individuals who had stepped on the “booby trap”. There were some where your just your leg would get caught and pierced and others where you would fall in between two rolling sets of spike from head to toe. It was gruesome thinking of how many people must have died such a horrific death.
Next was the shooting range. They gave you an option to shoot from various guns such as AK-47, M-16 and semi automatics. Bullets were 18,000 dong each ($1.33 CDN a bullet) so we decided to have a go and got 5 bullets. We figured we would never get an opportunity to shoot a gun again anywhere and wanted to know what it felt like. So we put on our ear protection and shot away. It was not only very LOUD when shooting the gun but there was quite a bit of kick back once you pulled the trigger. They had targets set up for you to shoot at but I completely missed mine and I think Chris might have clipped one of the targets. All in all, it was quite the experience.
The last part of the trip was the opportunity for us to actually go into a mock up of the Cu Chi Tunnels which was designed for tourists. They made the tunnels a bit larger for tourists so Chris and I figured it wouldn’t be that bad, boy, were we wrong. The flight down the first set of stairs into the tunnels was quite large and open so we figured the rest would be the same. NOT!!! We had to walk down another set of stairs into a very small and dark tunnel. I could barely fit into the tunnel when I turned sideways with my camel pack on. Although there were some dim red lights on along the way, they were so far apart that most of the time we were in the dark. Half the time I was hitting my head as the tunnels were not very high. We were told earlier by the tour leader that the Viet-Cong in some tunnels had to crawl their way through the tunnels on their stomachs. I couldn’t help but think what that must have been like. To do that in much smaller tunnels and in complete darkness could not have been easy. A lot of the time, Chris and I were using pure touch to feel our ways through the tunnels and as we were rounding one bend, I thought we were going to get stuck it was that tight and that claustrophobic. Luckily, we made it out but by the time we got out, we were HOT and sweaty. Again, I can not imagine how it must have been for them back then with no maps and no lights. They obviously must have known the tunnel network like the back of their hands.
We came back to Saigon, only to discover that Rav’s visa for Vietnam was only good until the 23rd of Feb and here it was the 25th of Feb and our organized tour to Cambodia was not until the 2nd of March. Needless to say we were in quite a jamb. Our travel agent in Vancouver had made a mistake and now we were stuck in Vietnam until we could get an extension for Rav. As we found out that a normal extension would take at least two weeks, we contacted Trek Escapes to see what our options were and they were and have not been very helpful. More on this later….
We had already booked another mini trip to escape Saigon again, this time to Da Lat about 500km to the north where the climate is much cooler and there is more to see within the physical landscape. It is known as Vietnam’s city of love so with the uncertainty of what was to become of the Cambodia tour, we boarded a bus bound for Da Lat. Here’s hoping some down time in a quiet quaint town will take our worries away from the Visa issue for now…
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