July 25 Cu Chi Tunnels

The headline of the Vietnam News this morning was “ Vietnam To Raise Poverty Line”. Unbelievably, it was being raised from $8 US a month to $19 US a month ($25 for those who live in the city).

Hieu had us up at 6 am to begin our trek to the Cu Chi Tunnels, 60 km outside of Saigon. I remember hearing about the tunnels from Jack Livingstone. He had said that it was one of the higlights to their trip to Vietnam. We now agree with Jack as it was a highlight for us, too. The whole concept of building and living in the tunnels (250 km stretching from the South Vietnamese capital to the Cambodian border) and devising plethora of instruments of torture was (though extremely sad) fascinating. The resourcefulness of the Vietcong villagers who took over the Cu Chi area was incredible. American soldiers were soundly defeated each time that they approached the area as they had no idea that they were to be ambushed by a guerrilla army taking advantage of a complex underground labyrinth. In addition, the Vietcong devised at least ten different types of booby traps to which the Americans would fall victim. These were covered with leaves and were virtually unseen until you were swallowed up into the ground and speared by sharpened bamboo sticks and foot-long pointed metal nails. The boys and Joe took turns descending into a tiny hole in the ground (and got totally filthy in the process) that demonstrated how the Vietcong submerged themselves into the tunnel. Once in place with the ‘trap door’ over their heads which was covered with leaves, they were practically invisible. Their hiding places were completely camouflaged. The network, parts of which was several stories deep included innumerable trap doors, constructed living areas, storage facilities, weapons factories, field hospitals, command centers, and kitchens. Their were even hidden, flooded sections that could be used to escape (or enter) to the river.

Joe and the boys also crawled though the tunnels. I started to but then took a pass. Small, dark, confined, and dank – too much for me. It was hard to believe that some of the Vietcong made their lives there for up to twenty-one years. The resilience and sheer will-power to win the war at all costs was phenomenal to behold. The toll on the Vietcong guerrillas was also great. Only about 6000 of the 16, 000 who fought in the tunnels survived the war. Thousands of civilians, in addition, were killed.

Our second and last stop of the day was to the Cao Dai Holy See. The temple, founded in 1926, is in the village of Long Hoa and is simply spectacular. We, along with hundreds of other tourists observed the noon prayer service from atop a balcony. The sect embraces all religions and followers, though wearing different coloured clothing according to their affiliation, worship in unison. Haunting traditional music is played as the over four-hundred strong enter into the temple and it is an amazing sight to behold. Although we travelled for two hours each way over the potholed roads and only stayed a one-half hour, it was worth it (at least I felt that it was worth it… Joe wasn’t so sure!).