Kelly and Quang's Global Roam

We woke up bright and early (7 a.m.), ate breakfast and took a tour bus outside of Saigon. Our ride was just an hour or so. We climbed off near the town of Cu Chi.

We were in Cu Chi to visit a series of underground tunnels leftover from the Vietnam War. The tunnels were constructed by a group of guerrilla fighters that sided with the North Vietnamese during the war. Since the tunnels were so close to Saigon (the South Vietnamese capital), the area was subjected to massive U.S. attacks. However, the Americans never succeeded in completely destroying the tunnel system. In fact, for much of the war, the tunnels and the guerrilla fighters that built them were an enigma for the U.S. Army.

After visiting a portion of the tunnels, it was easy to see why. Those guerrilla fighters were crafty little buggers! The tunnel openings were eeny-weeny. You could only slip down into the system if you put your arms up over your head, squeezed your shoulders and sucked in your belly. The tunnel doors were concealed with twigs and leaves and were actually hard to find once the top was in place.

Plus, the land around the tunnels was booby trapped with ingenous devices guaranteed to rip out an unlucky U.S. Army scout's gut or maime a U.S. German shepard. The dogs were brought into the area in an attempt to sniff out the guerrillas. The guerrillas fooled the dogs with the insanely simple act of washing with American soap, a scent that the dogs recognized as friendly.

We got to get down underground and crawl through a portion of the tunnels. The tunnels we went down into were enlarged to accomodate tourists. Even so, we felt like we were suffocating. It was broiling hot down there, the walls were close together and the ceiling was low, so low that we had to stoop our way through. Plus, it was pitch black. I hit my forehead twice by walking into a wall because I couldn't tell when the path turned.