Cu Chi Tunnel's

Saturday, July 23rd. We are a little behind on our posting. The highlight of the day was visiting the tunnels the Vietnamese hid in and traveled through to survive the horror of this war. The kids were enamoured by the creativity behind the booby traps made out of whatever existed in the jungle as well as leftovers of the Americans. The booby traps were mostly made out of spikes that punctured the enemy as they made the wrong step. After spending a couple hours in this environment, one could see why the troops were so afraid of entering this world of the unknown. And what about being told to enter the depths of the tunnel which were dark, narrow and the only way to walk through them was to squat. How scary it must have been to not know who or what was around the corner. Our guide captivated our kids with the stories he had from his time as a soldier during Vietnam’s war with Cambodia. Using tobacco and whiskey to take away the itch of the many mosquito bites and the shoes made out of our tank tires which were designed so that the soldiers could wear front and backwards so that we could not figure out which direction they walked in. The signal this special plant, the Shy Lady, gave them as they closed if touched and would stay that way for 10 minutes. If the troops came upon that they knew we were only ten minutes away. Everything was underground and ventilated by heaway their hiding places. Everything from the medic area where babies were born to the cooking area was underground. Fascinating really. To close our tour out we learned that the remnants of the bombs were used to make church and chapel bells after the war. This was to symbolize how much the Vietnamese wanted peace. As we journey and get to know the people here, we can appreciate their gentle way and the happiness that exists despite having very little. We came back to the hotel that afternoon and we enjoyed the chance to swim, cool off and get ready for our next adventure to Hoi An. A one hour flight took us half way up the country to the seaside. Little did we know we would be swimming in the China Sea very early the next day!