Cu Chi Tunnels

Friday January 4th 2013
First, we forgot to mention that our backpacks arrived in our hotel on Wednesday afternoon. So, we were without them for almost 3 days but we coped.
Last night we went back to Nha Hang Ngon (Delicious in English, we think), the restaurant we had gone to on New Years Eve. It's our favourite so far, with the stations along each side where teams prepare specific dishes. Excellent meal again for 488,000 VND (<$25 for 4 of us).
This morning we awoke at 4 for some reason and waited for the 6 am rooster, who never fails. We were ready in lots of time for breakfast on the rooftop patio at 7 and then off to Tuan Travel office where our bus left for Cu Chi Tunnels. The bus with driver plus English speaking guide cost 80,000 ($4) each. Our entry to the Cu Chi area cost $90,000 each ($4.50) and our lunch there of 2 grilled corn on the cob cost $15,000 (75 cents) each. An inexpensive day. In Europe this would cost at least $60 to $100.
While we waited on the bus for the tour to leave, we watched a food street vendor lady across the street. She washed her dishes with a tiny bit of water, wiped them with a rag and dumped the water on the street. She used the same rag to wipe the little plastic stools. She cooked pho or something and made tea and cola drinks. When she had a moment she re-filled used plastic bottles with clear water from a dirty pail and put the bottles back on the rack to sell as bottled water. Food safety is not a priority here. No germaphobe should ever visit Vietnam. We avoid vendors and restaurants like this but you have to eat and you're never really sure what's happening behind the scenes. You do your best but you can't follow what you know you should.
Our tour guide to the Cu Chi Tunnels was a former interpreter for the US military during the war. While we drove out to the tunnels, maybe 50 km but very slow through city traffic at first, he told us a bit about the war. He said that Vietnam was at war with various conquerors for 4,000 years and only at peace for the last 37 years. The French and the Americans were only the latest colonists.
On our way we stopped at a craft factory and shop where all employees are disabled in some way due to birth defects from Agent Orange. The young women who sold the crafts looked fine but are all on birth control pills to prevent them from ever having children. Even at this 3rd generation, there are still birth defects due to the chemicals that their parents or grandparents were subjected to. The government allows Cu Chi area families to adopt 2 children for free so they can have a family whereas westerners who want a Vietnamese baby pay about $3,000. Apparently, it's still not uncommon for young unmarried girls to abandon their babies at the hospital shortly after giving birth. There's apparently still a social stigma and no help available. Anyway, the lacquered woodcarvings and stuff were amazing.
After that we stopped for a few minutes at a rubber plantation. Neither of us had any idea what rubber trees looked like but now we know. Apparently the dioxin from Agent Orange has dissipated from the soil so the Cu Chi area can now produce rubber, rice, cashews and other food that's okay.
Starting in 1949, the local people started digging tunnels to avoid the French soldiers. People who lived in South Vietnam but believed in the nationalist, communist ideas of the North were known as the Viet Minh when they fought the French. Their children who fought the Americans were known as the Viet Cong. Gradually, as the fighting grew more intense, 18,000 people lived underground in a 200 km tunnel network in the Cu Chi area. Some of them lived underground for up to 26 years until the war ended in 1975. Above them, the US used Agent Orange to defoliate area so they could see through the tree leaves and then napalm to burn all the tree trunks. In the end there was a lot of bare ground above them. By 1975 only 6,000 were left alive.
They had kitchens, living quarters, bomb making areas, a maternity ward, schools and everything they needed underground. The soil is hard clay so the tunnels could be dug without other support. They had small tunnels to travel through so they could come up through little holes to ambush their attackers. At first they had no weapons so they dug in booby traps made from sharpened bamboo spears. When they could, they stripped victims of the booby traps of their weapons. If a bomb did not explode, they cut it open, salvaged the explosive material and made land mines from it. As Dylan said, when you see their determination and resourcefulness, it's no surprise that they eventually won.
It was another intense day but actually a little more positive than the War Remnants Museum since it was more a story of how people will survive no matter what.
On the bus ride, we could see that Vietnam is very poor. Most of the businesses and homes look shabby because there's just no money to fix them up. Plus the smog makes everything look kind of dirty. However, there are also Mercedes dealerships and other fancy stuff popping up. The traffic everywhere is intense. Our guide said that there are 90,000,000 Vietnamese and 44 million motorbikes. We have seen how a lot of delivery is done by motorbike. Anything you can think of including drivers driving with one hand while balancing a tray of 4 bowls of pho on the other. Lots of motorbikes haul big sacks of vegetables or boxes of whatever or building materials. We saw 2 guys on a motorbike yesterday carrying a wooden ladder about 5 metres long. Once, Dylan saw a full size fridge being hauled on a motorbike. It's crazy.
A lot of the women on motorbikes wear face masks or scarves. It may be for pollution but is also apparently to keep their skin paler. Some women go out with wide hats, scarves on their faces, long sleeved jackets and gloves during 30 degree weather. Pale skin is highly prized.
Tonight we're going out for a dinner somewhere close by and then we'll all get to bed early. We have a van and driver scheduled to pick us up at 8 am to drive us about 4 hours or so to Mui Ne on the coast for the weekend.
Having trouble uploading pictures so we'll do that later.