Glen standing in front of a M41 tank that was
destroyed by a delay mine in 1970
Remember the American war raged from 1955 to 1975

Showing the size difference between the troops and the civilians
Yet another reason I did not go down into the tunnel
Glen said "you would have hated it! Hot, no air, had to crawl in a couple of places, smelled bad..."
Thanks for showing the tourists a 'good time?!" Eh?

Unexploded ordnance being carried back to the 'safety' of a 'recycling ' room

Bomb being defused and reused
Turned into other items of war

Different types of bombs dropped by the Americans

.
'Snake holes' ran from the kitchen to mounds like this one to allow smoke to escape undetected

Tunnel vent for fresh air

A couple more traps
This one is like a "reverse cheese grater" according to Minh our new tour guide
...one would hope that they died instantly

"Door Trap"
Simple booby trap
Open the wrong door to search for Viet Cong and...this heavy wooden horror with huge nails would
stop you cold
That's enough of those type of pictures

One of the many types of booby traps that the (foreign) troops may have encountered
Yikes!

"tourists discover the cover of secret refuge"
Description from the pamphlet
of the numerous 'spider holes'  that provided a quick escape
Below is one of the Aussie's (Graham) showing just how tight the squeeze is...

...and how someone could just disappear

Map of the tunnel system
Black lines- tunnels
Blue lines - river
Red lines - roads

Diorama of the tunnels in the Cu Chi district
The cotton balls represent the filtering system that the VC used
to disperse the smoke that was created for warmth and food production

A couple of things from my journal...

  During our visit to Danang/Hoi an our tour guide Vu, was very abrupt "Get on the bus!!" He spoke of the 'long faced people' referring to the people of the North. "they are not happy, government always tell them how to feel, how to be, how to act" My favorite thing that he said was "First we drop off the 14 people, then we go to the NICE hotel!" Referring to the five star hotel that Glen, myself and the other 2 couples were staying at. This prompted a lot of laughter from the group until the others actually thought about what was said.

  When Glen and I were strolling around the old town during our free day I made sure that we had lots of water. I had brought an electrolyte additive (blue or red in color) as sometimes I struggle with dehydration. We received a lot of strange looks during our walk...one of the shopkeepers said to us, "Blue water?!" "Rich people water!" I never think of us as rich but from his point of view we are...he makes less than $110.00 U.S a month. He works 12 hour days, 6 days a week.
 We are very lucky to live in Canada

Next location Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City (depending on who you talk to)

  After landing in our final Vietnamese city we were driven to the Cu Chi district North West of Saigon. To experience the tunnel system that were created by the Viet Cong (VC) in the early 1940's during the War of Independence from the French. They are part of the mass network of tunnels that run under Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City to the Cambodian border over 250 kilometers.
These tunnels were used as living quarters, food & weapons cache, protection from aerial attacks, hospitals and supply routes. Over 43 thousand people lost their lives in the defense of these tunnels during the 'American War'. For a more indepth experience check out www.history.com search for Cu Chi tunnels 'deconstructing history'

Lunch time
Pomelo salad with seafood & money bags
Sample of crisp flat bread that 6 people were supposed to share

Sauteed prawns in satay sauce

Sauteed green cabbage and carrots over steamed rice

Vanilla ice cream and mango
The BEST part of the meal

I was so hot by this point that food no longer
seemed like a good idea.
Lots of cold water was what I should have been having