Vietnam 2008: Cuchi

Other links:
Vietnam 2008: In a Nutshell
Vietnam 2008: Ho Chi Minh City

Day 2: Ho Chi Minh City & Cuchi

Having booked the Cuchi tour the previous day, we had a delicious complementary breakfast at Bee-Saigon Hotel while waiting for our tour company to come pick us up.

Pork broth

Baguette with omelete

Vietnamese coffee is really good. I drink this everyday!

We stopped over at the Handicapped Handicrafts factory for a break.

Paintings handmade by handicapped people

A painting made of egg shells

The town of Cuchi is famous of its wide network of underground tunnels that have helped the VC (Viet Cong, which means Vietnamese Communist) to facilitate its aggression against the US soldiers in the American War. The tunnels stretch from HCMC to the Cambodian border but in Cuchi alone, there are more than 250km of tunnels filled with self-sustainable resources. The VC would live in the tunnels for months without coming out.

The area of Cuchi was chosen because of its hard ground and fertile soil. Unknowingly, the American army built their base right on top of the tunnels and soon fell victim to many surprise attacks. It took them many months to figure out why they keep getting shot at night.

This is the reason:

Secret entrance to the tunnel disguised by leaves

How to enter... as demonstrated by a fake VC.

The tunnels were built really small so that the bigger size American soldiers could not enter. If they tried to, there's always the booby traps.

Booby traps outside the tunnel

Booby traps in the tunnel

This American tank was destroyed by a land mine at this very spot.

Underground bomb-making room

The VC build a ventilation vent using a termite nest to disguise it.

Disguised chimney to get the smoke out from the underground kitchen

Then we crawled through about 20 metres of the tunnel. 20m is not a lot, but it is in those cramp and musty conditions. In fact, these tunnels were already expanded to accomodate the bigger sized tourists but still, it's definitely not for the claustrophobic.

Actual size of the tunnel!

After failing to eliminate the VC with ground attacks, chemical warfare and infiltration, the US Army begin sending B52 warplanes which eventually destroyed most of the tunnels.

Actual bombs used by the American soldiers

B52 Bomb Crater



Rubber sandals made of used tires. The VC made some really big and really small sandals to scare the Americans (as in monsters, lol).

Snake herbal wine for sale at the souvenier shop. Apparently, it's very common in Vietnam. There's also centipede wine, scorpion wine, lizard wine... eww.

Roadside pet store!

We had KFC for lunch because Kh says we need to slowly get used to Vietnamese food. As you can see, the chicken is really small.

Long long walk to the History Musuem. The most boring musuem ever. Shows all the history stuff in Vietnamese history but they are all briefly explained in Vietnamese. The highlight of this musuem is the Vietnamese mummy. Unfortunately, all their exhibits are very poorly preserved.

Dinner at Bi-Saigon Hotel (sister hotel of Bee-Saigon) before taking the overnight bus to Dalat. One of the best fried rice we've had in our entire lives.

Next post, Vietnam 2008: Dalat...