Down the Cu Chi tunnels

DON'T you just love sitting down with your older folks and listen to them tell you tales of how they lived through Brunei's tough times in their old days? It takes you back to their times of turmoil and you feel their sense of triumph and relief listening to how they survived.

Part of the reason why I can never get enough of travelling is you don't just learn about the culture, the food, the people; you immerse yourself in its history.

My visit to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, took me on an unforgettable journey through a historical event that changed the country, and my perceptions. For a tour that cost me only about US$20, the Cu Chi Tunnels sure have a lot to offer to visitors.

The Cu Chi (pronounced koo-chee) Tunnels is located in the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City. What makes it different is that it's no ordinary tunnel that people drive through, it's an underground village.

In the first bit of the tour, a movie is shown depicting details of the war, and how the Vietnamese turn the smallest things as weapons to fight their enemies.

The story goes back to the Vietnam War, the country's 19-year struggle between pro-communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam, supported by the United States, an anti-communist ally.

The Viet Cong had built these tunnels to hide against US and South Vietnamese forces, with deadly booby traps set all around to protect themselves as well. These underground tunnels were part of the reason why North Vietnam won the war, I think.

After the movie, we were shown an entrance to the tunnel, on the grounds of a forest. The entrance is a small hole of 20 by 30 centimetres, covered with a wooden lid, camouflaged with leaves. Along the way through the forest, there are self-built booby traps with a lot of iron and bamboo spikes.

As the tour guide explained how the booby traps work, I couldn't help but cringe imagining the pain one would feel falling into a trap. A fall in there would mean severe injury or death, it's no joke!

The highlight of the tour is the tunnels themselves. We were allowed to crawl through the tunnels and see each room along the tunnel. The tunnel was complete with hospitals, meeting rooms, kitchens, weapon storage rooms, and private rooms.

The first tunnel was made larger to allow tourists to crawl through. I was fortunate to be the small Asian size that I am, I could fit snugly through the tight spaces. Experiencing these tunnels mean getting a taste of the darkness, heat and sweating in them.

What really opened my eye was when I saw the labour "room" inside the tunnel, and I couldn't imagine how it was like to be born in darkness, and not seeing the sunlight until the war was over in 1975.

I couldn't have been more excited when I saw light at the end of the tunnel that led to a beautiful beach. Picture me kneeling down on the sand and embracing the fresh air and the sunlight on my face, feeling a sense of relief of being out of the tight space. I'm not claustrophobic, but it's easy to get carried away when you take a tour in the tunnel, it's almost like you're living in the Vietnam War era. No, I didn't actually kneel down on the sand, but I imagine that's how the Vietnamese felt when the war was over.

Overall, I was very impressed by the Cu Chi Tunnels. I left knowing so much more than what my History lessons in primary and secondary school taught me.

I saw how the Vietnamese took apart American warplanes that crashed on their turf, used the parts to make weapons and bombs. Talk about self-sufficiency. They knew their land well, and used really smart guerilla tactics to gain victory.

It's no wonder the overwhelming vibe of Vietnamese pride was felt all around as soon as I stepped out of the plane into Vietnam. Tough times like those makes you appreciate what you have today. I'm not Vietnamese, but learning about that war, I got myself some more Asian pride.

The Brunei Times