#21 Cu Chi Tunnels / Cu Chi Alagutak (Vietnam)

English version:

Bang!!! Cu Chi Tunnels day.

This was a big one and I was looking forward to it very much. I booked a ½ day tour with an agency on the backpacking street in Saigon. The tour cost me about 230,000 dong + a little extra (you will find out shortly :).

The usual minibus ride took 2 hours from Saigon. So what exactly are the Cu Chi tunnels? These are underground tunnels which were used in the war by the viet cong dudes. A lot of military campaigns happened here between the communist viet congs supported by the Soviet Union & China and the republicans supported by US, Australia, the Philippines and South Korea.

The viet cong used these tunnels for supply routes, to hide their army and rest soldiers between the battles. But life was quite challenging under the ground. Soldiers had to confront super hot and humid climate, spiders, malaria and other things which make your day very bad. Malaria was the second biggest killer during the war. After the war, the communist government rebuilt the tunnels and planted a new forest above them, because the bombs wiped the entire jungle down.

We started our visit by checking out the different traps the viet cong used. Different bamboo traps what they originally used to catch animals, like tigers and during the war they upgraded them and made them more lethal and cruel.

Then we saw a termite nest which was surprisingly not real, it was built buy the viet cong also. They used these fake nests to get air down to the tunnels. This way using bamboo pipes they could get the air down to 15 metres under ground.

I learned a lot of incredible stories here, for example how 2 people dismantled unexploded bombs what the Americans throw down from their planes. They took the gun powder out and used in land mines. The process was crazy dangerous. I would have chosen another job there, not this. Maybe IT system administrator or stuff like that.

Other like sometimes half of the viet cong soldiers in their squad wore their sandals the other way around. This way the enemy couldn’t figure out which way they were walking…

The best part of the day was when I shot with an M30 machine gun. My face was like a 5 year-old after opening the Christmas present. It was 550,000 dong extra but it was worth it so much.

“SO FAR” FACTS – ENGLISH VERSION:

# of travel buddies: 11
# of travel buddies murdered: 0
best meal: Thai cashew chicken curry
best dessert: coconut rice
worst meal: some brown soup with cooked pork, blaaaaaa
# of flights: 5
# of trains: 6
# of taxies: 14
# of buses: 10
# of shared taxies: 3
# of motor-taxies: 3
# boats: 1
# of waterfalls: 6
# of snakes: 0
# of big spiders: 7
# polar bears: 0
# yetis: 0
# of dives: 0
# of sharks: 0
# of manta rays: 0
# of whale sharks: 0
# of dolphins: 0

Magyar verzio:

Bang!!! Eljott a Cu Chi alagutak napja.

Ez volt itt a foprodukcio, amit mar regota nagyon vartam. Elso estemen Saigonban ellatogattam a backpacker utcaba, ahol egy irodanal masnapra befolgaltam egy utat az alagutakhoz. A koltseg kb 230,000 dong volt + egy kis extra (amit kesobb ecsetelek :))

A szokasos minibusz menet 2 ora volt Saigontol. De mik is ezek a Cu Chi alagutak? Foldalatti alagut-rendszer, amit a vietkongok hasznaltak a haboru alatt. Itt Cu Chiban rengeteg katonai muvelet zajlott a Szovjetunio es Kina altal tamogatott kommunista vietkong es az USA, Ausztralia, Fulop-szigetek es Del-Korea altal tamogatott koztarsasagparti hadsereg kozott.

A vietkongok ellatmanyt szallitottak az alagutakban, itt rejtettek el a seregeiket, es itt pihentek a katonak az utkozetek kozott. Az elet a fold alatt azonban nem volt kellemes. Az itt idozo katonaknak meg kellett kuzdeniuk a szaunaszeruen forro es nyirkos klimaval, pokokkal, malariaval es mas dolgokkal amik csunyan elrontjak a kis munkanapod. A haboru utan a kommunista kormany a turistak szamara ujjaepitette az alagutakat, tovabba uj erdot untetett a felszinre, mivel a regi fak nagy reszet atomjaira bombaztak a tamado gepek.

A tura elejen megismerkedtunk a vietkongok altal hasznalt csapdakkal. Volt itt minden, de fokent bambusz csapdak, amelyeket eredetileg allatok vadaszatanal hasznaltak, peldaul tigrisekre. A haboruban azonban fejlesztettek es modositottak ezeket a szerkezeteket es a vegeredmeny sokkal halalosabb es kegyetlenebb lett.

A csapdak utan lattunk egy termeszvarat, ami valodinak tunt, viszont emberek epitettek. A vietkongok ezeket hasznaltak arra, hogy levegot juttassanak le az alagutakba. Ezzel a modszerrel akar 15 meterre is lejutott az eletet ado levego, hosszu bambusz csoveken keresztul.

Sok hihetetlenul erdekes storyt hallottam itt, peldaul hogy 2 ember, hogyan szerelt szet hatalmas bombakat, amiket a tamado gepek szortak le de nem robbantak fel. Eletuk kockaztatasaval szetszedtek a bombakat, hogy hozzajussanak a robbanoanyaghoz, amit taposoaknakba pakoltak kesobb. Nem lettem volna a helyukben. Inkabb valasztottam volna mas melot: pl rendszergazda, vagy valami hasonlo.

Masik elkepeszto story, hogy gyakran a vietkong csapat fele forditva vette fel a szandalt, igy az ellensegnek fingja nem volt valojaban merre setalgattak…

A nap legjobb resze az volt, amikor ratapaszthattam az ujjam az M30 gepagyu ravaszara. Olyan fejet vagtam, mint amikor 5 evesen kibontottam a karacsonyi ajandekot. 550,000 dongba kerult, de az elmeny nagyon megerte.