We started day 4 off bright and early with a long bus ride to the Cu Chi tunnels which was about an hour and 40 minutes away from our hotel. Along the way we learned some funny sayings from our guide Tuan such as “singing a song” at the “happy place”. This of course means using the bathroom. Some people did karaoke on the way and we split up our drive with a quick pitstop to a local shop that employs handicapped workers to create a wide range of artistic pieces. This was a great pitstop because it gave me a chance to sing a song of my own. After my song, we went on a guided tour of the facility and learned about their production process. It turns out that each handmade piece represents a very arduous and time-consuming process because after applying the lacquer (from the local lacquer trees) and crushing the egg shells (which form the actual picture) they have to wait 3 months before continuing on with the piece. We also had the opportunity to work alongside some of the workers which was a good opportunity to truly understand the work that goes into each piece. When crushing the shells I realized how hot and cramped it was at the work table and also how hard it was to crack the shells in the right way which made me appreciate the workers and the finished products in the showroom even more. After the tour I ordered a coffee with fresh milk from the drink stand. I was a little confused at first because I didn’t understand the differences between the “milk coffee” and “coffee with fresh milk” options. However after speaking to one of the UEF students I learned that the milk coffee is made with sweeter milk than the “coffee with fresh milk” and that the coffee with fresh milk is also usually made with more milk than the milk coffee.
Afterwards we got back on the bus and arrived at the Cu Chi tunnels. There, we got to go on another guided tour where we learned a lot more about the Vietnam war, the purposes and scale of the tunnels, and what life was like for the Vietnamese guerilla fighters who used them. The tour was very informative which was a pleasant surprise to me because at first I thought we were just going in a few tunnels, but Cu Chi actually had a lot more to offer about history and the Vietnam war. Nonetheless the highlight of the trip was definitely actually going in the tunnels. They were tight but also very complex featuring various side areas for things like cooking, meeting, and even an array of traps to catch possible tunnel rats. One really interesting feature we learned about was how the cooking area was set with 400 meters of overflow for smoke so that rival helicopters and bombers couldn’t see the rising cooking smoke and attack the tunnels below. We also learned how Vietnamese fighters would put small sticks in nearby leaves to mark booby traps, which American fighters would rarely see because they were too tall above the leaves to notice. These design hacks display a common theme among the Vietnamese fighters who took a lot of pride in outsmarting the Americans with simplicity rather than modern technologies. I think this is also an important takeaway because in modern America there is a large emphasis on excess and complexity. It feels like everyone needs the next new phone or the hot new tech feature but after learning about the history of Vietnam, I am realizing that true complexity is found in using the tools you already have to their fullest ability. In other words sometimes the right answer is the simple one, hiding in plain sight right in front of you. After today I have a newfound commitment to detail because I have learned that sometimes the solution you need is there for the taking, you just have to be open-minded enough to find it.
