Today was going to be a fun day. The agenda today was the Cu Chi tunnels, which I was looking very forwards to. On the way to the Cu Chi tunnels, we stopped at a roadside manufacturer where they made art pieces out of duck eggshells and painting. The factory/store/workplace only employed handicapped people, for they can not really get work anywhere else because of their conditions. The store specifically hires them to help them and also donates some of the money they make to the handicapped people and center in order to help spread awareness and help in any way they can.
The Cu Chi tunnels themselves were pretty amazing. It was a pretty long ride, but definitely worth it. We first saw some wreckage of old helicopters, tanks, and mobile barracks that deployed soldiers into the war. It was very interesting to see the old technology in the war and how far it has come. We then started going deeper into the jungle using the pathways to the tunnels.
The first tunnel we came across was the water well. It was like a small staircase maybe going 12 feet underground with very large steps and few of them. The tunnels themselves were very small, you would have to bend over halfway in order to walk in them comfortably. They were winding tunnels in order to evade grenades, gunfire, and just combat in general. It allowed for cover in a place with very minimal cover spots. It opened up into various rooms, both small and large, and it was interesting to see how the Vietnamese actually lived in those times.
The tunnels themselves were renovated after the war for tourism and to ensure more stability, so I can only imagine how small the tunnels really were and the amount of light they provided. We navigated through many winding tunnels, some going deep and some long and there was always more to explore.
We also some of the traps the Viet Cong made. They were crazy, and very dangerous. The camouflage of the traps with just leaves over-top of them were astounding. They were completely invisible, and if you hit one you were quite honestly just dead. There was no warning or safe way to escape, it all happened so fast that you didn’t know what to do.
After we were done the tour with the tunnels, we got some lunch. The lunch was not bad, but the part that I was excited about was after that. They were taking us to a shooting range to have the opportunity to shoot guns at targets. The range cost money per bullet, around 2.50, or around 28.50 for 10 shots. I was very excited for this, because I enjoy to go shooting at the range with my dad. The options for shooting at the range was an AK-47, an old 2 burst-fire carbine rifle, and a machine gun. I chose 10 shots for the AK, and was very happy after I was done shooting. It was a very enjoyable experience and I hit the target 9/10 times. I was very happy after doing that, and so far this day was the highlight of my trip.
