Agent Orange and the Underground

Today I went to the Cu Chi tunnels north of HCMC. This is where the Viet Cong hid and lived during the Vietnam War. It was pretty incredible. The tunnels in some places were only 1/2 meter wide and 1/2 a meter tall. It's in an area of relatively quite woods and there are also rubber trees all around.



The Viet Cong would actually live underground - they had kitchens, a hospital, bedrooms, a honeymoon suite. They were there because the United States was bombing this area incessantly to destroy the South Vietnamese's ability to farm and live. The US would drop bombs, napalm, Agent Orange, etc.

Our guide was describing the types of booby traps the Viet Cong would set up - most involved trap doors with long metal barbed spikes - and how the Viet Cong would outsmart the Americans. We got to climb through parts of the tunnels. It was a tight fit for me, especially with my big butt!!!

It was kind of difficult hearing about it, but even more difficult to understand why we were dropping Agent Orange, one of the worst chemicals in the world, on civilians. This is no place for a political discussion, but let's just say the pictures I saw at the War Remnants Museum of the children born with severe birth defects due to Agent Orange made me sick with sadness.

The War Remnants Museum was pretty sobering. A lot of people died here and all throughout Vietnam. But they did have a bunch of guns, tanks, planes, and helicopters that were pretty cool. I finished the day off with pho and the traditional dessert che, a sweet pudding made from beans.