Viet Cong Tunnels

Today I took a $3 tour about 50 miles northwest of Saigon to see the Cu Chi tunnels. The Viet Cong had something like 150 miles of tunnels, some three layers deep, even went under a big US base, invisible in the jungle, uncanny cleverness in design and construction. They made fake termite mounds on the floor of the jungle that were actually air vents. They had escapes where they could go directly from the tunnel into the Saigon River and swim to the other side. They had kitchens, hospital, munitions storage, living quarters. They set lethal traps in the jungle with sharpened bamboo stakes, they used natural materials and scrap to defeat the world’s mightiest military forces. So it came time to go down into the tunnels. I am a bit claustrophobic, and I went down into the first tunnel, my heart started pounding. After everyone else came down the steps, I bounded back up into the sunlight, rather than go through a narrow chamber into another room and out. No thanks! No submarine trips either…