We were scheduled to arrive at Phu My (the port city for Saigon) at 7AM. Our tour was to start at 7:10AM. We got up early to have breakfast before our tour and we noticed that our ship was stopped at the mouth of the delta along with other ships. Shortly after we were up, the Captain announced that the port was closed. All ships were being held out in the ocean because a barge carrying 60 containers had collided with another vessel and had sunk in the channel. The containers also sank into the channel, blocking it. He said that the port authority was working on clearing the channel so it could be reopened. An hour or two later he announced that the channel had been cleared enough for smaller ships to proceed to the Phu My port but our ship was too big and the channel was still not fully open. After another hour or two the Captain announced that the channel was open and we could proceed up to our dock in Phu My. We arrived at the port five hours after our scheduled arrival time. They announced that all tours would still take place and they extended the departure time by four hours.
Tug boat hauling away some of the containers from the sunken barge.
We had a three and a half hour bus ride to the Cu Chi Tunnels on roads that were not much more than two lane roads with eight lanes of traffic on them. Most of the vehicles on the road were trucks, buses and motor scooters. Picture this: you are on a two lane road heading North in the road lane, next to you on the side of the road are motor scooters heading both North and South. Add to that pedestrians, and bicycles also going in both directions. If you look over to the Southbound lane the same thing is happening, vehicles in the road lane are heading South and the motor bikes are heading North and South.
We arrived at the Cu Chi Tunnels close to 4PM. These tunnels were the end point for North Vietnamese soldiers and infiltrators to enter the city of Saigon during the Viet Nam wars. The tunnels when completed went for over 125 miles from the North to the South. They were actually started in the late 1940’s and used to help defeat the French during the French Indochina war. They were expanded during the U.S. - Vietnam war and used extensively to infiltrate behind the U.S. lines. The Cu Chi Tunnels are now a national war memorial park opened to tourists to show how the tunnels were used. One tunnel is open for 100 meters for tourists to explore. They have exits at 20 meter intervals, so you choose how far you want to crawl through the tunnels. We made it a whopping 20 meters.
Above: Original tunnel opening new tunnel opening for tourists to explore up to 100 meters
Above: This gives you some idea on the size and shape of the tunnels. As you can see I don’t fit very well through the tunnels!
They had a display of the many booby traps that were set in and around the tunnels. They also had displays of captured or destroyed war material as seen below.
After touring the park we have even more appreciation and respect for all Vietnam veterans. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
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