Day 9: 19 April -- Cu Chi Tunnels

Big debate at breakfast:  should I stay in Saigon today and find an English-speaking doctor and get proper treatment, or could I take the day's tour without being a problem for the others??  It weas a 7am start, so not much time to decide.  Had had a pretty restless night, bu the liniment had helped and I was walking freely, though with a limp.  So the mob voted I come with them!  As it turned out I got through the day without any major incident.

The Cu Chi district is about 70km north west of Saigon.  A (as we now expected) very bumpy 2 hour ride to get there.  The area is not large, but within it there are 200km of tunnels of varying depths.  The network was begun in the 1940s as hiding areas for peasants resisting the French;  then expanded and used as both a command centre and operation guerrilla base for the Viet Cong in the war against the Americans.

There is a well laid out walking tour that introduces one to the various aspects of the tunnel system:  ventilation, cooking, planning rooms, factory rooms to make weapons and uniforms etc; and the frightening array of booy traps, most involving steel spikes, used to protect the tunnels from unauthorised entry.  Certainly they were ingenious.  They made back-the-front sandals (tracks led GIs to think they had gone in opposite direction) from reclaimed tyres of destroyed US vehicles.  Most of the steel for the booby traps came from shrapnel and shell casings left from the huge US bombardment of the area.  They were great recyclers!  Without knowing it, the Americans provided them with much of the material used against them.  The tunnels connected to similar systems all over the south; and through them weapons and stores from the north were ferried to keep the VC in action against the South Vietnamese army and the US.

One section of 20 metres is available to "walk" through and see what life underground was like.  Pitch dark, very narrow, stiflingly hot!  I did it on my hands and knees crawling.  Even then my white polo shirt was grubby from contact with the walls and roof.  One has to admire the ingenuity and tenacity of these people in holding out for what they believed in -- which wasn't communism, but liberation from foreign control and re-unification of the country.

Another bumpy ride took us to see a rather unique temple:  ABT as the guide said - another bloody temple!  This was the Cao Dai Great Temple at Tay Ninh.  This religion is proper to south Vietnam and was founded in 1926.  It is an amalgam of Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam.  Seeking peace and harmony through respect for all.  The temple inside and out is like something from Disneyland, all in garish colours. The adherents are mainly older folk now.  They pray 4 times a day at temple and are vegetarians.  We saw the beginning of the noon service with its colorful procession of members in white and brightly coloured robes to the sound of oriental music and gongs.

Lunch at Tay Ninh, another multi-course offering. Then a 3 hour bumpy ride back to Saigon.  At 6.30pm we were bussed to a KOTO restaurant for dinner.  There are a series of these developed by a successful Australian-Vietnamese businessman.  KOTO = Know One, Teach One.  They take disadvantaged young people and train them as chefs, bartenders and waiters - so that they can then find work to support themselves.  The food and service were excellent, and the young people obviously take great pride in their achievements.

On the way back, I got dropped off near the Cathedral where I lined up for the Easter Vigil services at 9pm.  Quite an experience.  I just managed to get a seat in the main area, arriving at 8.30 -- Cathedral jam packed by 8.45.  On the dot of 9pm the Cardinal kicked off with the fire and candle ceremony, the Cathedral in complete darkness except for flases of mobile phones as young people checked for messages!  By the way, to my surprise at least 60% of the congregation was young (under 30).  The singing was quite spectacular.  A wonderul choir, but the people join in with great gusto.  The tunes of the hymns sounded to me like propoganda songs for patriotic workers of the Mao era -- but they all knew them and sang along.  At the Gloria when the full lights are turned on and the flowers are brought out, it was a sight to behold.  All the archways of the Cathedral are outlined in white neon tubing!  The dead part came in the middle when the Cardinal had to baptise and then confirm 40 young adults with all the local trimmings.  Finished at 11.20pm  Back to hotel a bit before midnight.  So another long day.

A sample of the day in photos can be seen here.