Day 65: Cu Chi Tunnels

This morning a bus picked us up at 8:30am outside of the dorm to take us to the Cu Chi Tunnels. We travelled with six of the OU Partners to Cu Chi, which was about an hour and a half drive. Along the way, we passed some spots of HCMC that I've never seen before as well as a rubber farm. Although we only drove past it, it was interesting to see the marks in the trees where the rubber comes out of.

Our first stop for the day was at a restaurant where we were stopping to talk about what our impressions are of the Vietnam War. We all ordered a drink, and I had a pineapple smoothie. In our group, our conversation started out as family members we had in the war and then slowly turned into us questioning the OU partners about their thoughts. For example, their history text books are written to promote Communism and state that United States invaded Vietnam in order to take over the country. Vietnamese who have travelled abroad, however, are now worried that the generation in university is becoming brainwashed and are beginning to publish books from the United States' perspective. It was only through their own research that our partners were able to find out that the United States came to Vietnam in an attempt to stop the spread of Communism. As usual, it was interesting to get the other perspective on something that we've learned about in classes before.

When our conversation was over, we got back on the bus to head to the tunnels. We had a tour guide with us, and he was able to explain all kinds of things to us that I otherwise would not have learned about. There were bomb craters all over the place left from the war, as well as secret entrances to the tunnels. We also saw all kinds of traps that were used as well as examples of how they build land mines.

The tunnels were the main attraction at 5-10 meters below the ground and were built as small as possible because they were faster to build and ensured greater secrecy from the Americans. We had the chance to crawl through the tunnels and it was quite the experience. They were very small and I actually found it easier to crawl than I did to walk hunched over. While the tunnel we went through had light, during the war they did not, and so the Vietnamese would have to carry lanterns with them. The tunnels always exited to the river so that the Vietnamese could flee into the jungle if necessary. Also, the tunnels were never built in a straight line so that if a plane dropped a bomb only part of the tunnel would be ruined.

After crawling through the hot tunnel, we were able to get a snack of yams with crushed up peanuts and sugar. Then it was back to the place where we had talked about the war for lunch, which was a set menu. It was really good, and we had fried spring rolls, banana flower and chicken salad, fried fish, kebabs, and rice. Finally, it was time to come back to the dormitory for the day.

Supper tonight consisted of corn and a baguette with some wonderful peanut butter and jelly provided by Cate. On the way back to my room, I noticed that the community lounge was full of people, so I popped my head in. Turns out that the English Club was making Halloween decorations and asked me if I wanted to join them. Of course I said yes, and I spent the next four hours getting to know the people I met last night better. I helped make a mummy, paint masks, and was put in charge of creating a pumpkin out of wire because I was the only one who had seen a pumpkin in real life before. While I had an idea on how to make it, it was actually the other students who made it happen thanks to their engineering minds. It was great to spend some more time with the students that live in the dorm, but also saddening to know that as I continue to meet new people I have less and less time to spend with them.

Tomorrow we are going on a camping trip with our OU partners, so don't expect a blog post! I will blog again on Sunday.