There are so many underwhelming tourist attractions in Vietnam that need to be avoided, it may be hard to determine from the outside which ones are worth the trip, and which ones are best just read about. I once spent nearly 10 hours driving from one pile of rocks to another through a series of barren fields on a much-hyped visit to the infamous de-militarized zone (DMZ) separating North and South Vietnam.

As a custom travel designer our primary value is in weaving complex logistics together with multiple activities and destinations so as to achieve a higher value end product. When we design Smiling Albino adventures as a general rule we include very few tourist attractions or museums to our trips unless they are essential lenses into the local history and culture, such as the Hall of Opium in the Golden Triangle.

Tunnel spaces are smaller than they appear

The tunnels of Cu Chi are a must on any trip to Vietnam. Purists may say that the tunnels have been enlarged to enable tourists to go through – personally I’m glad they did, or they may scoff at the plastic caricatures simulating underground labour corvees throughout the site, or that the older tunnels in more remote Vinh Moc are more authentic, etc. While all of those things may be true, Cu Chi is still worth a visit in every respect. There are actually two sets of tunnels in two locations, the Ben Dinh tunnels, and Ben Douc tunnels. The Ben Douc tunnels are a little further away from HCMC and somewhat more educational. They also get less tourists due to the extra distance (20min or so further than Ben Dinh). The Ben Dinh tunnels tend to be more heavily visited, but I don’t think that makes it less of an experience. Tunnels are tunnels, and if you can remove yourself from the tourist spectacle and appreciate their historic – and engineering – achievements, you’ll be rightly impressed. Whether one or both sites, Cu Chi is a must on any trip to Vietnam and here’s why:

The Basic Facts

Despite the touristy overtones of present day Cu Chi, the tunnels of Cu Chi represent human ingenuity on a nearly incomprehensible scale. The concept of the tunnel network originated near Dien Binh Phu during French occupation, where the Vietnamese dug underground to form a series of communication networks which helped their 1954 defeat of the French. During the American War, the areas around Cu Chi were identified as hotspots for VC and north Vietnamese military intelligence activity by the US and South Vietnamese. In addition to its proximity to Saigon, Cu Chi lies at the foot of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, making it a vital supply conduit and information pipeline from Hanoi to their counterparts in the south. As early as the late 1940′s until the early 1970′s, thousands of villagers dug tunnels by hand ranging from 3meters to 20 meters under the hard clay of Cu Chi village. This elaborate underground wonder continually thwarted US offensives, and the secret doors and escape hatches proved a constant nuisance for local bases as surprise VC attacks went undetected. The villagers and soldiers who endured at Cu Chi have become national treasures, heroes of liberation, and examples for future generations of Vietnamese.

The Legacy

With Cu Chi on the US radar and the south Vietnamese hunting for infiltrators, the villagers of Cu Chi went underground. Tunnels connect small hamlets with nearby roads and transport routes, while more elaborate networks connect underground medical clinics, villages, munitions centers, canteens and military command centers. Some 250km of tunnels were constructed in a spider web of branches that connected Cu Chi with the Ho Chi Minh Trail and Hanoi’s agents in Saigon and throughout the south. The stunning attacks in the South Vietnamese capital during the 1968 Tet Offensive were planned and launched from Cu Chi.

The daily struggles and sacrifices of the people of Cu Chi, through carpet bombings, de-foliation, infantry invasion, and natural hardships like monsoons, have become one of the great stories of human perseverance to emerge from the US-Vietnam war. Despite regular attacks including bunker bombings, the tunnel system remained largely intact and was ultimately regarded as one of the key contributors to Hanoi’s eventual defeat of Saigon and the US.

The Construction

Hard clay around Cu Chi meant labourious work for the villagers, often women and children – who dug the tunnels by hand. Small shovels hacked away dirt and excess was carted out in baskets and dumped in the countryside so as not to arise suspicion from large piles of dirt appearing around the villages. Tunnels featured everything from underground command centers, medical and education facilities, homes, cooking stations as well as a series of decoys and traps designed to dissuade enemy “tunnel rats” from trying to infiltrate the elaborate network. Special smoke corridors were constructed to vent cooking steam away from the tunnels and divert enemy soldiers away from secret tunnel entrances. Bits of bomb shrapnel are still scattered along the walking paths and massive bomb craters are still visible at various locations throughout the complex. They are subtle, and one might not recognize one if someone didn’t point it out.

Cu Chi Recycling Program

The Vietnamese are exceptionally adept and adapting materials for other uses. The amount of war junk throughout the country that has been converted into everything from fencing to construction material to garden tools to furniture is impressive. The villagers at Cu Chi faced regular assaults from enemy forces which often resulted in US equipment being recycled and used by the Cu Chi villagers. Weapons were seized from US soldiers and used by Cu Chi guards, or tanks captured and stripped apart so that their pieces could be molded into knives, digging tools, tunnel frame supports and others. When US army dogs began sniffing out the area for insurgents, the Cu Chi guerillas would dress in the clothes from captured US servicemen to confuse them, and then began bathing using American soaps to further thwart search and destroy missions as the dogs would confuse Cu Chi fighters for US soldiers.

The resilience and steadfast refusal to give up on the part of the Vietnamese throughout their wars with the Chinese, French and Americans, is a lesson into the modern national psyche. This super weapon demoralized US forces. Cu Chi represents the inexplicable calculus measuring Vietnamese perseverance vs. American might. It was the tunnels, the stubbornness and the pride that won the war, not the tanks and bombs and guns.

The Visitor’s Experience

Underground miracle-turned museum, and worth a visit

One would hope that the heroism demonstrated by the people of Cu Chi would have resulted in a highly dignified, national treasure for a visitor’s center. There are a few blights to the experience, such as the shooting range located behind the tourist class gift shop. The constant blast of gunfire, although oddly thematic to the location, is an unnecessary affrontory and insult to your senses. And what kind of message is this sending anyway? Tourists who line up in queues to snap away at AK-47s are perhaps lost on the point that the miracle of Cu Chi was due clever avoidance of infantry combat, not direct engagement with the enemy. Likewise, the video presentation near the entrance to the tunnels, with crackling black and white picture and amateur sound quality belongs in a cold war museum, not a national monument to heroism and human achievement. The constant references to the enemy US soldiers as a “crazy batch of drunken devils” and “evil demon infidels” is dated and provincial. Haven’t we moved past that? The two nations resumed diplomatic relations nearly 20 years ago, and most people on both sides of the war have simply moved on. The propaganda themes are of course amusing to the visitor who knows better, but in this case it cheapens the Cu Chi Tunnel experience, unfortunately rendering it more cute than amazing. Like so many things in Vietnam, the facility lacks a higher vision to communicate the superhuman struggle and triumph of the Cu Chi villagers, and instead is just a reasonably well done amusement park of war junk, bomb craters and staged photo-opp spots at tunnel openings and bomb shelters.

In describing the conundrum of visiting man-made tourist attractions in Vietnam, here is a sharp passage from Andrew Pham’s book about rediscovering his Vietnam homeland, Catfish and Mandala:

“They have no idea they have gnawed away their nature. There is not much left and they don’t even know it. They tell me: all the foreigners go to see this. All the foreigners go to see that. You should go, too. Go and behold big trees on big mountain. Go see this monument and that temple. They say it with such conviction that I don’t have the heart to tell them, you are lemonade-stand children gouging five bucks for a paper cup of Kool-Aid. Their only fault is the fact that they don’t know anything better exists beyond their borders. So they always ask me why foreigners are disgruntled after paying five US dollars to look at a fourty foot waterfall or a pile of bricks.”

Pham goes on to say that for him there is only one man-made wonder in Vietnam worth the price of admission: the Cu Chi Tunnels.

The keen visitor can appreciate a lot from a visit to Cu Chi if done at the right time and in the right mood. When we first started surveying Vietnam for Smiling Albino adventures it was a case of crossing more things off the list than were on it due to some of the reasons above. But Cu Chi, despite its tourist trappings, really is an essential visit whether you are interested in the war or not. This isn’t a facility about war history, it is a story of innovation and human determination. It is a window into an underground miracle that helped save thousands of lives, and it is a brilliant example of what these resilient and tireless people are capable of.

When to go: mornings seem best as the busloads of gun-firing tourists tend to arrive from 10am onwards. Smiling Albino includes a thought-provoking trip through Cu Chi as part of our Vietnam Grand Slam adventure. Also check out various photos of our Vietnam Grand Slam adventure.

What to read:

*The Tunnels of Cu Chi, by Tom Mangold and John Penycate

*Lonely Planet has a very good 2-page synopsis to set the stage for your visit.

What to avoid: the shooting range, and the gift shop, and bus tours.

Admission cost: 65,000 Vietnamese Dong (approx $3US)