Vietnam: CuChi Tunnels and War Museum

The Vietnam War was such an important part of American history. It was the first time the country was truly divided since the Civil War. War images were being shown to the public for the first time, allowing citizens to see the real destruction and devastation caused in Vietnam.

            In the past, reporters would speak from press releases and find inspirational stories for the public. But this time, reporters and photographers were on the front line, sending back graphic images and personal experiences that hadn’t been shown before. The war scarred the public’s view of the government and for the first time made citizens really question the government’s decisions.   

The war was fought between North Vietnam (backed by China and other Communist nations) and South Vietnam (backed by the US and other Anti-Communist nations). The US government viewed America’s involvement as a way to prevent communist take over in South Vietnam, and also to stop to stop the bigger issue of communism spreading in general. North Vietnam viewed the war as a colonial war against France at first, then the US once we backed France. The South Vietnamese were fighting for their freedom while the North Vietnamese viewed the South Vietnamese only as a US “puppet state”.

            It was a time my parents lived through- a couple of my uncles were stationed right near where I visited. My parents lost a lot of their friends to the war, many of my aunts and uncles spent their time protesting, and my father was drafted but got in a bad car accident right before he was set to go off.

            I knew the day I set aside to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels and the War Museum would be difficult. 

            Before the tour started I went to one of the many tourist information shops that line the streets in the Backpacker’s District. I got talking with the owner who later told me that he fought in the war, on the American side. He warned me that most of what they would tell me on the tour and at the museum would be “complete bullshit”. Since the North won the war the can tell the story the way they want to tell it and he knew for a fact that most of what they say is simply not how it actually happened. He said I should still go on the tour, but if I wanted to know what really happened I should go back there and he’d tell me the truth. (I didn’t end up having enough time to go back and talk to him, but I really wish I had been able to hear more of his war stories).

            On the way to the tunnels we stopped at a rest stop/gallery with beautiful pieces of art made by those affected by Agent Orange.

It was really interesting to watch the process of it all being made from crushed eggshells.

     

            The Cu Chi Tunnels are a huge network of tunnels where the Viet Cong soldiers would hide during combat. The tour guide told us that despite rumors, the tunnels were only in this one district of Vietnam, although my new friend that fought on the US side earlier warned me that he knew for a fact they stretched all over the country.

            When we first got there we sat in one of the rooms of the tunnel and watched a short film that was basically just anti-American propaganda. I expected the anti-Americanism, most of it deserved, but it was a little extreme and went on a little longer than necessary. After the first few minutes I felt a little uncomfortable, especially since I was the only American in my group.

To give you an idea of what they were saying, one part showed a man with a huge machete and the voiceover said, “The tools the Viet Cong used to use for hunting animals were now used to hunt Americans”.

Once we moved past the film the tour guide showed us how the tunnels were dug, using the small basket in the picture above. Crazy!

The size of the original tunnels

It's hard to tell where it is with the lid on!

We walked through the woods, stopping at the different spots where they showed the different booby traps that were set up throughout the woods. It was kind of interesting to see, but also really weird to see how well hidden the traps were. It loses its appeal when you’re aware that so many people were killed that way.

We stopped at different entrances of the tunnels, and saw how the soldiers entered. It’s unbelievable how the soldiers stayed under there for so long.

Then we got to the part where we were able to go into the tunnels. There is a small area that is open to the public, where the tunnels have been widened to fit western tourists.

The last stop was the kitchen area where we got to try some boiled tapioca. 

The War Remnants Museum was, once again, very much Anti-American, as expected. In fact, in Vietnam they refer to the war as The War Of American Aggression.

 The first room had this large board stating the preamble of the Declaration of Independence followed by pictures of soldiers torturing Vietnamese people.

It was all very graphic (they definitely don’t sugarcoat anything). There were pictures of human heads on poles and body parts hanging from the back of trucks. I had a hard time going through the museum, and had to walk out of a few of the rooms.

            Everything in the museum was completely blamed on the Americans. To some extent, this is understandable; there is no denying that we did a lot of damage over there. It was a little extreme though, and very interesting to see how history is told differently from the other side. There were even pictures of Chinese soldiers torturing women and children with a caption reading “Chinese soldiers, under direct order from the Americans…” We were fighting against the Chinese so they clearly weren’t following any of our orders.

Ironically not historical truths

            Despite all of the anti-American propaganda of the day, the Vietnamese seem to have adopted the  “forgive and forget” mentality. Locals that I met were always friendly and excited to talk to an American. I never even felt like I had to pretend I was Canadian, like I had to in Holland back in the Bush days (but that’s another story for another time).  Maybe I would have had a different experience if I traveled around the North, but I doubt it.

<3

            This post was a little heavy, so here, go look at some of the food I had in Vietnam!