During the Vietnam War, many strategies were deployed by the North Vietnamese troops to protect themselves against their enemies. One of the most impressive feats they have done during the war, however, is creating an entire system of underground tunnels that stretches across the land of Vietnam’s dense jungles, nearly reaching a hundred miles worth of distance. Today, the tunnels serve as a popular tourist attraction for those wanting to learn more about what being a soldier serving for North Vietnam was like. In fact, I was one of these tourists during summer break in July along with my family.

Arriving at the location of Phú Hiệp, Củ Chi, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, the place was very obviously one of a jungle. Lots of trees surrounded the area, however, the first area you walked into had been made to be more tourist-friendly, cleared of trees itself, and with paths and signs everywhere. The tunnels were actually further into the forest. Instead, one of the first few attractions in this area that you would see are a few of the old tanks, planes, and old weapons that had been used by the “Viet Cong,” or the North Vietnamese soldiers who supported the communist movement, during the war. What I found most interesting were the old weapons, especially the guns that were displayed in glass shelves. This is mainly because they had names engraved on them, and it made me fascinated to acknowledge that someone living once held that gun and made their mark on it. I was seeing actual history.

Once we walked in further, we got a sticker at a booth allowing us to start the tour of the tunnels. It must be mentioned that you will likely be going with other tourists. Walking in there were two separate outdoor display rooms that both contained a map showing how far the tunnels spread out across the land. There was also a 3D model showing the layers of the tunnels. They had two rooms because we were to sit there for a few minutes to watch a brief documentary about the history of the Vietnam War and the rat tunnels. One had an English translation and the other had a Vietnamese translation. The documentary was filmed in black and white, showing real footage from the war and even some people crawling into the rat tunnels. I must admit however that the documentary was a bit biased, painting the South Vietnamese and Americans as the “bad guys” of the war. In my opinion, sometimes history is a bit too complicated to put it that way. After the documentary ended, a tour guide appeared to explain the tunnels even further. He talked about how only those who were small could actually fit into the tunnels, and that there were 3 layers in the complex system. The first layer was for ordinary living, like cooking or meetings. The second level was for if the first level was not usable anymore. The deepest level, or the third level, was for occupation if bombs were being dropped on them.

After finishing up his words, we followed him deeper into the forest. We eventually all stopped at a staircase leading down to the ground. It was covered with a tall structure only meant to serve as some sort of roof for the staircase. This roof-like structure also had a sign hanging at its top showing how deep the tunnel goes and what this specific part of the tunnels were used for. Obviously, it was only like this to be more tourist-friendly. If they had a staircase and structure telling everyone to go in the tunnel through the surface that would ruin the whole point of hiding during the war, but I digress. The tour guide told all of us that it was our decision if we wanted to go into the tunnel. My cousin and I, as well as my parents, decided to all go in. Heading down the staircase was already scary alone. They were tall and barely had just enough room to put your foot on. Finally reaching the bottom, the tunnels were definitely preserved to be better for tourists. The walls were, for the most part, smoothed out. They also put small dimmed lights in there so we could actually see where we were going. Yet, despite these renovations, it was still very small. You physically could not get yourself anything taller than a squatting position. I could only imagine what the real deal was like. For anyone with claustrophobia, I do not recommend going into the tunnels itself. Personally, I was getting a little claustrophobic myself. As I crawled through the tunnels, following the line of other people who were also in there, I noticed there were parts of the tunnels that led to elsewhere. These tunnels were obviously blocked so people would not get lost for eternity in the tunnels, but it reminded me that this system reached nearly a hundred miles and had three layers. The one they let us go through was only a few feet and my legs were already getting sore!

The rest of the tour mostly consisted of this, having the opportunity to go down various parts of the tunnel only for a few feet. I did go into another one, in fact, but that was it. I was personally just too unfit for this kind of thing! The second one I went into actually had a small room within it. The entrances and exit into the room, however, are of course still the tunnel itself, so you could only stand in the room before needing to crawl out once again. Not to mention, many of the areas of this tour often had realistic mannequins to represent what each area was. For instance, a medical room would have mannequins dressed as what the doctors looked like back then in North Vietnam caring for a wounded soldier. They were quite creepy at a glance due to being life-sized. The rest of the tour mostly consisted of this, going into various parts of the tunnels. Some were deeper into the ground than others, as well as longer in distance from one end to another. 

At the end of the tour, the tour guide told us we were free to go on our own and explore the rest of the place. Although there were other activities to do, such as target shooting, my family and I decided to just head home because we only wanted to see the tunnels anyway. Upon going through the exit path, we went through a large souvenir store. There was also a final small exhibition area which showed the traps that the Viet Cong had used during the war. I was wondering, however, as I recalled other people’s trips at this same location, shown on YouTube, having a tour guide for this last exhibition. They would have a long stick and interact with the trap themselves, even being behind the fence that safely guarded tourists from the traps. I assume that they perhaps stopped having tour guides behind the fence for safety reasons.

Although it may have seemed like I had told everything there is to need to know about the Củ Chi Tunnels, there were in fact a lot of other details that I did not mention. As stated before, I did not go into all the parts of the tunnels either. The best way to experience what it truly is, is by going to the place itself whenever you may have the opportunity. But why should you, a high schooler, care about this? Well, there is a reason as to why history is one of the core subjects in school. Going to the Củ Chi Tunnels is like seeing history with your own eyes because it is. Compared to just reading words in a textbook, being able to physically be at a historical location is a much more fun and engaging way to learn. Furthermore, in context of the Củ Chi Tunnels specifically, it provides how history is shown in other countries outside of America. For instance, the informative documentary being shown in favor of the North Vietnamese during the war. It gives someone a larger picture of what the world really is. Personally, I find that very interesting and I’m sure you would too. So if you ever find yourself in Vietnam, try stopping by the Củ Chi Tunnels to learn more about what history really is like.