Around the world in 78 days: Tunnels of forgiveness

"We are Buddhists, we have to forgive and we move on". This was the response from Nguyen, our tour guide at the Cu Chi Tunnels about 60kms west of Ho Chi Minh when we asked him what the Vietnamese thought of the Americans and others involved in the war. Nguyen is unusual in having as his first name, the most common surname in Vietnam. Nguyen is more Smith than Smith here if you know what I mean. Apparently his name is pronounced slightly differently to the surname and it is all in the accent above one of the letters. Nguyen's father had in fact escaped conscription into the South Vietnamese army by his grandmother falsifying his birth certificate.

We were whizzed up by speedboat to Cu Chi on the Saigon River from downtown HCM in about 90 minutes. The riverbanks are full of life and the river itself full of weed and jungle detritus that clogged the propeller on occasion, requiring the skipper to put the boat into reverse to clear it.

McGrath descending into the tunnels

The tunnels are extraordinary not least of all because the ones the foreigners are now taken to have been widened to accommodate the expanded western backsides. Still, when inside, they are a claustrophobic's worst nightmare. They are dark and incredibly hot and pretty airless. You get hunched down and waddle for about 25 metres, approximately 3 metres below the surface of the ground, before coming up. The Viet Cong had to spend literally days down there at a time and the Cu Chi area is the most bombed area in the world.

The VC had some fairly barbaric but basic retaliatory pieces of equipment that maimed and killed a lot of GIs.

I could only fit in by raising my arms above my head

War is horrible and what soldiers on both sides endured around this area was near the horrid end of the scale.

The War Remnants Museum back here in HCM is heart breaking. It is 3 storeys full of some of the most gruesome photos of the most photographed war in history. Most poignant are those of the children born suffering the mutilating effects of Agent Orange. Grossly deformed limbs, huge tumours, severe cognitive difficulties suffered by tens of thousands. The exhibits are crowded yet quiet....westerners both those old enough to remember or have even participated in the war and the young, look shocked.

Tess about to enter a tunnel

In a tunnel

GI trap

The kind natured spirit of the locals is impressive. We in the west perhaps should learn to atone.

We are shortly to leave HCM by sleeper train bound for Da Nang and the town of Hoi An. I am sure if the opportunity arises we will visit HCM again.