The story of Củ Chi tunnels

Beneath your feet runs part of a tunnel complex about 121 kilometres long. During the Vietnam War, Viet Cong fighters used these tunnels as hiding places, supply and communication routes, hospitals, stores and living quarters, and they served as the base for the Tết Offensive of 1968. Life underground was hard. Air, food and water were scarce, the passages were infested with ants, centipedes, snakes and scorpions, and malaria was the second largest cause of death after battle wounds.

Fighters usually spent the day below and came up only at night. American and allied forces tried to destroy the network: Operation Crimp in 1966 brought 8,000 troops to the area, and Operation Cedar Falls in 1967 brought 30,000. Specialist soldiers known as tunnel rats crawled in alone with a handgun, a knife and a flashlight.

Bombing caved in some sections, but most parts survived. Today two sites, Bến Đình and Bến Dược, form a memorial park, and you can crawl through the safer parts.