Log 18

Today, I went to the Cu Chi Tunnels. This was the tunnel system to Vietcong used during the war. We didn’t explore all 200 km. That would have made for a long and tiring day. Instead, we saw sections of the tunnels. It is true, however, that the tunnels are very small. They say they widened them for tourist to make their way through easier, but those tunnels were still tiny. We had to bend over 90 degrees at the hips just to walk. And even so, we had to bend our knees to get a little smaller. My friends had told me before I went, so I wasn’t surprised when I turned down one of the tunnels and saw a bat hanging there. I thought it was awesome and of course, since everyone was freaking out, I went down that tunnel first. Now, I had no problem going first, they just needed to see that the bat wasn’t going to attack them, but that meant that I was the one trying to figure out where to go. At the end of the tunnel we were in, you could turn either left or right. There were no barriers stopping you from going the wrong way. The only reason I knew to go left was because I noticed the little orange lights going in that direction. Now, anyone else could have noticed these lights right away, but you see, I was smart. Knowing we were going to be walking around the tunnels, I brought a flashlight. So since the path in front of me was lit, I didn’t notice the lights right away. Now, I have photos and videos of me in the tunnels, but to give you a sense of how small they were, if you wanted to go back the way you came, you had to either back pedal, or you had to find your way to the next intersection and make a T-turn.

So Vietnam is hot, and humid, in case anyone was curious. The low today was 35 Celsius, which to all the people who only know Fahrenheit, 38-39 Celsius is body temperature. The high today was about 40 Celsius, which is about 105 Fahrenheit. Needless to say I put on sunscreen today, and will continue to do so the rest of my time in Vietnam. By the way, the tunnels were no cooler. If anything the confined space made it feel worse.

Luckily, I didn’t really have any mosquito issues today. Since I was crawling around tunnels, I wore long sleeves and pants to avoid and scraps and scratches from the dirt and the tunnel walls. I will be investing in some insect repellent tomorrow though. Apparently, Vietnam has three different types of mosquitos. One in the city that carries Dengue fever, one in the country that carries Malaria. And one, of which I don’t remember the location, that carries Japanese Encephalitis. No worries, I will be protected from all of that.