🇻🇳 Ho Chi Minh City Solo Trip Day 4: Cu Chi Tunnels

Sorry for the boring post on Day 3. On Day 4, I went to the Cu Chi Tunnels, a site from the Vietnam War.
To briefly recap the Vietnam War, it was a war between the communist North Vietnam and the capitalist South Vietnam. Structurally, it was the same as the Korean War, with the Soviet Union and China behind the communists, and the United States behind the capitalists. One thing that must be mentioned regarding the Vietnam War is the development of media. Have you ever seen the photo of a young man sticking a flower into a gun barrel? The reason that happened stems from the development of mass media.
During WWII, not only was mass media not developed, but it was an era of information control where basically everything you saw and heard was propaganda. However, the Vietnam War had no clear enemy, and since the possibility of danger reaching the U.S. mainland was low, more media outlets began reporting without following government intentions. Coupled with the spread of television, the tragic reality of the Vietnam War was broadcast into living rooms, which spread the anti-war movement and led to photos like that being taken. As a result, the U.S. withdrew from the Vietnam War (whether you call this a defeat or not is another matter), and Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, which had lost its backing, fell, ending the war. The city was then renamed after the father of North Vietnam and the nation of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, whom I met on the first day. However, Ho Chi Minh had died of a heart attack during the war and never saw the end of the Vietnam War or the unification of Vietnam. There is a Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in the northern capital of Hanoi, so if you have the chance, please visit it.

The name Viet Cong will come up later as an anti-government organization; they were essentially communist guerrillas supported by North Vietnam who operated in South Vietnam. It helps to remember this to understand the jokes.

The Cu Chi Tunnels are 55km away from the center of Ho Chi Minh City, taking two and a half hours by car. There seem to be public buses, but since there was no way I could get there without making a mistake, I used a tour. I think it was about 4,000 yen on Klook. At first, I applied for a Japanese-language tour on the third day, but because there weren't enough people, I was shoved into an English-language tour a day later. There were about 20 people: 15 were East Asian, 3 were Australian, 1 was Indian, and 1 was American. Since almost everyone was a non-native English speaker, everyone was talking like crazy during the bus ride. Plus, a Korean family was incredibly noisy. It was an impossible situation where the Chinese people were the quiet ones. Well, it was 7:00 AM or so, so I fell asleep immediately. We were dropped off at some kind of ethnic craft souvenir shop along the way, and after a hellish time being forced to look at souvenirs, we arrived around 10:30 AM and went inside. At the beginning, they explained where the Viet Cong-controlled areas were, and we looked at traps and such. The Vietnamese guide's intonation of 'in this area' really hit my funny bone and was hilarious, but it wasn't an atmosphere where I could laugh, so it was tough.
Along the way, we were allowed to enter a hole where Viet Cong soldiers used to hide, and a hilarious event occurred where an incredibly huge American woman got her stomach stuck and couldn't get out. Watching two huge Indian men pull her without success, only to see a skinny white woman next to her get in and be pulled out by her boyfriend holding her from the sides, made me think that the world is unfair. Well, after about 10 minutes, she got out and we moved on.
Here, we overlapped with the all-white group that was next to us earlier, so I eavesdropped on both. The old guide next to me suddenly started saying, 'I joined at 9 years old, joined the Viet Cong, and all my friends were killed by Americans,' and I was like, 'Oh boy.' Then, during a photo shoot, he said, 'U R good Viet Cong~,' which was hilarious. The white people looked very gloomy, but the guide was smiling broadly. Next to that, our group took photos with tanks and mannequins recreating the clothes of the time, and then it was time for the long-awaited firing. It was 60,000 dong (350 yen) per round, with a 10-round minimum, so at least 3,500 yen. For some reason, I lost my mind and paid 1.2 million dong (7,000 yen) for 10 rounds each of an AK47 and a Carbine. My impression after firing was that the trigger was surprisingly light, and the recoil and sound were amazing. The recoil felt like being shoved just by bending and extending my elbows. The sound was louder than anything I'd ever heard before. Everyone on the tour was shooting, but I was probably the only one who shot two types. Expensive. The shooting range was the turning point, and we headed back while looking at tunnels and guard towers. These tunnels were tough. Even though we only walked about 20 meters, everyone was walking while hunched over and filming, so it was super congested. I feel like I was inside for about 10 minutes one way or another. The cassava I ate at the end tasted like a bland sweet potato. It's actually quite good if you dip it in the sugar provided on the side. And while eating, we talked a bit, and once I sort of figured out everyone's nationality, we got on the bus and went home. On the way back, I was handed some random croissant, ate it, slept again, and when I woke up, we had arrived in the city center.
Although it was in English, I think 4,000 yen for a guide, entrance ticket, and round-trip bus was cheap, but if you've ever fired a gun before, you might not need to go. I think you'll gain a deeper understanding by thoroughly visiting the War Remnants Museum that I went to on the first day.
On the way back, I ate some incredibly delicious pho at a random shop I entered and took out a banh mi to go. I would find out after leaving the country that this banh mi shop is quite famous... I just bought it because it happened to be next to my hostel.

I'll post the URL for the pho. It was truly delicious. Highly recommended. The banh mi just felt like a regular banh mi, so I won't post it. It's the same wherever you eat it.