Cu Chi Viet Cong Tunnel Complex

Where I got to fire this...



No animals were hurt during the making of this photograph (as we were shooting at target boards down the range. My right arm did ache for a few days afterwards though from the recoil. And it's a Kalashnikov AK47 if anyone was wondering) There were other things to try out, including a M60 machine gun. Some Americans bought some ammo for that - the noise that made was incredible.

Cu Chi is another tunnel complex dating from the Vietnam war. It actually dates from just after the second world war, but it was mainly constructed in the 1960's. It's a 250Km network of very, very small tunnels which the Viet Cong used. They're mainly for military purposes, so there are sniper holes and bunkers throughout the complex, unlike the Vinh Moc complex both Rach and I went down in the DMZ. Rach didn't come to Cu Chi, as the tunnels are much, much smaller than Vinh Moc and she didn't fancy the idea of it.



I'm crouching here, and this is one of the larger segments of the tunnels. It's only 100 metres long, but some of it is so small, you have to crawl through on your hands and knees. The rest of it you're bent over, shuffling along. Most people didn't make it, they bailed out at the 30/70 metre escape points. But I managed all the way through (cue smug smile)

It's an amazing place, and certainly gives you new respect for the Viet Cong and the US Military 'Tunnel Rats' - the troops trained to go after them (think Forrest Gump) - how they lived and fought down there is mindblowing. I was sweating like I had never sweated before and I was only down there for 5 minutes max.

Some stats.

Number of shots with the AK 47 - 10
Number of shots with the AK 47 that hit the target - 9 ( I think - the 10th hit the dirt just below)
Number of days that my arm hurt afterwards - 2