Crawling through Two Decades of War in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Everyone I know who’s been to Saigon has crawled through the Cu Chi Tunnels. It’s one of the most visited tourist attractions in Southern Vietnam.

The first time I heard about tourists crawling through these tunnels was almost twenty years ago when my sister and brother were traveling through Vietnam. The country had just opened its doors to foreign tourism so many attractions were still raw and undeveloped. I’ll never forget how she described what it was like going through these tunnels. As if crawling on your hands and knees through a suffocatingly tight space weren’t panic-inducing enough, she looked up and saw the ceiling absolutely smothered in cockroaches. Antennas waving just inches from her head, she nearly had a meltdown. ? The funny thing is, as mortified as she was, she had to keep her composure and get through that tunnel as quickly but as quietly as possible, so as not to disturb the roaches. Doing so would have sent them into a frenzy and all…