The premiere attraction of the Cu Chi Tunnel area is of course to go into the tunnels. After touring all the dioramas and displays, visitors are given the opportunity to crawl through a 100 meter long segment of the actual tunnels. Ironically, these particular tunnels have been widened to accommodate the larger frames of western tourists, which was one of the virtues of the original small tunnels.
No one is obligated to go through the tunnels and my wife declined. My son and I were game. The particular stretch of tunnel used for tourists has exit points at the 10 meter and 25 meter marks for those that do get too claustrophobic. We made the whole distance. The tunnel is too tall to walk upright in leaving the options of either crawling on hands and knees or duckwalking through.
I crawled carrying my camcorder, giving me about 10 minutes of footage that consists of flashes from the Army guide up ahead taking our picture and the sounds of us huff and puffing our way through. The tunnel was very hot and just as humid as the outdoors, causing a lot of perspiration that turns the dry ground of the tunnel into mud when mixed. All in all, not an unpleasant experience, but not one I’m eager to repeat.
There is a convenient hand-washing station at the end of the tunnel for washing off the dust and mud.
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