Cu Chi Tunnels

 One of the mandatory tours, so I was told, when in Vietnam is the Cu Chi Tunnels.

So we packed up, took a 2 hours boat ride up the Saigon river to Cu Chi. This was a very interesting tour. Our guide claimed to be the tour guide for whatshisname from Lonely Planet. He grew up in a town very near by and most every person he knows and is close to had intense ties with this area. Anyway, he knew his stuff and was pretty passionate along the way.

Part of the tour was interesting showing all the different types of brutal handmade traps for catching soldiers. F-ing brutal.
And I can let the pictures show you the rest. 
 
 Picture #1 - This is an actual entrance to the tunnels. If you have ever seen a picture of the tunnels before I am sure it was
 very similar to this. I did the same thing, I got down in the

 tunnel. But the picture of this professional tunnel get-in-er was much better.

Picture #2 - Then one part of the tour is you can get down in a tourist type of tunnel. It is a real part of the tunnel, but made wider so tourist can get in AND out the other side. I got down in there and towards the end everone else seemed to have taken one of the earlier exits. The last 50 meters or so had no lights and felt much more like the real size. I was on all fours and my backpark, though small, was stopping me from getting through parts. I held my bag and squeezed through.
I will never do that again. period.

Picture #3 -  Part of the fun at the tunnels is shooting machine guns. It is expensive, but seeing Sora blast away was the best part of this tour.