The art work is simply beautiful. There are two bowls of egg shells near her. The egg shells are cracked into hundreds of tiny pieces and carefully laid piece by piece onto the slate. They can be died any color.
Every step in the making of all the art, pottery, etc is done right there in the factory. There's a huge showroom at the end where it's sold.
Happy with my fresh mango juice and new art! As I walked back through they were so gracious and had big smiles.
Back on the bus to the tunnels! The adventures through the tunnels and leaning about them was pretty remarkable.They were built entirely by hand, stretched 155 miles long and some parts were up to 7 miles underground! They took 20 years to complete. The tunnels are deep, narrow and intricate. I've discovered that the Vietnamese might be some of the most resourceful people in the world. I'll explain as best I can through the pictures.
We started by watching a video on the history of the Vietnam War. But here, it's known as the American War. To say it was a bit unsettling is an understatement.
There were many of these hidden entrances so the Vietnamese could get into the tunnels quickly. They had to memorize their location.
You can see how small the entrance is...
They would then slide themselves in and replace the hidden entrance.
Another entrance. This one is clearly bigger. During the war the roof didn't exist and the entrance was hidden.
It was SMALL and HOT in those tunnels. I made it 80 meters and had to go up for air. Adam went another 50 and the space got tighter and harder to get through. You had to go on your hands and knees. Hard to imagine this is where people spent entire days/months/years!
The American army would recruit "tunnel rats" from Mexico & the Philippines because the native people are small bodied. These "rats" could get inside the tunnels, whereas American soldiers could not because they were too big.
Adam coming up after his 50 meter squeeze. He was dripping sweat.
Here is a trap made by the Vietnamese. When that swinging door is flat, it looks like part of the ground. However, when you step on it, you fall in and on top of the long spikes inside it.
A bomb crater. As they built the tunnels, most of the dirt they shoveled out would be used to fill the craters. The rest would be thrown in the Saigon River.
An American tank that was destroyed by the Vietnamese.
The tunnels had many bunkers where people could gather. Again, the roof didn't exist back then as it was all underground. They had smokeless kitchens. There was a system of piping with various chambers. By the time the smoke finally came out, most has dissipated and what did come out would be a ways a way from the actual kitchen. They would only cook in the morning so the smoke looked like jungle mist.
They mostly cooked Tapioca. We tried some - tasted a lot like a sweet potato.
The Vietnamese sandal. Made from tires, these could withstand spikes and large nails. These were actually worn backwards to throw off American soldiers. They would follow footprints, so when turned around, the direction of the footprints went in the opposing direction.
A huge learning experience for both of us for sure. So glad we took the time for this tour!
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