Ky Anh Tunnels, Vietnam
- V.Gray
- Mar 9, 2023
- 6 min read
One of the biggest tourist "must do '' in Vietnam, is war tunnels. See how the Vietnamese soldiers fought and lived underground. Whether you are stopping in the north at the Vinh Moc Tunnels or carrying on down into Ho Chi Minh there are war tunnels everywhere. The ones you are allowed to see are huge tourist attractions and normally close to war memorials as well. During our first trip over in 2020, we did not get the opportunity to go see any tunnels. However this trip I was determined that I would see a set of tunnels prior to us leaving in March.
We passed the Vinh Moc tunnels on our trip to Phong Nha National Park in December, however, wanting to get to the National Park in good time, so we did not stop. We had no plans to go as far south as Ho Chi Minh City and Ryan has seen those tunnels on past trips. I started my research, down the online rabbit hole I went. I was determined to go and experience the Vietnam War tunnels. The more I read the more questions I had, the more reading I did and the more interested I became in how small villages survived this war.
I wanted to find a set of tunnels that were less popular, more off the beaten path and honestly a slight challenge to find. This is when I came across a blog called "beyond-danang" ( http://beyond-danang.weebly.com/ky-anh-tunnels.html ). This was exactly what I was looking for! Tunnels that are close to Da Nang and less touristy. Not developed into museum quality attraction but in their original condition.
One way was about an hour and half to Tam Thang in Quang Nam province. We found the first building and war memorial pretty easily. When we got there no one was there and there was no around the village to ask, so we hopped back on the scooter and took the 20 minute ride into Tam Ky City. We found a local coffee shop, had a snack and used wifi. We then figured out you could not call the number off the blog through WhatsApps. So we had to ask the girls working the counter if they could call for us, they spoke no English. Google translate! A few laughs and we figured out that the number listed online was wrong.
Ryan started looking at the TripAdvisor reviews of Ky Anh Tunnels. Turns out there is a second building a bit further up the road and around the bamboo fence corner with a phone number you are to call, when you arrive. So we went back to the tunnels, this time going past the first building and war memorial. Further up the road, around the corner to find the main Communal House set a bit further back. In front of the Communal House off to the side of a small stall, with a sign that has a phone number listed.
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When the man on the other end of the phone answered, he spoked enough English to say "No English '', said something quickly in Vietnamese and hung up. So we said we would wait 15 minutes and if no one showed up to unlock and show us around we would go home. Luckily the man showed up in 5 minutes and we started our tour.
We started in the gallery beside the gate showing us all the pictures and artefacts that had been found in and around the area. There are English labels on the artefacts and pictures which does help, but our tour started with a lot of pointing, smiles and "visit me". With 'visit me’, he ment “follow me”, we figured this out quickly as he would walk away as he said it.
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The local people started digging these tunnels during 1965 as part of their campaign against the Americans until the beginning of 1967. The description of the tunnels is "like a chess board" with a lot of corners and different lengths according to the hamlet. There are 32 km of tunnels, the tunnels are about 0.5 - 0.8 metres wide and 1.2 - 1.5 metre in height. The tunnels connect Thach Tam Communal House in Tam Thang to Tam Ky City, with multiple exit and entry points through the village.
After the gallery we moved outside to the bomb shelter, which the guide told us did get hit at one point. Our guide started crawling through the shelter, so we crunched down in a squat through the shelter we went.
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The shelter comes out into someone's back field, so you scoot between the concrete wall of the temple and the shelter wall to get back to the main area. We walked right past the Communal House to the other side of the yard. Where a sign pointed to the right and said "Commandihn Tunnel", our guide then turned left instead of right. Turns out the sign had the wrong direction listed. We followed our guide into the bamboo forest on a thin dirt trail. Coming to the entrance of the tunnel, which we could see had a lot of water inside.
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Knowing that the tallest tunnel was only 1.5 metres in height, when our guide said there was 1 metre of water, made a gesture to his mid thighs and pointed towards the tunnel. We knew this was not our entry point, he took us back through the bamboo forest and into the Communal House.
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Once inside the Communal House our guide pulled out his phone and started using GoogleTranslate. He told us here is where they honour the fallen soldiers, the Mothers of War and the Revolutionary Leaders. The guide went on to say that there are two entries into the tunnels from the Communal House, both located in the cellar. Once entry leads into the tunnel systems and the other starts in the Medical Area then goes down into the tunnel system.
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Into the Medical Area we went, we followed the guide's lead on how to enter. As you sit your bum on a thin ledge, going feet first into the tunnel. You place your feet on a narrow bamboo ladder, as you walk down into the Medical Area. We did not try to stand up right once inside; it's only 1.5 metres in height.
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As we both climbed into the Medical Area we turned around, our guide was moving the small bamboo ladder aside and pointed at what looked like a wall. We could just see a bit of light coming from the area and once our eyes adjusted we could see the entrance to the tunnel. We asked if we needed flash lights, he said "no" and went down the tunnel. Hunched over we crawled through the tunnels behind him.
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Somewhere down the tunnel there was a point with a bit higher roof for us to stand partly up right, giving our legs and backs a quick break. However we still could not fully stand up in this spot, we had our necks turned to the side to avoid hitting our heads. Then the guide bent down and was carrying on through the tunnel. He was just barely bending over to walk through the tunnels. It was really quite something to see.
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When we got to our exit point, we came up another narrow bamboo ladder into someone's backyard. There are entrances and exits throughout the village linking to the Communal House and into Tam Ky City. I honestly mean everywhere, backyards, cellars, under bails of hay and river banks. The villagers build these tunnels not only to fight against the Americans, but to get around the village and to Tam Ky City.
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I am sure during the war these entrances were better hidden from the Americans. Only because of the excavation for tourists, did they make some so obvious now. Our last stop was the scarred tree, which is said to be over 500 years old. He told us that the villagers used this tree to spy on the American's during the war. The American base was only 1 km away from the village. From the top they could see what the Americans were doing and which way they were moving through the fields.
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After the tree we walked back through the village to the Communal House. Walking through this beautiful, quiet village that backs onto stunning thick bamboo forests and lush green rice fields as far as the eye can see. It's hard to imagine what the village would have looked like during the war or the horror these people have seen.
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Before we said our "thank-you" and "good-byes", we paid our guide 50,000 Dong/each ($2.87 CAD/each) for our tour. Even though he did not speak English we made do with what we had and got an awesome tour of this little village and its memories of the war.
Cheers!
**Please note that all opinions and views expressed in this post are my own, from my own experiences. If you would like to see more pictures follow me on Instagram vikki.gray **
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