Book: The Tunnels of Cu Chi by Tom Mangold and John Penycate

When I talked to Candy Harrington about writing a post for A Traveler’s Library, she apologized because the book that came to mind was ” a little dorky.”  Hey, any book that inspires travel fits on the shelves of A Traveler’s Library.

Candy writes much-needed informational articles and books about accessible travel. The third edition of, Barrier Free Travels: A Nuts and Bolts Guide for Wheelers and Slow Walkers hit the shelves June 16, and if you are one of those who hesitate to travel because you need help getting around, or if you know someone who fits that description, check Candy’s immensely helpful guide.

Now let’s see what she learned about Vietnam from her dorky book.

Good Morning Vietnam

I grew up hating Vietnam.

Booby-trapped entrance to a Cu Chi tunnel, Vietnam

My first recollection of the country was on the nightly news — something called the casualty report. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but I knew from my mom’s reaction that it wasn’t very good. As I grew up and entered high school the war became more personal for me. My friends were drafted and went off to fight. Many never returned, and those that did come home were forever changed. I truly hated everything associated with this horrible event that took my friends from me — including the entire country of Vietnam.

Fast forward some 20 years when a friend gave me the book, The Tunnels of Cu Chi, by Tom Mangold and John Penycate. He thought I would like it, but I was unimpressed; so I just stuck it in my behemoth of a purse. Later that week, I pulled it out while I was waiting impatiently in a bleak surgical center.  And much to surprise I couldn’t put the book down. It simply captivated me.

Written by two tunnel rats, the book is a compilation of their adventures in the 200-miles of tunnels constructed and used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam war. It was the authors’ job to find the tunnels, enter them, disarm the booby traps and fight the Viet Cong, many times in total darkness. The book told of the danger of entering the tunnels, with grenades, bullets, punji stakes and spears poised to ward off interlopers. And it told of the underground communities; with whole families living there and even raising there children in these subterranean chambers.

Hidden entrance to the Cu Chi Tunnels, Vietnam

The more I read, the more I was compelled to visit Vietnam. And as luck would have it, the embargo against travel to Vietnam had been recently lifted.

Six months later I landed in Ho Chi Minh City. Through my travel writer colleagues I was able to find a friend of a friend of a friend who had a car and who would take me out to Cu Chi. We met for the first time at the rooftop bar of the Rex Hotel; and after sharing a few 333 beers we agreed to head off the following morning.

It was a journey I’ll never forget, down a rutted dirt road, lined with roadside vendors selling gas from plastic containers. We stopped at the fabulous Cao Dai Temple in Tay Ninh, before heading on to Cu Chi. Once there we walked through the jungle to a small clearing, where two kids offered to guide us through the tunnels. We crawled though, just as the tunnel rats did, passing the disabled punji sticks and squeezing through tiny passageways before emerging into cavernous rooms.

The Cao Dai Temple in Tay Ninh, Vietnam

I spent several hours there, and during that time in some small way I made peace with the country.

I no longer hated Vietnam.

It’s amazing what a good book can do.

———-

Candy Harrington is the editor of Emerging Horizons and the author of several best-selling guide books for disabled travelers, including her newest release, the third edition of Barrier Free Travel; A Nuts and Bolts Guide for Wheelers and Slow Walkers.

She also blogs regularly about accessible travel issues at Barrier Free Travels.

Do you have suggestions for off-beat books that have lured you to foreign destinations?  Please share. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Related reading at A Traveler’s Library: The Quiet American, Books on Vietnam, More books on Vietnam.

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