Spanish tourist's video about Cu Chi Tunnels goes viral on TikTok

Joe Hattab's video has reached nearly 40 million views and has 1.5 million likes, becoming one of the most popular travel videos on the social media platform so far this year.

Hattab said he is an independent traveling filmmaker. After quitting his job as an accountant in Saudi Arabia in 2016, he decided to travel around the world to make short travel videos.

He visited Vietnam in early January and the 250-kilometer-long complex of tunnels in HCMC's outlying district Cu Chi became one of his stops.

"It was great to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels," he wrote on his TikTok account, which has 262,000 followers.

Hattab, several Western tourists have also shared million-view videos on TikTok about how to get through the entrances to Cu Chi tunnels that are covered with a secret wooden door and camouflage leaves above.

"Exploring the narrow passageways and learning all the gruesome details of the story behind these tunnels was something I'll never forget," a tourist named Asley wrote on his TikTok account.

"It was a crazy but quite short experience," Danish tourist Anne Lisa wrote. "We actually bought more tickets to try the tunnels one more time."

Lying around 70 kilometers to the southwest of HCMC center, the Cu Chi Tunnels were used by Vietnamese soldiers as hiding spots and communications and supply routes during the war against the U.S. They were built in the late 1940s during the French occupation of Vietnam and underwent intense U.S. bombardment in the 1960s.

Today, the tunnels are preserved as a war memorial, attracting tourists from all over the world, curious to see what underground life was like at the time.

Half-day explorations of the Cu Chi Tunnels can be booked on international travel platforms, making it easy for foreign tourists to arrange tours.

A visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels accompanied by an English-speaking guide costs from $20, including entry tickets and transportation.

The highlight of the tour is that visitors can navigate through the maze of tunnels to learn how Vietnamese soldiers survived during the war and explore special constructed living areas with kitchens, bedrooms, storage, weapons factories, and field hospitals.

 

 

Spanish tourist's video about Cu Chi Tunnels goes viral on TikTok

Going underground: A glimpse at life during the Vietnam War with a tour around Cu Chi Tunnels