We took a trip out of Saigon to the Cu Chi Tunnels - a system of around 250km of underground tunnels that were constructed during the Vietnam War for locals and Viet Cong soldiers to hide in when the Americans were bombing the area.

Our tour began with an explanatory video; clearly the Vietnam War (or American War as it is known here) is a serious and sensitive issue but it was impossible not to laugh at the propaganda - it described the US soldiers as 'crazed devils' among other things and it celebrated several Viet Cong patriots that had been awarded the medal of 'Hero for Killing Americans'.

We saw some of the terrifying make-shift traps that were used against the Americans. We were able to climb in and walk through a small section of the tunnels - it was so claustrophobic, it's hard to believe that people lived in there for weeks at a time. We saw how they disguised air-holes leading to the tunnels and an example of the kitchen section of the tunnels - they channelled the smoke a couple of hundred metres away to avoid detection.

At the end of the tour was a shooting range where I could choose from a range of guns of the type used during the war. I fired ten shots from an AK47 - I didn't manage to hit anywhere near the targets and nearly deafened myself in the process!