Singing Cold Chisel

After our day at Cuc Phuong National Park, we caught an overnight bus south to Dong Ha. It left around 9:15 pm and arrived around 6:30 am. It was a long night as we got little sleep sitting up (but the train was 3 times more expensive, so it was worth it). We got dropped off and checked into a nearby hotel. We then went to a tourist office and found out that we could see most of the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) sites we wanted to see in one day, then keep heading south to Hue later that evening. This saved us from staying a night in Dong Ha--we weren't in a hurry, but Dong Ha is not very exciting. So we went back to the hotel and amazingly the guy gave us our money back without any problems, which we were not expecting. We had a free breakfast with the rest of the group and headed out for a day of visiting war sites.

Our first stop was the Ben Hai River and the old bridge across. This was the natural boundary marker between South Vietnam and North Vietnam, in the middle of the DMZ. During the 'American War' no one lived in the DMZ; there were no fields or rice paddies or homes. Now it is mostly covered in rice paddies. On the north side of the bridge is an arch with "Long Live President Ho Chi Minh" or something like that carved into it. The south used to paint their half a different colour than the north, and the north would then match the colour on their half, as they wanted a united Vietnam.

Next we went to the Vinh Moc tunnels. These are 2.8 km of tunnels used by villagers and Viet Cong (Vietnamese Communist Party) during the war. It took the villagers 18 months of digging through the thick red clay to finish them. They started in 1966 when the U.S. began heavily bombing and firing at North Vietnam. The village shelters could not withstand such heavy artillery. The tunnels became a base for the Viet Cong in addition to an underground village. Whole families lived in tiny 'rooms' inside. The rooms are just small dugouts along the corridor, no more than 10 feet by 5 feet. They had a maternity ward where 17 babies were born, 2 air duct holes to the surface, and storage for food and weapons. It was amazing how big they are, and looked like a large ant colony. There are 3 levels ranging from 15 metres deep to 26 metres deep, with 7 entrances out onto a beach and 5 others. Later in the war, North Vietnamese soldiers joined the villagers and Viet Cong. They used the tunnels to secretly supply food and weapons to nearby Con Co Island. The villagers would come out at night dressed in black to farm and fish, but at one time there were 750 people living in the tunnels, for nearly 4 years. Although repeatedly bombed by the U.S. (there are bomb craters all over the surface still), no one was ever injured or killed. It was quite claustrophobic inside and very warm, moist air. The clay walls and floors were damp and slippery--yes, Kel bailed at one stage. It was amazing to think that people were forced to live inside for so long in such horrible conditions. We chose not to ask about the 'sewage system' they may have had in place.

We then went back to Dong Ha for lunch, then to The Rockpile. It is a 230m high mountain where the U.S. Marines had a lookout, and a base for long-range artillery was nearby. A few years ago, a pilot returned to the area and went around with our guide. The pilot gave our guide photos he had taken of the base and the Rockpile during the war. The Rockpile still looks the same, but the base was completely bare of all trees, plants and anything green at the time. Now it is all grown back in. There are many eucalyptus trees as the government recognized that they grow quickly, and they helped to re-forest the land. It is a bit odd seeing them though, as it would be one of the last trees I would associate with Vietnam.

From there we stopped at a minority village in the mountains. By 'village' I mean about 10 huts on stilts, with wood floors and thatched roofs. It looked very African or Paupa New Guinean. The kids were cute but they were dirty and had runny noses. They came begging to us, which was sad. I gave 2 of them a piece of candy (it was all I had or I would have given more), and they loved it. It was sad to see such utterly poor people with a bunch of tourists walking through their living space taking photographs.

We then went to Khe Sanh Combat Base. Khe Sanh was the largest battle during the entire war. 500 U.S., 10,000 North Vietnamese and countless villagers died during the battle. Khe Sanh was originally a base for the U.S. Green Berets, where they recruited and trained local tribespeople to fight. In late 1967, U.S. intelligence thought they detected the movement of tens of thousands of North Vietnamese troops into the hills around Khe Sanh, gearing up to seize the base. The base was then loaded up with more troops, planes and helicopters. On January 21, 1968, the 75-day battle for Khe Sanh began. Despite being repeatedly attacked by North Vietnamese ground troops, the expected siege attempt never came. After the war it was clear that Khe Sanh was just a diversion intended to draw the focus of the U.S. away from Southern Vietnam in preparation for the Tet Offensive, the turning point in the war for the Communists. Now at Khe Sanh there are old army tanks, rocket launchers and 2 U.S. helicopters. There is a small museum with photos and U.S. military things including weapons, fatigues, and personal items. We sort of felt it was all slanted toward the Communists, but it was all still sad nonetheless. We could NOT get the Cold Chisel song out of our heads, and in fact it's still driving us crazy.

We headed back to Dong Ha for our bags and had a 3 hour bus ride south to Hue. When we arrived, we checked into a hotel and went for some dinner. We ended up at a place called the Stop N' Go Café. It's a small place practically outdoors, run by an older Vietnamese hippie. There are tons of photos of him and his tours, as well as old Vietnam War photos. He plays music like The Eagles. We had a Hue specialty for dinner: kebabs of grilled pork rolled up in thin rice paper with lettuce, cucumber and Vietnamese mint, dipped in a peanut sauce-delicious! We then got some of our photos put onto CD and headed to bed.