Saturday was dedicated to seeing sites and learning some of the places from the war. We started with a bang (literally) when our bus made a horrible sound and then stopped all forward motion. Lucky for us the engine was accessible from the inside of the bus and was immediately opened so the bus could fill with black noxious smoke. After that we were evacuated to a roadside restaurant. Our tourguide disappeared never to be seen again, while our bus driver opened more parts of the bus than I thought possible. Two hours later we were underway again with a new minimally air-conditioned bus and sans tour guide. We randomly picked up another tourguide off the of the side of the road 30 minutes later.
Our first stop was the demilitarized zone that was initially created in the 50s when vietnam was divided into north and south. In the beginning it lived up to it's name but this would change years later. They now estimate 10,000 injuries mostly to children in this area from live mines that are accidentally discovered by walking around.
Our second stop of the day was the Vinh Moc tunnels. I was extremely excited about the opportunity to see these tunnels because supposedly they havent been changed for tourism. During the war over 100 sets of tunnels were created to shelter families and aid the Viet Cong and the northern army. The vinh moc tunnels are on 3 levels the deepest level being 23 meters deep. 90 families up to 300 people lived here (17 babies were born in the maternity area). it took them 20 months of digging to create them. They are about 5'7-5'5 tall (except in the meeting hall where they were just over 6 feet). They have an outlet to the beach where this particular town supplied a northern vietnamese base on an island just offshore. After the tunnels we went to a soldier graveyard with a us tank in close proximity, the rockpile, the ho chi Minh trail, and finally what is left of the ke Shan base (which is less than 10 miles from the Laos border). At the base there were men that were peddling dog tags etc found with metal detectors. The base is gone with the exception of the airstrip. There is now a museum with pictures of American soldiers "praying for help" "running in fear" "asking Lyndon Johnson what he was thinking" etc.
The last part of the tour was a journey through the mountains and the indigenous people. The stark poverty was one of the most impressive things I have seen yet.
When we got back to Hue I was invited to Hao's aunt's house for a home cooked meal. One other thing I have learned in vietnam is the vietnamese
are not afraid of a TON of food. There was cuttlefish, grilled fish, clams, pork, chicken, salad, jackfruit soup, vegetables, fresh rolls, a variety of fruit. I even tried the homemade rice wine. To say it was "strong" would be a mistake. To look for a lighter so you could breath fire immediately, but then having all fire starting tools taken away from you because somehow after one sip you were completely inebriated would be much more appropriate.
Finally the day was finished off with a nighttime motorbike tour of the city courtesy of Hao's cousins.
The pics: the tunnels, the graveyard, ke shan base, near the Ho Chi Minh trail.
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