Escape from the De-Militarised Zone

I hadn't actually planned to do this when I first visualised this VietTour but Gary's comment about Apocalypse Now and the fact that the hotel offered a trip to the DMZ really forced our hand. Not sure I'd recommend it. First off, it's a bit of a hike: as far from Hue as Hue is from Da Nang. Second, after all the bombs, the napalm and the defoliant (not to mention half a century of time), there isn't really much to see. The history of the area really only exists in the minds of the still-living inhabitants rather than in the geography. We picked up a good guide in Dong Ha, a town that sits on the juncture of Highway 9 to Laos in the west and Highway 1 running north to the old DMZ. He was old enough to remember living in a village taken over by the Americans in '68 and seems to have spent his life collecting interesting US documents about the war and running tours. One we looked at was about the extreme chemical toxicity of dioxin in Agent Orange. Another was the famous Legacy of the Vietnam War interview of Norman Chomsky (follow the link if you are interested). Highway 9 offered us sights of the Rockpile, the mountain peak used by the US to direct artillery strikes, and the old Khe Sanh military base that was famously attacked by Charlie in a feint to divert the US from the Tet Offensive and famously defended (I think) by John Wayne in "The Green Berets". It was hard to believe, looking at the acres of forest around us, that the whole area we were driving through was barren until a mere 20 years ago, permanently blighted by the toxicity of Agent Orange until the Vietnam government instituted a successful reforestation project. After lunch we were taken further north through the DMZ to Vinh Moc on the coast to see a themed museum rivalling that of the Cu Chi tunnels outside Saigon. Whereas the latter tunnel systems were designed to aid fighting, the Vinh Moc tunnels were designed to protect 600-odd civilians during the truly hysterical carpet bombing that only ended in 1972. Huge craters are still preserved that sit alongside 10 - 20 foot deep tunnels. Amazingly, 17 children were born underground during those years. It is hard to credit the tenacity of these people: guns against more falling ordnance than all the bombs falling on all the countries of the whole of the Second World War!

The trip was 12 hours long, though, and like most coach tours, were not kind to long-legged western tourists. A long drive, bumcheeks hurt, back hurts, feeling old beyond measure. The seating was so cramped: it made British Airways cattle class feel luxurious. And the driving! Everyone on motorbike, car or bus operates on a "food chain" basis when overtaking, no matter what is coming in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, we saw first hand evidence on the way home. From the back of the coach I saw a scooter driver leap of his bike and run to the ditch in the road and, as we sped by, a car, its front engine steaming the wrong way round up against a crash barrier in the ditch. Later at the Vinh Moc tunnels our drivers had got together with the water sellers to tell the story. The driver was alive but with a severed foot. Difficult to say what the whole story was but our guide reckoned the car overtook us only moments before.

We fell off the coach at Hue at seven in the evening and drank too much at the DMZ Bar before going back to the Orchid. We got told off by the woman in charge for drinking (and since she sold us the tickets, she knew what time we should have been back!). The next day we missed breakfast. She knew that as well!.Dammit, she's been so nice, though! It was a bit of a wasted day, really: "lunch" at the DMZ Bar and then back to bed for a nap and . . . er . . . "dinner" at the DMZ Bar and another early night.

Today is our last in Hue so we felt obliged to do another culture tour. By boat up the Perfume River this time to take in a variety of  temples, pagodas and tombs of ancient (and not so ancient) emperors. Not so lucky with the weather this time. It's still 20 degrees C but was very misty in the morning and drizzled on and off all day. Slightly more interesting travelling companions this time: an Essex girl, a Thai-Australian, a Dutch guy, a Canadian, a Chinese girl and a smattering of Spanish, French and Italians. Always makes for interesting lunch times. We resisted the intense gravitational field of the DMZ Bar walking back (even though Linda got accosted by our two adopted bar girls, "Hello mama. You come in. We save your table!". How embarrassing!) as we have to pack again. Tomorrow, we get a train again to Da Nang and then negotiate a taxi to the Hoi An Beach Resort. The objective there is to give our feet a rest but we'll see, we'll see.