I don't have any dollars, I'm NOT an American!

  DMZ, Vietnam
Thursday, February 28, 2008

Well the day didn't start too well when Cait started getting up at 5am. Me: What the F*** are you doing it's only 5. Cait: We leave at 6. Me: aaaaaagh. Outside it was lashing rain as in Monsoon type rain. Bus arrive 45 mins late but I decided we can sleep on the bus. Not so. The bus had the loudest horn in Vietnam and the driver was showing it off at every opportunity (in Vietnam this means every five minutes). Oh the bus. It was about 30 years old, filthy with rain pouring in the windows and aircon. The DMZ tour is about 360 km round trip. When we got to DMZ the guide Tso told us the bus would go very slow so we could look out the window and take pictures. Em the bus could only go about 20 miles an hour anyway.

Cait at the monument at the "miraculous eyes"

Re the hair situation - decided to let it do its own thing. That didn't work out too well...just look at the photos.

Dee annihilated the enemy with her scary hair

The DMZ is the area where most of the fighting in the War took place. It is where the Americans had the McNamara line and planted loads of mines. Tso (the guide) is from the area and his family moved south in the war. When they came back everything was gone. It used to be full of forests and tigers and villages. The Americans used the main town Dong Hoi as a base. It was flattened to the ground. Tso said the landscape was like the surface of the moon. YOu can still see big craters everywhere from the B52 bombs. They are still trying to clear the mines from the area. It is a very sad tour because there is not a lot to see except for monuments and graveyards.

Bridge between N and S Vietnam

We went to Vinh Moc tunnels where people lived under the ground during the war.

Vietnamese Family living in tunnels

Not as bad as I thought it would be but you couldn't imagine living in there, it is so cramped and I'd say it would be hot if it wasn't the middle of the coldest weather in living history. Torch came in handy again, and I managed to not freak out even though it is very enclosed (and a bit smelly).

Squeeze up a bit there

The people behind us when we were walking through the tunnels were getting a bit annoyed though because we kept stopping to take photos.........

After Vinh Moc we went back to Dong Hoi for lunch and by this time we were all freezing and soaking, and covered in muck. WE hadn't brought hats and scarves and gloves because,in Caitriona's words " it is South East Asia for God's sake". Who's sorry now. The restaurant they brought us to was FILTHY and they didn't have most things on the menu and Cait asked for chips and the woman told her they take too long to make. So I got spring rolls, can't go too wrong there - my god I swear it was fried dog. She said it was meat. wouldn't elaborate. Now you wouldn't mind if it was included on the tour but we were paying for this ourselves and they wouldn't let us wander off somewhere else! Then she charged us some mad price that had nothing to do with the menu and then we saw her dirty hands....needless to say I was verging on vomiting only the toilet was too disgusting to even vomit in (Muiris will be glad to know I didn't even make the noise).

Off we went up the mountains towards Laos at twenty miles and hour to Khe Sahn Combat base which was an American base. Amazing scenery, up the side of a mountain but I have to say I have totally given up about being concerned about the driving at this stage because everyone just drives all over the place and I would actually be a nervous wreck if I took any notice. Anyway the main concern was that the bus wouldn't make it I swear he went up the mountain in first gear - the noise out of the engine. Bicycles were passing us out. We were afraid we were going to have to get out and push - and it was FREEZING!

Me and my new car

We saw Muong people who live in stilt houses with thatched roofs, they are soo unbelievably poor. The little children were following us around asking for money when we got off the bus to look at a bridge at the start of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Luckily Cait didn't di her line from yesterday at the tombs - "I don't have any money, I'm NOT an American!" but I don't think these kids had any English except for "money money" anyway.

Khe Sahn was interesting they have some American stuff left over from the war and photographs - everyone in them was so young, it was very sad, I had the weepy eyes (for pretty much the whole day). The photographs have great captions like "the heroes swear before battle preparing to annihilate the enemy".

Caroline prepares to annihilate the enemy

Anyway on the way home the bus was rattling and shaking and screws were falling out of the air conditioning and general bits of the bus falling off all over the place but we eventually got back about 13 hours after we left.

Cait sets out on the Ho Chi Minh trail

So I stayed outside and had a smoke and the girls went in to the hotel. When I went in Cait was waiting for the lift, so I stood for a minute waiting with her and then I noticed there was an X instead of a floor number on the display....SO it turned out the girls were stuck in the lift, well I got into the fits of giggles and then all the hotel staff got the giggles so by the time they sorted out the lift, and it came back to reception we were all doubled over laughing! The girls had been scared so they were not expecting to see all these people in hysterics (oops).......

I was glad to see my bed that night.