The Hue We Were...
Trip Start
Oct 12, 2005
1
17
48
Trip End
Mar 31, 2006
Hue,
Vietnam
Monday, November 14, 2005
We were joined in our tiny berth by two Vietnamese men who spoke no English which was fine by us as we both wanted to settle in with our books and sleep. One of the men was 60+ and having trouble managing on the top bunk so Kristy swapped with him and thus we both both had top bunks
01 Kristy on Train
. The top bunk feels less constraining, but is colder as it is closer to the AC. The train left the station at 7:00 pm and then the music began. Vietnamese lullabies you might expect? But no, a collection of golden oldies, mostly American. Maybe it was just a treat for the insomniacs. The sleeping wasn't great, but somehow repeatedly waking up on a train is better than repeatedly waking up in a hotel room. When we awoke for real the next morning we were nearing Hue and our complimentary breakfast of instant noodles was delivered by the smiling food lady. Unfortunately we would have had to use the train's tap water to heat the noodles so we had to decline. We both held out for a real breakfast in Hue. We really felt like backpackers upon arriving in Hue as we stupidly decided to walk from the train station to the guest house recommended by Giuseppe (a fellow traveler and our recent Italian houseguest). Kristy thought she remembered that it was only a five minute walk from the station. Well, five minutes turned into twenty minutes and two kilometers in the blazing sun! The only other traveler crazy enough to do this was a man from Denmark, Soren, who we met on the walk. He joined us and checked into the Canh Tien guesthouse as well. Great guesthouse at a great price ($7 a night!) but next time I think I'll take a cab.
DMZ
The main reason we traveled to Hue was to take a tour of the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone)that divided North and South Vietnam
02 Cemetary
. Before we left, Matt's Dad had marked on our map the various places he had been during his time with the Marines in Vietnam, and we were very interested to see what these places looked like. So, instead of joining one of the huge tour groups that travel from Hue daily, we joined with our Danish friend, Soren, and a wonderful British couple (Ruth and Doug) we met on the overnight train, and hired a private van and tour guide. This enabled us to spend the time in places we wanted to see, and not to be rushed around according to some schedule. And it was not all that expensive, only ending up being about 22 dollars each. This turned out to be a really wise decision because our guide provided excellent information, much of it first hand. This is especially useful here because there are few signs to point out the sites. Our guide was just seven years old when the war (the American part of it) began. He and his family lived in the southern half of the DMZ and were resettled to a South Vietnamese safe zone in 1967. His father was killed in a bombing during the war.Our tour started in the town of Dong Ha, a former U.S. Marine base just south of Macnamara's "Magic Eye" lookout and his defensive fence erected near the DMZ to stem the flow of supplies to the southern Vietcong. We crossed over a bridge that served as a North / South border crossing and visited a tunnel system called the Vinh Moc tunnels
03 Matt at Tunnel Entrance
. Local people from Vinh Moc (a fishing village) went underground during U.S. bombings and created an elaborate underground shelter with three different levels, which at the deepest went about 26 meters underground; many rooms for families to take shelter; a hospital and meeting rooms. 17 babies were born in the Vinh Moc tunnels. We walked through a section of the tunnels which were carved from a red, clay dirt. It was fascinating although claustrophobic and muddy at the same time. Our guide was very clear to point out that, although their were Vietcong soldiers in the tunnels, these were primarily living tunnels not fighting tunnels like the Cu Chi tunnels near Saigon.After the tunnels we drove along route 9 through an absolutely gorgeous mountain area to the west of Dong Ha that had held a string of US Marine bases, which supposed to prevent supplies being delivered south to the Vietcong. As we drove along the guide pointed out the various spots, including Camp Carroll and the Rockpile. Our guide had previously guided tours of Vietnam Veterans back to these sites, and the Vets had given him photographs taken when they were in the war, which he showed to us. These pictures were really helpful as most of the sites had been picked clean of all the war wreckage and had grown over with vegetation.
Our last stop on the tour was the site of the Khe San Marine base, which was were some of the heaviest fighting of the war took place. Most of the site is now covered with a coffee plantation, but there is a small museum with a few American helicopters and an exhibit space. The US Marine withdrawal from Khe San base was very graphically depicted at the museum, with exhibits of uniforms, equipment, and dogs tags from soldiers (both from the US and from South Vietnam) killed or captured
04 Doug in the Tunnel
. This was probably the most disturbing part of the tour as the narrative was very slanted against the U.S. This was in contrast to the information we received from our guide which was very fact-based, and non-partisan.It is also good to mention here that during our whole time in Vietnam so far we have never received any hostility from the Vietnamese. It has been just the opposite, the people are extremely friendly and want to chat. The general feeling seem to be, why would they have hard feelings about a war that they won. Although certainly not an easy tour in many respects, it was well worth it. Our group was great company. Doug was a real history buff and we were almost embarrassed to admit that we learned a lot about our own history from them.
Anyway, we are currently in Hoi An, about a 4 hour bus ride south of Hue. We will keep you updated on our progress.
