The 12 hour bus journey wasn't that painful; as it's low season in Vietnam, the bus wasn't that busy so I had a double seat to myself. We were dropped off at bus company's office, and conveniently there was a guesthouse there ready to suck in people off the bus.
My main reason for stopping in Hue was to visit the DMZ (De-militarised Zone) which was the divide between North and South Vietnam. It is home to the Vinh Moc Tunnels, which were dug out by the Vietnamese to live in during the conflict (Google it for more info). I spoke to a couple on my Halong Bay boat trip who had taken motorbikes there for $10 return (considering its 115km there, 230km total, I think $10 was a bragain!), so I sorted out a ride there through the hotel. Before heading off we grabbed some food at a restaurant, which was cheap and super tasty (Just check out the picture of my Vietnamese Spring rolls!)
The ride there was pretty interesting, passing through small towns and villages, the evidence of the recent typhoon clearly visible by the damage to trees and buildings. It was glorius sunshine one minute then a dark cloud loomed on the horizon, and before we knew it, the heavens opened! We pulled over outside a shop and our drivers bought us ponchos to wear; oh good did I look wearing a blue bin bag, the sleeves of which came up to my elbow! The rain didn't last long and we were soon at the tunnels. We bought our ticket (50p) and headed down to the entrance where we joined a tour group. We headed inside the tunnels which were dark and damp, and for some reason I decided that I wanted to head down one of the unlight tunnels to see what was down there. Everywhere else was signposted, but one turning was not part of the normal route, so I headed into the darkness with my little torch, Shi-ru following behind. After about 5 mintues of walking in the pitch black we didn't come across anything interesting, so we headed back, by which time the tour group had disappeared! We managed to follow the signs out, but we weren't sure if we had missed any of the tunnel or not, so we jumped on the back of another tour group who guided us around almost exactly the same path as we had just taken, so we ended up doing it twice! (value for money....)
On the way back we stopped off at the bridge over the river that forms the DMZ. It's no longer in use as a new road bridge stands next to it. On one side was a new memorial, depicting a woman with her child, waiting for her husband to return from the other side.....
We also stopped off at a military cemetery on the way back, where hundreds upon hundreds were buried. Just a tiny proportion of the total amount who were killed in the war.
That evening we headed out to be greeted by a street festival; it was coming up to the lunar new year (I believe) and the children dance in the streets, in full consume to try and make some money. I cant quite remember the exact details though.
The following day turned out to be action packed, well, very busy!
I agreed with my moto driver from the day before to do a city tour, taking in all of the major sights. The first port of call was the Old Citadel; much like the forbidden city in Beijing, only severely affected by war, with many of the buildings totally destroyed. Next was the Tu Hieu Pagoda, the story of which eludes me (as with most of the following attractions....). Next was the site of an old American bunker, followed by the Tu Duc Tomb, which had also suffered the effects of the war. Next was the Dung Kanh tomb, followed by the Thieu Tri Tomb which was the largest of them all, albeit in the worst condition. On the way back to the city we stopped at the former house of Ho Chi Minh, where he lived from 1898-1900. Thrilling stuff.....yeah right...
I was only stopping in Hue for a night, so I took the afternoon bus to Hoi An just after lunch, an easy 4 hours. And it was easy, I had all 5 seats on the back row to stretch out and sleep, perfect!
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