It was the day after the start of Tet and
everything is closed. The 1 or 2 shops that were open were so overly priced it
was silly.
I decided to take this time to hope on a
small tour group to see the Vietnamese DMZ, at Dong Ha. I had considered hiring
my motorbike friend from yesterday but it was over 100km north of Hue, and I
didn’t fancy sitting that close to the guy for that long…
We got picked up from our hotel at 5:30 am!
I know who in there right mind would want to get up that early for a tour, but
this was the cheapest and most packed one in a minibus so I couldn’t really
complain.
We arrived at Dong Ha and were told a bit about
the area history before moving along the road towards Laos.
The first stop was a place called the “Rock
Pile” it was a small mound of rocks which the Americans use to have a
observation post on, the only way to get
to it was via helicopter and it was the command post for the area as well.
Today a Vietnamese flag is flown high up where the American flag use to fly.
The next place to stop was the start of the
Ho Chi Minh trail (Phase 2) the same road I had driven a few days earlier, here
was the hardest river crossing for the Vietcong today there is a bridge in the
place but the difficulty of the trail could be seen. The trail was next moved
into Laos when the Americans stopped this section. 
We then headed to a old American command
post called “Khe Sanh Combat Base”. Today its turned into a war museum with a memorial building in
the middle, but the airstrip, bunkers and tanks are still all here from when
America occupied the base. We took some
time to walk about the main memorial building, it showed a history of wars
against Vietnam finishing with the “Vietnam war” (Known as the American war
here in Vietnam).
The Guide explained that the history of the
DMZ and how it was only ever meant to be a temporary installment till elections
for the whole of Vietnam could be held, but that never happened because of
foreign influence. The majority of Vietnamese didn’t care if they were
communist or democratic as long as there family was ok… but its amazing what
happened. The guide was from a village
within the grounds of the DMZ and he remembers as a child when the Americans
came into his village and setup a command post.
After this we took the time to walk around
visiting sandbag bunkers and tanks.
Its hard to imagine that on this day (the
day after Tet) in 1967 the base was the stage of some of the most intense
fighting and was under siege from the north Vietnamese army.
We left the base and headed back to Dong Ha
for some lunch. After Lunch we would head north through the old DMZ over the
river that was once a border to the Vinh Moc Tunnels.
The Vinh Moc tunnels were very impressive
indeed. Tunnels on a beach head running in every direction 3 different layers,
all interlinked. Wells, Nursery, Stables for cows and Pigs, living quarters and
a theater. Enough for people to live underground for many years without the
need to surface. 
The tunnels were mainly civil defense not
military, but above ground there was also trench’s and bunkers where the local
defense could keep watch and protect the tunnels.
We wondered about in the small tunnels
which were perfect height for our guide but us European descendants had a bit
of a hard time with the low ceiling.
Following the tunnels it was back to Hue,
the next morning I headed out of Hue. It was cold and raining and I had seem
everything I wanted to in the historic town. It was time to head back north. 
On the way I stopped off at the DMZ again,
the tour missed the river which was once the boarder and it had a large
monument there now on both sides of the river. It was worth a brief stop, and I
decided to spend the night in the town as well… my feet were frozen solid it
was so cold.
The next 3 days ride were really not worth
breaking down sadly. It was cold, wet and the roads were very industrialized.
By the time I hit Hanoi I had clocked over
7200km since I left. I visited my friend which I bought the bike off 3 months
earlier and after a bit of haggling sold it back to him for $400 US, and I got
to keep my gloves and jacket which I had grown attached to.
It was sad to say goodbye to my bike the
machine I had spent everyday on the last 3 months riding around. The adventures
it showed me and the fun I had is something I will never forget and I will talk
about whenever I’m asked “What’s the best thing you did in your gap year?”…
Now I need a break,
Till Next Time! HAVE FUN!
Steffen.
No comments:
Post a Comment