The DMZ

So, while sitting in a little local, what seemd to be business man cafe here in Hue, sipping my iced saigon coffee while being stared at by overjoyed locals. I thought i sould update the trip report.

We left the city of Hanoi behind us and invested in an open bus ticket. what that ticket entitles us to is to get to Saigon with as many stop offs as we like, as long as we get there withinb two months. Well seeina as though our visa only has another 20 odd days that should be far from a problem. So the first stop we settled on was Hue. Hue is on the narrowest strip of Vietnam, and is famous for the perfume river, the imperial city and the rich war history sights. So that gave us our agenda.

Once we arrived in the town, and off the 14 hour bus ride we were immediatly approached by the brochure armed touts. Coaxed into the minivan and whisked to their little hotel. Suited us just fine. The hotel looked quaint, and after climbing 9 flights of stairs to our room it was hard to turn down the offer. They really have some tactfull tactics around here. Sorted out the luggage, showered and off to the Hue streets.

The first port of call was the majestic imperial city. daniel had gone to meet up with his maria, so it was the three of us that went to go see the place where the emporer once ruled. The 2.5 square kilometer enclosure has endured some serious american abuse during the war, but still stands proud and well renovated. A very majestic place, Iaki and I let loose on the photos. I agree with Walter, and think that Iaki should upload his photos for this entry and show the world just how his 10 Pound flower lense hood impacts his photo abilities... so this one is for Iaki.

Signs in Hue

Since the day was still young after we had explored the city realms we decided the pagoda was on the cards. We met up with daniel just outside the Imperial city gates and enjoyed a Huda beer while discussing the plan of action. The plan we came up with was to catch a dragon boat down river and check the pagoda in style... and so we did. A perfume river cruise, some peanuts, a beer, pagoda and a sunset, what more could we ask for?? An excellent first day in Hue!

The traditional dragon boat

Since all these places are all about orgabised tours we decided that we should join in on one and book a demilatised Zone tour, so Daniel and I approached our reception to enquire. Sadly it was fully booked, but he did have a shorter and more expensive tour on offer. Since we are now street wise, we took to the streets and found exactly what we wanted, hassle free. The next moring was to start with a 05:15 wake up call. So an early night was on the cards, right after we were educated in the art of takkie... An israeli game that is basically Uno, they just thought of a different name for well.... Uno, and added an extra special card. Since we were told the exceptions to rules as and when the israeli team saw fit, it was inevitable that iaki and I didnt win... but hey... we sure showed them!

The waking up at the crack of dawn ended up being somewhat unnecesary much to the dismay of Nora, who is not really a morning person. But by 0715 we were on our way, on what was to be a 12 hour culture and history lesson. The first stop was breakfast and judging from the stomach growling filled bus that meal was well overdue. But by 0900 we pulled into a little cafe and were treated to a well deserved meal. Back onto the bus and greeted by our tour guide named Hi, we were educated as to the North Vietnamese soldiers fighting the South, the Vietcong in their civilian clothing ambushing the south, and the American occupations through out. The continual properganda that was heard throughout the battles was broadcasted through the loudspeakers,some of which still stand today. The effects of the agent orange and napalm are also very clearfrom the bare topped mountains surrounding the DMZ zones.

Since the vietnamese have been controlled for most of history, they didnt really have any desire to savour the american occupancy posts... so as soon as they got the chance all the memories were bulldozed down, armory sold for scrap metal and all that could be erased, erased. So most of the sites we visited were backed by stories of how they were and required us to imagine them. I dont blame them! The really cool part of the trip though were the Vietcong tunnels. An intricate maze of tunnels, leading to the beach and mountains, incorporating bomb shelters, maternity wards, meeting rooms and a series of housing. These tunnels housed hundreds of people during the war, and most of the people now live in villages surrounding the tunnels. Some of the tunnels went as deep as 26 meters. Very impressive.

The shells

After the tunnels we sepent most of the day in the bus being told about the war and stopping at picture points, like the rock pile, the start of the ho chi minh trail, and the old Ta Con base. Which is where we say a HU-1E chopper.

The Hu-1E

Since we have the open bus ticket we decided that we should move onto the next place, so have decided to head to Hoi An, on the 1400 bus today. making last night the last night in Hue. Hue is a quiet town, not quite as cool as hanoi, way more relaxed atmosphere over here.

written by  ourindochina on January 10, 2008 from Hue, Vietnam
from the travel blog: The Indo China Adventure (incl Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia)
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