Advertisement
Published: April 12th 2007
Greetings Fellow Lockiophobist',
In the early morning the 'Nam is still, it's quiet, it's beautiful. The air is gentle and sweet before the heat of the day turns its calm coolness into a torturous shimmer. The Vietnamese slowly wake and set about their labour intensive daily routines. Then it happens, the beast arises and the Vietnamese scurry in fear. If only Mairi was used by the U.S. during the war they might have won. Even on the final day she was whining about something or other, I turned a blind eye because you can get death in the 'Nam for murder. Sarah couldn't though; she administered a wedgey of massive proportions and pulled massive chunks of Mairi's hair out. And you know what? She still complained! The nerve of some people eh?
Well after dumping 'The Whining Wonder' we mounted bikes and headed off into the morning mists of the central Highlands bound for the DMZ on a ride to ecstasy and oblivion. We headed north out of town into some of the most spectacular mountain scenery we had witnessed yet. Gone were the barren Agent Orange wastelands and in their place was the natural and serene beauty of
the Vietnamese jungle. Huge vertical mountains with wonderful waterfalls cascading down their sides, huge ancient trees that reached the sky, huge fast flowing rivers that wound their way through the lush green valley floor below and very little traffic! Something unheard of in Vietnam. We stopped at some more minority villages and in one we were talking to an old woman in her hut which was situated on the bend of a lazy meandering river when a young naked boy popped around the corner with a spear and a fish on the end of it (the spear...). It reminded me of the days I spent marooned on an island somewhere off the coast of South America where I frolicked like a naked little school boy amongst a pack of trainee Anglican ministers. Oh the good old days. You don't ever think that that kind of thing still goes on in the world, but being up in those mountains really does give you an enormous sense of isolation (aside from the fact that there are televisions in every hooch!).
Heading on out of the village we stopped at some minority graves. These graves are very elaborately built. They are built
Hamburger Hill
The beauty of the sunset belies this areas violent past and present. Death is only a footstep away.to reflect the deceased' status within the community. If they were a hunter of some repute (not unlike myself) their grave is decorated with wood carvings of some of the animals they killed. Hunting animals in the jungle is still conducted by the minorities (despite the televisions) and is still an integral part of minority life. The graves are built downstream of the village so their spirits can be carried away.
After another super cool times adventure ride we reached our billets for the night at a very small town called Prao. It was pretty unclean, but at least it was dirty....and the lady that ran the joint took great delight in seeing me naked after bursting through our door without knocking and the girls next door looking through the window copped an eyeful as well. All of them were very pleased with what they saw. How could they not be? We had some dinner and went straight too bed, completely knackered.
We were woken in the morning by some commie propaganda blasting out of loud speakers across the road at the local police station. After all 4.45am is a bit late to be still sleeping...Today’s destination was
It taste goood....
The owner of the hooch on the river where we ate wild deer and boar. Sarah loved the fact that she was eating protected species... a town called A Luoi, site of the famous battle for Hamburger Hill. This was a lush green town that sits at the foot of a mountain range that borders Laos, there is a lovely river that skirts the town and flows into Laos. Before the war this town didn't exist, but like so many towns in the south it grew out of the commerce that surrounded the American base here, locals made lots of money selling things to rich G.I.s. Usually you are able to take a ride up Hamburger Hill, but while we were here there was a company of Vietnamese Army Engineers blowing up land mines and other un-exploded shit that litters the area around there. It is not uncommon (apparently) to witness live stock being blown into the air after stepping on a land mine (not to mention the farmers that still lose legs and lives as well). The land is pock-marked with massive bomb craters like so many other places, however Hamburger Hill and its surrounds were spared the horror of dioxins and defoliants that so many other hills and stretches of jungle in Vietnam suffered. We asked our guide if we could ride to
Scary...
Moto Ace or Serial Killer? You be the judge. Me? I could go either way. the border and gaze upon Laos, but he answered with a definitive NO! It has something to do with the Frontier Guards; every Vietnamese seems terrified of them. Sitting in coffee shops and watching when the Frontier Guards walk in is like watching one of those Westerns where the dreaded outlaw walks into the Saloon, every body stares at the floor and the talking stops. Well Sarah didn't like that; she got up and tickle fought every one of the Frontier Guards to the ground in order to show that the Vietnamese had little to fear from these little puppy dogs (that she spent the night in a Vietnamese prison cell forced to watch re-runs of Charles in Charge is very much beside the point).
After negotiating the release of Sarah we headed out of town through some more scenic mountainous jungle and winding rivers. We stopped at a water fall on the side of the road so Sarah could wash the stench of the Vietnamese prison from her dirt encrusted body. I just watched. Our destination for today was Khe Sanh; the site of one of the most famous battles of the American war. The main American
Illegal Dinner
Sarah showing her absolute delight at eating protected and very endangered species. base at Khe Sanh is perched on top of a very big hill in the highlands and over looks a big valley that is dotted with other mountains that contained smaller American artillery positions. The first thing you notice is the isolation of the place. It is perched on top of this hill that served as an airbase. It was surrounded by VC and NVA forces and besieged, it was mortared, and shelled and attacked, but it was never overrun. The Americans eventually just left it after the siege ended. The museum is full of photographs depicting both sides of the fight and just leaves you with a sense of wonder, wonder at the cost in human terms and the futility of the whole damn thing. But aside from the few artillery shells, tanks and helicopters on the site, it is really difficult to get a sense that this was a war zone not that long ago. Weird. However when Sarah burst from the doorway of the museum dressed in a set of fatigues and brandishing one of the collections M-16's all the while making automatic weapon noises with her mouth, things changed. I left, but the guide joined in!
Buffaloe
"Man I wish I could eat every little piece of your flesh. You're not a protected species by any chance are you?" Said Sarah as she snapped this shot. Zoinks no?
After Sarah had re-written history by winning the American war with the guide we headed down out of the highlands and towards the coast. On the way we stopped for lunch at a lovely spot on a river that was surrounded by jungle where we once again feasted on illegal wild game, we also had the owner showing us the heads of the dead animals that he had killed and we had eaten....We then made our way to the site of the DMZ, a river with a bridge and some guard towers. The Northern side of the DMZ is decked out with glorious statues and plaques citing the deeds of the Liberation Army, meanwhile the Southern side of the river has a decrepit and still war damaged solitary guard tower. Easy to tell who won huh? Further north we went until we reached the coastal town of Cua Thang and found a hotel right on the beach that charged extremely exorbitant prices both for the rooms and the meals they offered there, but considering this was a very small town we had very limited options. The following morning it was off to the Vinh Moc tunnels
Roadside shower
Sarah basking in the natural waters of the highlands. Beautiful, both the waterfall and the girl.. just north of us. These tunnels were primarily used as a bomb shelter for the civilian population of the Vinh Linh area and for NVA troops transitioning to the South to fight the war. The Americans bombed and shelled with naval guns the absolute John Howard (subtle social comment...) out of the area, but the tunnels provided very good protection. There are three levels of tunnels and they're very, very extensive, much larger than Cu Chi and much, much, much better ventilated as well. They were able to build such spacious lodgings because there was no ground war in the North so they didn't have to conceal the existence of the tunnels as they did in Cu Chi. In most places I could stand up and there were massive rooms for hospitals and schools and stuff. Our guide through the tunnels was a man who was actually born down there, although he had some form of mental disability due to the lack of oxygen when he was born. He couldn't speak but he did a smashing job of guiding us through and showing what was what and so forth, it was cool!
Our tunneling time ended we then headed
Sarah and Hoan
Just before they started playing Armies on the former base. Disrespectful swine! down highway 1 (a reasonably frightening prospect for anybody other than me) to Hue, the Ancient citadel city to stay for the night. On the way we stopped at Quang Tri and went to the citadel there. This was the site of a battle between NVA/VC and South Vietnamese forces which virtually destroyed the ancient ruins. We stopped here for a little bit but it was ball tearingly hot and we just had to get moving. We made it to Hue just after dark, ate and collapsed into to a deep sleep.
It was an early start the next day because the final leg to Hoi An was fairly big. We headed out of town into lush rice paddies and huge fish and prawn farms. It was a nice relaxing ride save for the knobs in the buses and trucks that try and make road kill out of you every chance they get. Just outside Da Nang there is a huge mountain pass called Hai Van that the highway snakes up. It is supposed to be really beautiful on a clear day; however it wasn't a clear day. The mountain was shrouded in cloud and the further up the
Bunker
A mock up of a bunker that once was. pass we went, the more the visibility deteriorated and the more soaking wet we became. When I say we I mean me because Sarah was safely tucked in behind Hoan and therefore missed most of the rain. Still it was pretty cool trying to have a head on with traffic bursting out of the fog coming up the mountain.
Coming into Da Nang after the jungle and the mountain passes was a little bit of a shock. It's a sprawling industrial city right on the coast. All the housing along the coast is really barren and poor, basically shanties because they get destroyed every year by Typhoons. It was actually kind of depressing and foreboding, particularly because it was an overcast day. Da Nang is the spot where the American Marines were headquartered during the war and the massive base along the coast still stands, deserted and dirty as a reminder of the past. We didn't have time to see it, but we did have time to go to the Marble Mountain. This is basically a seriess of lime stone caves that have become a Buddhist temple. It was ok and the view from the top of the mountain
down the coast was pretty special as well.
We mounted bikes for the final stretch to Hoi An. It was pretty uninspiring (major highways always are) but it wasn't anything too taxing. We arrived in Hoi An at about 3pm after riding 1,237 Kms from Da Lat. Our arses were sore but our spirits high after an amazing 10 day journey. We said goodbye to Hoan and collapsed exhausted on our bed.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.108s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 14; qc: 62; dbt: 0.0621s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Moo Bear
non-member comment
Thanks for MORE
Basin thanks for the latest, its up to your usual standard.