The DMZ - Definitely Militarised Zone

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September 14th 2010

Published: September 15th 2010

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Glou

School's out

and motorbikes are in

The pace of life has slowed considerably in the last 48 hours and I, for one, say hurrah. Nobody ever told me that travelling can be exhausting. Don’t get me wrong, we are still having a fab time but the reality is that the constant moving, arranging accommodation and finding places to eat is actually physically and mentally draining. So, following our visit to Hue old town, I decided that yesterday was going to be a quiet one and, that, it was. So quiet in fact that Gregg and I will, for the first time, be sharing this blog so that he can elaborate on the experiences that we didn’t share.

Just in case you are thinking that I am a real lightweight we were, however, up at 5:30am this morning which, given my inability to get in to work before 9.30am during the last months, was a pretty tall order for she who sleeps.

13/09/2010

Anyway, back to yesterday and, after a serious lie in, I arose and went down to reception to find Gregg who had been blogging and otherwise computing all morning. He had hooked up with two Aussies from Brisbane who are a couple

Rock piles

Strategic hill for the Americans - once home to a US Marine base

of days ahead of us on their trip. This hotel, as is very common here, also has a tour agency arm and offers numerous activities including city tours, tours of the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone - of which more later) and cooking courses. This couple had been on the DMZ tour the previous day and had just finished a cooking course and were then waiting for their bus to Hoi An.

They had really enjoyed the cooking course (which we are doing tomorrow) but said that they had found the DMZ tour a bit disappointing, probably because she is a history buff and he is very interested in the war, but that they wouldn’t advise us against it. We decided that it was probably worth going and that we were unlikely to feel as hard done by as neither of us fall into either of those categories. So the tour was booked for today.

This hostel is amazingly friendly and helpful which means that we have become extremely lazy whilst in Hue and just ask them to arrange for us - including organising a pizza delivery (on a plate) to our room yesterday afternoon. And the pizza was amazing!

Gregg by the Dac Rong river

We weren't far from the Laos border here. I was standing on the road that has replaced some of the Ho Chi Minh trail that apparently allowed the North Vietnamese to infiltrate the south during the war. The bridge was rebuilt in 2001.

Gregg went for a wander after lunch in an attempt to find a post office and to see if there were any boxes for sale that could be used to ship things home in as we already have a few things that are redundant and we don’t want to carry anymore (not that we have purchased anything yet, its purely poor packing!)

On his return he walked past a school at the end of the day, see the attached pic.

By about 6pm I seriously needed to leave the hotel so we set out in search of dinner and ended up at an Indian. We shared a “non-vegetarian” thali which was a particular treat because it included lamb which was imported from Australia. You don’t see sheep here at all and it is never on the menu, as a result of which I had developed a bit of a craving for it. This was one of the most flavoursome & least colour-enhanced curries that I have ever had.

We then found our way back to our hotel for an early night ready for an early start today.

14/09/10

So, at 5:30am, as requested, the

Lou on the bridge

Watching Gregg, a local with a metal detector apparently and others washing/panning for gold

phone rang with our early morning alarm call and our day began - for me 6 ½ hours earlier than yesterday. In near silence, appropriate for the hour, we got ourselves together and assembled at reception for our 6.00am start.

Now, either Vietnamese tours always run late or they tell you they need you earlier than is strictly necessary such that you don‘t delay them. Whichever is the case, yet again we were ready on time and had a good 20 minute wait until we were actually collected by minibus.

The minibus called at a number of other hotels until it was full and then we were off. Or so we thought, we had an unscheduled stop for fuel. This was a fuel station made specifically for scooters and therefore a) not drive through in style; and b) horrifically busy. We also picked up another couple of passengers here who were not part of the tour but a mother and daughter who were being given a lift to somewhere North of Hue.

After these two had been dropped at their destination and we had made an obligatory stop for breakfast, our guide explained to us that the

Khe Sanh

Part of Museum exhibit where the US combat was and the site of a major battle during the war.

little girl had been affected by Agent Orange and only has the use of one of her eyes. Apparently, it takes 40 years for Agent Orange to degrade and there are numerous people living in the DMZ and surrounding land who have been affected by it. It leaves those affected with disabilities and, so we were told, also causes cancers. A sobering way to start our visit to the DMZ but a story that probably needed to be told nevertheless.

I should just explain that the DMZ was the De-Militarised Zone set up by the Americans during the war and runs for 5km either side of the Ben Hai river that effectively divided North and South Vietnam. It is a part of the country that is flatter than the fens - if possible- and I can’t quite grasp whether it was always that way or was made to be in order that it could serve its purpose. There is very little to see of the devastation that occurred there now as pepper, coffee and rubber plantations now cover this area but it doesn’t take a particularly overactive imagination to hear the helicopters whirring over head.

You may notice

US helicopter at Khe San

part of the outside exhibit at the museum.

that I have described this area as de-militarised but also used the word devastation. This is because whilst this was supposed to be an area where no battles took place, nothing could have been further form the truth and, as in many combat zones, when the war was over thousands and thousands of unexploded bombs remained.

Initially, we both felt a little disappointed that there was so little to see but, upon reflection, it struck me that we really shouldn’t have been that surprised. Why would any country want to preserve reminders of such atrocities other than in museums? Vietnam needs and wants to move on from the war, and why shouldn’t it? The American war, as the Vietnamese call it, ended nearly 40 years ago and it is very clear to see that the Vietnamese people are looking to their future.

For me, the most interesting part of the tour was what we were told rather than what we saw and I couldn’t possibly do justice to it here, but hearing the Vietnamese story as opposed to the Hollywood version has certainly made me want to learn more about what happened and why. Given that so much

The Doc Mieu Monument

from here you can look out that the flat DMZ and get an idea of how much land was affected.

propaganda surrounded this war and, it is fair to say, still does so, I don’t know how easy it would be to establish what really happened but I’m willing to give it a go.

The last part of the tour was a visit to some of the tunnels that the North-Vietnamese lived in during the war. As we walked around (above ground) we could hear the cathartic sound of the South-China sea lapping at the shore and at that point my imagination deserted me - war and waves are two things that I just cannot merge in my mind.

In preserving these caves as a ‘relic’ much of what was originally constructed of mud and wood has been replaced or covered with concrete and I think that that is what made it so hard to imagine that people actually lived there- and less than 40 years ago - from the outside it looked more like an adventure playground than the battleground that it actually was.

I may however have felt differently had I ventured inside the tunnels but I have my Mother (sorry Mum!) to thank for my claustrophobia and therefore graciously declined and I will therefore

Close up flower

Next to the monument - these flowers are strangely leathery in texture.

leave Gregg to pick up the story…

Entering the Vinh Moc tunnel complex was a rather strange experience. The tunnels are between 0.9 and 1.3m wide at the widest (the bottom of the tunnel at floor level) and are between 1.6-1.9m high at their highest (the apex, which is not wide). This SHOULD be more than enough for me but I still had to bend double for the entire time!

In these tunnels over 300 people lived, for over a year, during the height of the war. 17 babies were born in the tunnels and the space for the maternity room was not much larger than a single bed - and that was a big room.

The tunnels are on three levels, 15m, 17m and 24m down, but we were only told this after descending to the first level then the second and finally the third. The lowest level had an exit at ground level on the beach - I guess it follows the lay of the land. Arguably the most interesting part was the bomb shelter which had two entrances, one a smooth tunnel which you would slide down to get into the room, the other

Speakers

In North Vietnam - apparently used for the purposes of propaganda

a very narrow staircase that I doubt I could have got up, being rather big in comparison to the Vietnamese guide (who was a about 5ft, and a walking skeleton).

There were family rooms, a meeting room which served as a cinema and school also. The whole experience was unique. It was also an experience during which I had to remind myself constantly, that this was a reality only 40 years ago not 400 or longer, which is how it felt.

p.s.:

The hunt for Yum Yum Berries is still coming up negative;
We are still Dehli Belly free;
The toilets are still western; and
Bus vs. Train - Even hard seats on the slow Express wins

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