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Published: November 13th 2006
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Our first day in Hue was spent trailing round police stations. No we didn't get caught doing something we shouldn't. Sam lost his camera so we were trying to extract a police statment so he can claim on the insurence......... Four police stations and a nasty cyclo (cycle rickshaws) later we realised I weren't gonna happen. Very fustrating but the guide book does warn that the police are useless here. We ended up in a funky little cafe that runs motorbike tours to the DMZ (war sites) so we booked ourselves on or the next day, which happened to be 11/11. We figuered that this would be better than the cheaper option of a coach tour where we would have just been herded round sites. It turned out to be the right decision I think.
DMZ
The DMZ is the demilitarized zone. This was a strip of land that seperated North (comunist) Vietnam from South Vietnam. A bit like the Berlin wall. Conciquently this area is home to many bloody battles and now memorials.
Our first stop was the 'Highway of Horros'. This is a 10km stretch of highway 1 where a lot of people were
killed in 1972. You see the southern army were trying to retreat but the northern army cut them off with artillery fire that killed many soilders and a lot os civilans. The south then later fought back at the north killing a lot of them too. For 10 km the road is lined with grave yards and memorial. Most of these are government funded and display comunist symbols. However, these are only for northern vietnamses not southern who are still seen as the enemy in the war. We visited a shrine that was funded and built by locals to comemerate the southern vietnamese that were killed. The gude was really good and showed us photos of the scenes after the fitting. Just standing there on the sites of mass graves and hearing the stories trasports you back to the red summer of 1972 and it's not difficult to imagine the bombs exploding.
We gathered from the guide that the southern vietnamese still feel that they were betrayed by the US you pulled out and left them. They did this after demanding and exchange of prisoners. Northern vietnamses who the southern army wa holding were traded for americans (but not
southern vietnamese). Roumor has it that the US had already agreed to pull out if the north gave up the american prisoners.
We went to the bridge that seperated north and south where the exchange took place. On the southern side the communists have built a momumet of a woman and child looking to the north, waiting for the liberators (communists) to come. Propaganda of what! I think most of the south still don't really see it like that.
We also went to the 'frame of a church'. This is literally what it says it is and is were southern soilders hid and were shot at by the north (I think its that way round). This is wierd because you can still see all the bullet marks in the walls. Just that fact that 40 odd years ago people were figthing and dying on the ground I was standing on. It's a really strange feeling.
We also saw the shell of US tank that has just been left in the hrdge for 40 years. It at a place that the american called 'holy eyes' because they could see for a long way from there.
Next was
the tunnels. These tunnels were where the north vietnamese hid and lived. At the time everyone form the north was armed be they soilder or old granny, which is probably why they were so sucessful. The tunnel conplex is a kilometer long in tottal and has tree levels of 10, 15 and 23 meters deep. From the air you couldn't see anything, which was the point. Becuase of the depth many people survived by living in these tunnels for 6 years. 300 people lived in these ones alone. There are actually tunn;e networks all over this area as every village had them. We went down inot the tunnels and they weren't too bad. I was expecting them to be smaller but I could almost stand up in some of them. Sam was another matter! They have everything down there. There are family rooms off the main tunnel which are each about 4 foot long, 2 foot wide and 3 foot tall. Yes the whole family lived in that space. They had a maternity room where 17 babies were born in the 6 years. A meeting room/concert hall. This sounds grand but is actually just a place where the tunnel is
about 3 foot wide. It was very interestimg amd pretty fun.
After that we had a great motobike ride along the coast and through a forest. The back of a motorbike is definatly the way to see the countryside. We ended up at the biggest cemetary in the country. This is very communist and is mainly filled with thoes who died along the Ho Chin Mihn trail. This was the route used by the communists to smuggle weapoms into the south. It passed through laos and Cambodia which is why the US also bombed the shit out of them. You can't actuallu go near the trail in the DMZ as it is till full of bombs and landmines.
In total 58000 americans were killed and around 3 million vietnamese.
It was a really good day and I leanrt a lot about the history of the country. It was also sad and strange. We did get to see a lot of the countryside which was great. Definatly better than a bus.
The Imperial City and Tombs
Yesterday we went and got Sam a new camera (cost 5 million.!!......vietnamese dong). It's very fly, am jelous
now as mine is 5 years old. Then we eventually made it to the Imperial City. We've been meaning to do it since we arrived. It's the place where the Empora lived but was only built in the last few hundered years I think. The first part you go into is pretty tacky with ice cream shops and you can pay to dress up as the Empora. However when you get past that there are some lovely quiet parts that are everything a palace should be.
Today we went on a boat to see Imperial tombs. These were great and tottaly fitted with the image in my mind of Vietnamses things. We stopped by a small Pagoda first which was pretty. Then we went to Tu Ducs Tomb. This one was lovely and is sprwled over quite a wide area. It was very peacefull walking through the lilly ponds and over the brides around the tomb. This was the most peaceful and I think my favorite tomb. The second one was very impressive to look at and occupied and amazing spot with views through the hills. It was such a good spot that the Empora had to move 27
tombs that had beaten him too it. It was only finnished in 1923 but still looks very oriental and grand. The insdie is amazing and is decorated with mosacs and a big statue of the Empora. The last tomb, Ming Man's, was the most sofisticated in terms of layout and fine building.
I loved the atmosphere in all of them ans just wondering around soaking it all up. Each tomb was very different but they were all good. They are quite hard to describe so I'll add lots of photos.
So thats what I've been up to. We leave Hue tomorrow alhtough we're not quite sure where we're going. We are aiming at Hoi An but we'll see where we get to.
Lots of love and hope your not all freezing too much.
Lynn - thank you for you comments, good to know someone is reading this. Tell Rachea; to blog more!
Jen
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Helen
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Viatnam sounds quite different to Loas, but still looks very beautiful. and still sounds good value eve if you do feel like your getting ripped off. Glad you survived the snakes love to you both