BootsnAll Travel Network



Quang Tri

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The next morning in Dong Ha, Mr. Binh picks me up at 8:00 and the hotel owner toasts us with tea before we motorcycle about 25 km south to Quang Tri. We visit the ancient town, most of which was destroyed during the war, and a Catholic Cathedral that was bombed to bits. About 50 yards from the Cathedral stands a statue of a Madonna representing the Virgin that had �appeared� to some of the villagers years and years before…and had �miraculously� survived the strafing of the U.S. B52 bombers.

A young Vietnamese girl, excited at the opportunity to practice her English, takes me through the museum that sits nearby in what was once the old feudal Citadel. She seems different than the people in the north…more friendly, more open…she loves to meet Americans. She touches her heart and shows me a display in a class case depicting a local love story: during the war a young couple in the village secretly married…but soon after when her husband was killed in the war the family rejected her claims to be his wife because they had not known of the marriage. This woman remained very poor with no help from the family until she finally married again and now lives with her husband in the area. A few years ago she was exhonorated…during an excavation some locals found the remains of her first husband and an unsent letter along with pictures of the two of them.



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