You Want to Go Where ‘Ha’?
I decided on my way back from Halong Bay that I wanted to go to a town in Central Vietnam called ‘Dong Ha’ because it was the closest to the 17th parrallel and convenient to visit some of Vietnam’s former DMZ sights. Apparently, it’s not on the backpacker trail. When I asked the Aussies, that run Hanoi Backpackers, and know just about everything about Northern Vietnam they said, “you want to go where?” They couldn’t even give me a price for a train ticket, but assured me that it could be booked. The train is scheduled to leave at 7pm. At 4pm, there still was no ticket. I was beginning to get worried especially with all the other stuff that the hostel had told me about the “sights” around Hanoi. Eventually, the ticket came and I got on the train early. This was a very good thing because the train pulled out about 5 minutes early. So, on the 3.5 hour bus ride back from Halong Bay, I came up with this very aggressive plan to take an overnight train to Dong Ha, about 600KM south, get there at 6.45am and hire a motorcycle guide to take me around the DMZ, then catch a bus to Hue and find a place to stay. The train was OK. A bit cramped and there was a little boy in my compartment that took a liking to me. Every time I left the room he came running out after me. He was very cute, but he made me miss my nephew even more. 
Amazingly, the plan worked almost without a hitch, except… The train got in at about 45 mins late, but the guide was waiting for me in the rain. So now, I’ve booked a full day around the DMZ on a motorbike and it’s pissing down rain. I had some breakfast and talked to Kwoa, the guide, who was 11 years old when the war started and 18 when the war ended. He said he was drafted and in training when the war ended. It was great getting to talk to him 1 on 1 instead of the average tours with 50 people on it. He told me that it didn’t matter to him who won the war. That for most people it was only important that the war was over. “Politics is for other people. For us, it only matters that there is no more fighting”. Despite all the rain and the insane traffic driving on both sides of the road 
, it was a great day all in all visiting a few former American bases and outposts, the TS cemetary, where I saw thousands of unknown soldier’s graves 
The NVA and of course the VC didn’t have dog tags so identifying the bodies were almost impossible. But the highlight of the day was the Vin Moc tunnels. These tunnels were amazing. 
In some places the unaltered tunnels were 6ft high and as much as 60ft deep, 3 levels including: a maternity ward, family rooms, weapons storage, kitchen and food storage and 1 toilet for emergencies while the Americans were bombing. Although the guide, who was about 5’10” pictured above, was 2x more expensive than all the others it was well worth the $17 for the personal tour which included breakfast and my bus ticket to Hue.
Tags: Travel
Kane
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