We made it to Vietnam!
1,484,500 Vietnam Dong
"If you wanna ride. Don't ride the White Horse." -Laid Back (1983)
We arrived in Dong Ha, Vietnam.
Dong Ha is just south of the DMZ (aka The 17th Parallel, aka Ben Hai River). Dong Ha had many American soldiers camping there during the war and a lot of "very terrible" fighting with the Viet Cong. We spent two days touring the area with some motor bike drivers: Dung (Joong), Aowg (Dong), and Huc (Hook).
What's left of a Claymore mine.
Aowg with a poece of an old rocket launcher.
An old American bunker on a hill. A Colonel stayed here.
The whole hill is planted with rubber trees now.
Statues at the National Cemetery. There are 75 cemeteries like this.
The graves in these cemeteries are only for North Vietnamese (Viet Cong) from the war.
Many are unknown. The Viet Cong did not have dog-tags. They had a scrap of paper on a small button. It wasn't really water proof and they broke often.
Inside an old American bunker. The US encampments were not preserved after the war. Some random pieces remain.
Dung and Zeb on top of the bunker.
The old 17th parallel bridge over the Ben Hai River.
These are the Vinh Moc tunnels. A village in North Vietnam on the coast built an underground network of tunnels and lived underground through the war. Children were born down here and the elderly and children stayed in the tunnels while the young men and women fought against the South Vietnam Army and the Americans. The surface was bombed all to hell, but they had artillery to cover the sea and a surface network of trenches to help them move around safely. There was even a very deep bombshelter.
These are some of the trenches.
Fishing boats on the sea.
Some troops camped here.
The famous Rockpile. American Artillery was stationed on top.
People still live in these mountains.
These are the kids that live there. They wanted candy. We didn't have candy.
Some of their homes.
Zeb and Aowg demonstrating camping in an old American war camp.
Huc and Dung treating us to Duck meat and rice wine of which Zeb had none. As they explained saying you don't eat meat in Vietnam is like saying you are not hungry.
We then took the train to Da Nang. 
Da Nang is the first big city we have seen in a while.
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1 comment:
How are you finding that people respond to you? are they glad you are there? it seems like you have been able to find some kind folks who show you around--what/how do you communicate? as americans do you find it difficult to escape the innate tourist stigma? I have tons of question, thank you for all of the photos, they make a big difference. Love to you both, and happy new year.
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