Vietnam 2000, Part 1

TUESDAY MAY 9

Couldn't go back to sleep after Fajr. Melbourne also got woken up early, at about 7:30am, by one
of the staff wanting to know whether we were heading out to Hue that morning. I'd wanted to the
previous night but changed my mind. The thought of touring the DMZ (Demilitarised Zone) between
the old North and South Vietnam and the tunnel village of Vinh Hoc was just too tempting.
Melbourne decided to move on. 

But he didn't have any money, only travelers' cheques that couldn't be cashed in Dong Ha. So I
lent him 30USD. (It was a hop-on-hop-off ticket all the way from Dong Ha to Saigon. ) We planned
to meet up at a guesthouse in Hue. 

And so on to the DMZ tour with Montreal and Rotterdam. Three travelers, three motorbikes, three
drivers/guides. The first part of the tour wasn't all that exciting - a tour of the battlefields,
American bunkers and the river marking the old border. Not all that exciting but the bike rides
were fantastic!
Then we went to one of the highlights of this tour - the Vinh Hoc tunnel village. The tunnels,
which extend for over 2km (not including the rooms to the sides), were dug by villagers trying to
escape from American bombers. Some 350 villagers lived there for 2 to three years. There were tiny
family rooms, a maternity room (14 children were born there), a kindergarten, a medical room, a
meeting room, a deep bomb shelter and many wells and bathrooms. It was extraordinary. They would
only go out at night when it was safer from the Americans, so they got very little sunlight.  A
remarkable way of life. 

After the tunnels we went down to a very beautiful and quiet beach where I swam for the first time
on this tour.  The waves were great and the water was warm too. Must hit beaches more often! The
motorcycle rides through the Vietnamese countryside were fantastic too! Man, I'm gonna have to get
myself one of these gadgets when I return to London. The sooner the better! 

Returned back to Don Ha just before 4pm to take a minibus to Hue. Parted from Montreal and
Rotterdam who were to head North to Hanoi later that evening. 

Met Melbourne at the designated guesthouse. You're probably thinking that I took a risk by letting
him leave Dong Ha with 30USD of my money. And yes, it was a risk but you have to do that a bit.
Nine times out of ten your gamble will pay off.  It will of course fail one time but the other 9
times will more than make up for it. I figured if it failed the I'd lose 30USD but if it worked
then I'd feel great for trusting someone I'd known less than a day. It felt great!!!