DMZ II

Bombs - a waste of time, money and lives
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The day started early, the DMZ tour bus picked us up at 6am.  Three hours later we arrived in Dong Ha, ravenous and were served our mediocre but free breakfast.  Aine happened to be on the same tour, as well as one of the guys we played cards with while crossing the border into Vietnam.

Back on the bus we were driven towards the Laos border, stopping for some sites on the way.  First was the Rockpile, a forward observation post for the US artillery.  It could accommodate 6 troops at a time and could only be accessed by helicopter or hard-arse, rock climbing, uber-commandos.  It was a very brief stop but then again there wasn't much to see.

...accessed by helicopter or hard-arse, rock climbing, uber-commandos.

A bunker at Khe San
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It was onwards to visit Khe San Museum, built on an American fire base and only 2km from the Laos border. The museum was a bit interesting with aircraft and helicopters on display.  There were also some good photos, which were captioned from the Vietnamese point of view - fairly entertaining at times.

On the way back we stopped at a bridge that connects to the Ho Chi Minh highway. It's built where the Ho Chi Minh trail started but really there isn't much to see and we didn't stay long.  Just imagine a two lane road heading over a river and through a cliff... fascinating.

Thank God for instructions! I thought that this end was meant to point at us
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The Vinh Moc tunnels were the highlight of the day.  We wish that we had gone to the Cu Chi tunnels so that we could compare the two.  These tunnels were mainly for civilian use and were relatively large compared to the military tunnels.  20 children were born there and they had carved out maternity rooms, as well as sleeping areas, a meeting room, kitchens etc.  They were used from 1966 - 1971 and no villagers lost their lives.  It was very hot outside (39C) and we loved being in the cool.  We don't know how people lived there for 5 years, crammed in there, hiding from a very real threat of death.

I'm going in!!!
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Since we were heading to Ninh Binh the tour bus left us in Dong Ha to enjoy a couple of sugar cane juices.  We had a few hours to kill, in a town that didn't have much to offer but we had elevated waiting to an art form and the time disappeared.  Two buses arrived on there way to Hanoi, we were going to get one of them - one full of Vietnamese and the other with tourists.  Luckily we were put on the one with Vietnamese because it was decent.