Thuan picked me up at my guest house early in the morning. My backpack and bag were strapped to the bike securely with thick rubber bands and we were on my way. We dropped by a market near outside of Hue for a quick breakfast and headed towards Khe Sanh and the mountains via the Vinh Moc Tunnels, first along the Tam Giang lagoon.
Our route for the first day: A - Tam Giang Lagoon, B - Coconut juice stop, C - Vinh Moc Tunnels,
D - Hien Luong bridge, E - Chua Cam Lo temple, F - Chicken farm, G - Khe Sanh
The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) was established as a border between North and South Vietnam during the First Indochina War, and later served as a battleground demarcation during the Vietnam War (or American War as they say in Vietnam...). The DMZ followed the Ben Hai River from Laos in the West to the sea in the East.
At the western end, near the border with Laos was the US military base at Khe Sanh, the site of a prolonged battle. The base was under heavy attack for 5 months and 18 days, the Americans dropped more than 100.000 tons of bombs and shot an estimated 8 artillery shells per North Vietnamese soldier during this period and the relentless attacks may have distracted the Americans from the buildup of Viet Cong in the south leading to the Tet Offensive.
A: Thuan by fishing areas at Tam Giang Lagoon, South East Asias largest lagoon - 68 kms long.
C: Vinh Moc Tunnels, The US tried to force villagers to move by dropping 9000 tons of bombs over eight years, as there was nowhere to go for the people living here they dug 2 kilometers of tunnels 30 meters below ground and moved their village there. Around 60 families lived in these tunnels during the war, there were no direct hits.
A war veteran we met at a roadside café. He was building a bridge at night with other soldiers when they were discovered by the Americans and bombed. They moved to a different location and started building another bridge, and they were bombed again - the second time he lost his arm.
D: Hien Luong bridge, the northern blue and southern yellow parts symbolizing a mutual desire for reunification.
As we passed a wedding in a restaurant by the road, people were cheering and waving so we stopped to have chat with the couple and the guests.
Two very animated guests insisting that grandma should pose for a photo.
F: Stopping for a break and a look at the view, a farmer came down from the fields to talk to us. She had a small chicken farm and some crop in the very steep hills above it. She joked about being worried her daughter, who can be seen digging out worms for the chickens in the background, did not having much potential for marriage because she couldn't cook.
F: The view from the chicken farm, towards Laos.
G: Hotel room view, Khe Sanh.
G: Khe Sanh radio tower, seen from my hotel room.