Day 5 - Monday, May 4, 2009 - Hanoi to Hue via Dong Ha (Part 1)

We caught the 7pm bus from Hanoi, they picked us up at the hostel and brought us to the
station. We didn't have a ticket and couldn't find our receipt, but they didn't check it.
We sat (laid) on the sleeper bus idling for over an hour and finally we took off towards
Hue.

After about an hour we stopped at a place for a quick toilet break. I slept most of the way
on and off. Around 7 am we pulled on for breakfast at a place called Dong Ha, Vietnam. We
had some fried eggs and bread. While we were eating the local tour guide (Mr. Hoa) of the
Vietnam DMZ area (a 5km border between North Vietnam and South Vietnam) introduced himself.

He grew up in the area, he lived in the South during the war and was 11 when the war
happened. He was very knowledgeable and took us around for 440,000 VND each, which I thought was a little expensive, but looking back was a pretty good deal, around $24 US for a
personal guide with air conditioned car for about 8 hours. We saw an old US tank an some
unexploded bombs (ordinance). We went to a monument on the Southern side and then crossed
the river into the north side and went to a museum there.

Next we went to the tunnel area, where 400 North Vietnamese lived during the war supporting efforts along the border. We brought along our head lamps and Mr. Hoa brought us
through the 3 different levels. It was quite the experience walking the 4.5-5 foot tall
passageways weaving though the hard packed dirt and knowing there is 15 meters, 25 meters or
35 meters of ground above you. It was hard to believe so many people were packed in such a
place, yet they continued to carry out their lives as usual. Going to school, watching
movies, meetings, fresh water and sanitation, food, ventilation. All with claustrophobic,
dark mustiness.

After our adventure though the tunnels we returned to Dong Ha where the bus dropped us off,
booked our ticket into Savannahket, Laos tomorrow morning. We caught a ride into Hue and
will make our way back to Dong Ha early tomorrow morning (8am) to catch the tour bus. This
bus only runs every 2 days and sometimes not even, depending on if there are enough people
on it. We lucked out and it was running the next day, we just had to check and see if there
was enough people booked on it by calling back later. If it didn't run it would be a
pretty big nuisance and make it a much tougher and longer journey into Loas. The tour bus
ride would take 6 hours and traverse Laos from the east to the west.

****I was writing this in the van to Hue @ 3pm****