This morning we headed off to visit the DMZ site and Vinh Moc tunnels. The latter are preserved as a museum about that time. The first tunnel was built in 1965 by local villagers. They finished in 1968. The tunnels were initially intended to be a family bomb shelter. Each family built under their house. Subsequently they wanted to communicate with their neighbours so they joined the tunnels and they then became the first tunnel system. The tunnels overall are a three level, 2 km village underground. We saw a gong near the entrance which would summon families, fishermen and agricultural workers to the tunnels in the case of an impending bomb attack. Drill bombs meant that deeper tunnels were needed. We saw a slide exit to be used in the case of drill bombs which enabled a speedy descent to a lower level.
We all went down to the first level where the models helped you visualise how they were used. They led out to the South China Sea, where we got some welcome air and saw a man diving for shellfish. A few of us then exited – this proved a good decision in my case as I then felt a bit faint! (I was well looked after and soon recovered – Thin got me a Coca Cola which went down a treat! Dave and a few others went down to the second level where there was a photo gallery and a meeting room.
Then we drove to the iconic 17th parallel, often known as the DMZ (demilitarized zone) – this was established in 1954 using a natural river as a division (Ben Hai River). The river formed the border between North and South Vietnam between 1954 after the First Indochina War, until 1976 after the reunification of Vietnam. The De-Militarised Zone formed an approximate 10-kilometre buffer stretching from the Laotan border through to the Vietnamese coastline. Each side near the river was a no go zone.
We saw the Hien Luong bridge which is a historic bridge over the Ben Hai River, painted blue (North) and yellow (South) to represent the division during the Vietnam War. Located near the 17th parallel, it served as a major crossing point and is now a memorial site for reunification.
We then stopped en route at the war cemetery. Here on Heroes’ Day (April 17th) there are annual ceremonies commemorating the losses from the war. Pictured below is a spirit house. The animist belief with regard to this was that if the spirit of a person did not go to heaven or hell it would remain here. Offerings would be given to the spirits regularly to prevent them from coming into people’s homes.
We had a simple lunch at a local restaurant and then continued our journey to Hue.
Hue, the former capital under the Nguyen dynasty, has a population of 700,000 and is famous for the Unesco listed Imperial Citadel which we will visit tomorrow.
Once settled in our hotel and showered, Dave and I went in search of a local laundry and then had a lovely coffee near the hotel before our evening activity of a group rickshaw ride. This was a wonderful way to see the city as we left in daylight and returned at twilight. It gave us a great sense of the scale of the citadel along with an excellent view of street vendors and open-fronted shops of every nature flanked by pots of the beautiful yellow flowers associated with Tet.
After our tour, we went to have dinner with the family of Mr Bon – a local family who Thin knows well as this is his home city. This was without a doubt the best culinary experience of the tour so far. It was wonderful to meet all the family and to eat in their home with fresh produce from the garden. They grew jack fruit and dragon fruit amongst other things. The menu below shows what we had and it was all amazing both in quality and presentation. An added bonus was meeting the grandchildren and the very cute family dog.
When we got back to the hotel, we wanted to make the most of the view from the bar on the ninth floor. We spent a lovely couple of hours sampling some gin and cocktails. I went for a Mai Tai as it is something I would not normally have at home. All in all a fantastic day from start to finish!
