Nha Trang, Hoi An, Hue, and the DMZ, Vietnam

The bus ride out of Da Lat was even more interesting than the trip in. The approach we took to get there was a much more gradual climb up through the mountains but leaving and heading northeast proved a quick trip out of the mountains. Within about 30 minutes we were on the edge of a mountain with a spectacular view of the countryside below. The bus driver was descent enough to stop for a few minutes so those of us who wished to take pictures could, those who wished to pay to use the bathroom could, and the rest just had to be patient.

The road down the mountainside was a slow go due to all the hairpin turns. Once we reached the bottom it was back to the slow grind again averaging about 30mph for the 6 hour trip to Nha Trang.

Nha trang sits right on the South China sea and has a beautiful beach that to me looked just like the beach in Ft

Beach at Nha Trang, Vietnam

. Lauderdale, Florida. The road runs right along the beach and between the road and the beach is a sidewalk with benches. Along the edge of the sand are coconut trees.

I was only in Nha Trang about 5 hours. Again I had no intention of visiting Nha Trang much like Da Lat but due to the slowness of the buses I ended up passing through. It really is a nice little city and would be a good place for someone wanting a beach holiday in Vietnam. I spent my time wandering the market where I bought a new pair of sandals, eating lunch, eating ice cream, drinking coffee, and writing a travelogue for your entertainment.

At 6pm I ate dinner at a sidewalk eatery with the locals and caught my bus for Hoi An at 6:30pm.

An overnight bus trip in Vietnam is only more interesting than spending the night on a bus in the states because it is Vietnam. The bus will stop twice during the night or at least they plan on stopping twice. Once is for dinner for a half hour and the second time is for a break as in toilet break and for the drivers to watch some bad television. Of course if you are hungry they usually have some potato chips for sale or a beer is you are thirsty

Beach Nha Trang, Vietnam

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Shortly after leaving Nha Trang it began to rain. This is the first rain I have seen during my trip. I really did not think it the most ideal time for rain. It was night on a narrow, winding road with a sheer drop into the South China Sea. This did not seem to deter the driver a bit. I was amazed at the speed he drove under the conditions. We would pass other buses and trucks going uphill in blind corners and downhill for that matter. He really seemed to know the limit of how fast that bus could go without sliding off the road. It certainly kept me awake a little longer than planned.

We arrived in Hoi An about 6:30am. We went through the normal routine of stopping at a couple of hotels they would have liked us to stay in. This time as opposed to in Da Lat I did not think they were doing me any favors. The alternative is to have them drop you off at their office in town to seek out accomodations on your own. Fortunately there are plenty of places to stay nearby and it is the slow season so the inn keepers are eager for the business.

Hoi An is a very touristy place. I have seen more westerners here than any other place

Citadel in Hue, Vietnam

. Half the town is easily made up of tailor shops. They claim they can reproduce an garment from an example or a photograph. Someday I would like to come back and take advantage of this opportunity but this time around I do not have the luggage space for such luxuries. The town is otherwise very compact and quite easy to walk around in. It has a little waterfront and market there which were quite nice. For me the highlight of the town was when I found a little restaurant that served draft beer for 20 cents a mug. I at there twice and would have had breakfast there had I found it earlier. By the way the food was excellent also. They served something called "White Roses" which was as I remember it a sort of shrimp dumpling and it was fantastic.

I struck up a conversation with the young ladies working for the bus company and we along with a friend of theirs all went out for some authentic Vietnamese food that night. Me being the "rich American" seemed the natural choice to pick up the tab. The food was very good and we all had a lot of laughs and they increased they vocabulary also.

At 8am the next morning I caught the tour bus to Hue. Hue is about 5 hours north along the coast from Hoi An. This was the most interesting bus ride yet. We stopped twice, once to have lunch and once at a place called Marble mountain

Coastline between Hoi An & Hue, Vietnam

. Lunch was the usual but Marble mountain was worth the stop. This area just south of Da Nang is an area where there are marble quarries and the people believe themselves to be Vietnamese Michaelangelo's. There were some very impressive scuptures of all sizes. There were huge lions, buddhas, elephants, and all sorts of other figures. As for souvenir stands, as far as the eye could see. I could not resist picking up a few items which I now have to lug all over Asia until I get home. There are so many things I would like to buy but I just can't pack all this stuff around the rest of the trip.

After Marble mountain we went of a mountain pass along the coast that had another great view of the water and the mountains. This piece of highway is considered the most scenic in Vietnam.

We arrived into Hue about 1:30 in the afternoon. Hue is a very historical area containing a 200 year old citadel that was the scene of very intense fighting during the Vietnam war and unfortunately many of the structures were destroyed. In the area I believe there are seven emporors buried. The Perfume river runs through the center of town and reminds me more of chocolate milk than perfume. There is a very nice park area running quite a distance on both sides of the river

Elephant outside Hue

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Thus far I like this city more than any I have visited in Vietnam thus far. Today I just wandered around trying to get my bearings. I had some very good food for lunch trying a couple of the local specialties. I have tried to do this lately and have found it enjoyable. So far I have not found any $.20 local beer though. I am looking into taking a tour of the DMZ a few hours north of here. I will take all day but could be very interesting. It will consist of visiting a couple old US bases and a chance to go through some of the tunnels the locals used to survive during the war.

The people seem a little friendlier here than other places. Today I was walking by a school yard where the kids about middle school age were doing exercises outside. This one kid lets out a loud "hello". This is a common thing for the children to do not that the adults don't do it but the adults do it because they want to get your attention to sell you something, and if they don't say hello they just say "you". Anyway after I responded to this boy half the class turns around. We have the usual conversation of "how are you"? "fine", "how are you"? "fine, thank you" and they are all laughing. I have met many younger people who are eager to practice their English conversation skills

Hue, Vietnam

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This afternoon I met a young woman while pricing the DMZ tour who became quite chatty when she found out I was American. She asked my name and when I told her she about fell out of her chair. She said that she an American "friend" named Dale who visited her last year and had been sending her money every month ever since. It was an interesting story if it was true. I asked her where in America her friend lived and she could not tell me. Hmm? I told her she should work harder on the details if she wanted to make a good impression on him. This mail order bride situation seems to be alive and well here in Vietnam.

In the late afternoon I walked over the brigde to the other side of the mighty Perfume river to see the market and whatever else there was to see. They have a very large market there though much of it closes down in the afternoon. I did look around at the clothing for sale which is a tiresome experience.

It is NOT possible just to simply ask how much for that T-shirt? This just starts a process that usually leaves everyone involved dissatisfied. It works like this. You ask how much something, anything is.

Nha Trang, Vietnam

They respond with a ridiculous price. You say no thanks and begin to move on. Then they say wait mister how much you pay? Unless you just walk away things get real involved. They just keep badgering you for a price which when you give them one they don't like they look at you like you have called them a four letter word.

Yesterday I asked about the price of a shirt and they took it down and put it on me and said "you a handsome man" hey it isn't quite like "I love you a long time" but certainly of questionable sincerity. Anyway I am almost to the point where unless I am serious about buying something I hate to even look around.

Today I decided to get adventurous and rent a bicycle. This bike was probably used by the North Vietnamese during the war from the condition and color of it. It should have been melted down thirty years ago and made into a hand grenade. Actually road pretty well but barely had any brakes. I rode about 2 miles out to see a pagoda along the river. It really was a nice little ride. The pagoda was under renovation so all you saw was scaffolding, but there was a nice temple behind it with a monk striking something that looked like an upside down bell but made a sound like a gong.

Perfume river Hue, Vietnam

After riding back into town I decided to ride out into the countryside for kicks. As I am riding along daydreaming a woman on a motorcycle pulls up along side and says hello. She asks where I am from and I tell her. She says her village is up ahead and is very nice and would I like to see it. I say sure and she leads me about 6 miles out into the hinterland. As we get near her home she says would you mind is we stop at my house for 2 minutes? I said ok. We pull up in the yard of a modest stucco one story house with a yard full of trees, chickens, ducks, dog and a cat. She invites me to take a seat at a table on the porch in the shade.

Me being the naive lad that I am think she would just like to brush up on her english language skills. She brings out a tea pot and a couple of glasses and introduces me to her 18 year old daughter. Her daughter speaks excellent english the best I have encountered on my travels. We start talking and do so for over three hours on many subjects then the daughter cuts to the chase.

She asked if I can give her some money to help pay her tuition at the university. This being the third time I have been hit up for money by people that have befriended me has made me shall I say REAL F***ING CYNICAL about saying anything more than hello to the locals

Tunnel entrance at Vinh Moc

. Just because I have that blue passport with the big eagle on the front does not automatically make me rich does it? They off course take it as a given. They seem to view an American as an easy mark for a sad story.

I tell her I am not in a position to help since I do not even have a job myself. A few minutes later she asks again the answer has not changed. She bows out and sends her Mom out to give it a shot. She is no luckier. At this point she says she wants some money for the tea. I give her about triple what tea would be in a restaurant and she demands twice that much. At this point I am so angry I want to pour the tea over her head. I give her what she wants and jump on my trusty bike and head for town.

Spent the rest of the day unwinding. I have enjoyed Hue more than any other city I have visited in Vietnam and highly recommend it. It seems Vietnam gets more interesting the further north one travels.

Halloween day 2004 starts early 6am with a tour bus picking me up for an all day tour of the area near the former border between the north and south of Vietnam. The tour is appropriately called the DMZ tour.

Vietnam coast

We drive for 2 hours and stop for a meager breakfast included in the tour. Then a few minutes up the highways we pass an something called the Doc Mieu base. Turns out it was just a high spot the US used to observe the enemy from. Next we stop and the river which marked the middle of the DMZ, looks just like any other river and bridge. Another half hour up the road to the highlight of the tour, the Vinh Moc tunnel complex.

The Vinh Moc tunnel were dug in 1966 because the villagers were tired of getting blasted out of bed by the battleships of the coast. There is still just short of a mile of tunnels left and we stumbled through about 250 meters of them reaching a depth of about 70 feet. Most of them were about 5ft tall and 3ft wide, other than the meeting area where they actually showed movies and got together for the news of the day where I could actually stand up straight but just barely. There were 13 entrances/exits, 7 of which opened to the sea which was really picturesque. The lighting was poor which made it more interesting and realistic. They said that up to 700 people lived underground for as much as 5 days at a time without coming about ground. Seventeen children took their first breaths from below ground.

Next on the agenda was a drive toward the Lao border where again they pointed out a large hill that our soldiers once used to view the area. Onwards to the Ho Chi Minh Trail though I don't think it was paved back then. A short stop at an "ethnic village" where the locals carry their firewood in baskets on their backs as opposed to in baskets at the end of a piece of bamboo draped across their shoulders.

The final stop was in the town of Khe Sanh where the US had a very important airbase. Again the key word here is had. Long ago the Vietnamese figured out that it might be a more productive use of this very fertile ground to grow coffee so they turned the area into a coffee plantation. By the time somebody figured out that they were missing out on a tourist opportunity it was pretty much too late. The did bring in two old helicopters and some old rusty bombs to put outside a small museum they built last year.
I can understand why our soldiers refered to the place as hell. I looked very indefensible to me. Khe Sanh is only 12 miles from Laos which made it very convenient for the North Vietnamese to access through Laos and the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

This entry is getting a bit long so I will put it bed. Tomorrow morning I will see the sunrise from Hanoi the former capital of North Vietnam and final resting place of Ho Chi Minh.