The DMZ
Not wanting to relive the memories of our bad minibus experience between Vinh and Hanoi, we opted for the luxury of an overnight sleeper train to Hue, which is in central Vietnam, just below the 17th parallel - the former boundary between North and South Vietnam.
Hue has an illustrious role in the history of Vietnam and is the site of many old palaces, temples and tombs that have stood in some neglect until very recently (the Vietnamese Communist Party held a dim view of Vietnam's feudal past).
As a result, some of the sites have quite a lost-world air. Others have been restored in the last decade as the country has fostered a burgeoning tourism industry.
We did a day-tour on the back of motorbikes with two drivers from our hotel, which included a stop at the infamous Bunker Hill (nice view) and a visit to a local restaurant where we braved an authentic seafood hot-pot (which was fine apart from the cubes of solidified pork blood).
Our guides were friendly, but there was a constant hustle to relieve of us of more of our money (strangely expensive food bills, incorrect change, agreed upon prices creepingng up later, etc) and a relentless hard-sell to convince us to postpone our departure one day so we could do another tour with them to the DMZ. We eventually decided to do this instead of the Cu Chi tunnels near Ho Chi Minh (which only have a small portion open to visitors).
The DMZ is 100km to the north (a butt-numbing 2.5 hour motorbike ride). The primary attraction is the Vinh Moc tunnels. The whole area was heavily bombed during the Vietnam war to disrupt the movement of supplies to the South. After their villages were flattened the locals started digging deeper and deeper into the clay until they had a whole village living protected underground in a tunnel system extending over 2km, on three levels, up to 30m below the surface.
This was home for several hundred people for 5 years, each family occupying a tiny alcove, with common areas for supplies, meetings, bathing, and a maternity ward.
The next day we took a quick bus ride to Hoi An, just 3 hours to the South, but noticeably warmer and stickier. Hoi An is an old trading port and famous now for its tailors who can whip together almost any outfit for you in a matter of hours. I'm thinking of getting a pair of nice linen trousers made.
Hue has an illustrious role in the history of Vietnam and is the site of many old palaces, temples and tombs that have stood in some neglect until very recently (the Vietnamese Communist Party held a dim view of Vietnam's feudal past).
As a result, some of the sites have quite a lost-world air. Others have been restored in the last decade as the country has fostered a burgeoning tourism industry.
We did a day-tour on the back of motorbikes with two drivers from our hotel, which included a stop at the infamous Bunker Hill (nice view) and a visit to a local restaurant where we braved an authentic seafood hot-pot (which was fine apart from the cubes of solidified pork blood).
Our guides were friendly, but there was a constant hustle to relieve of us of more of our money (strangely expensive food bills, incorrect change, agreed upon prices creepingng up later, etc) and a relentless hard-sell to convince us to postpone our departure one day so we could do another tour with them to the DMZ. We eventually decided to do this instead of the Cu Chi tunnels near Ho Chi Minh (which only have a small portion open to visitors).
The DMZ is 100km to the north (a butt-numbing 2.5 hour motorbike ride). The primary attraction is the Vinh Moc tunnels. The whole area was heavily bombed during the Vietnam war to disrupt the movement of supplies to the South. After their villages were flattened the locals started digging deeper and deeper into the clay until they had a whole village living protected underground in a tunnel system extending over 2km, on three levels, up to 30m below the surface.
This was home for several hundred people for 5 years, each family occupying a tiny alcove, with common areas for supplies, meetings, bathing, and a maternity ward.
The next day we took a quick bus ride to Hoi An, just 3 hours to the South, but noticeably warmer and stickier. Hoi An is an old trading port and famous now for its tailors who can whip together almost any outfit for you in a matter of hours. I'm thinking of getting a pair of nice linen trousers made.
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