Friday 18th September 2015
 |
| DMZ between N and S Vietnam |
War is ghastly;
war is hell.
Yes…I know.
And today
reinforced this grim reality. We left
our Gold Hotel at 7am and returned at 6pm, having gone 400 kilometres (in a
very comfy little van; I am not whingeing!!)
Our guide, Huy,
was a very articulate, erudite young bloke, full of information about the
Vietnam War (as we know it) or the American War (as the Vietnamese know it.)
We crossed the Ho
Chi Minh Trail
where there is now a big modern
bridge, once a life-line for the Vietcong, with many branches reaching from
North to South Vietnam.
We visited museums
(Well…some of us
visited museums…
 |
| The Khe Sanh museum is right behind me... |
I fell back and sat under a shady tree
War museums are very interesting and necessary but…I have enough nightmare material already in my head…
Khe Sanh is…so
very beautiful. Hard to believe it was
the site of such vicious strife…
I thought the view
from the back window of the museum was very telling…
And don’t these
women work HARD???
Pete likes a bit
of solid war memorabilia…
Our last stop was
a trip through the tunnels…
Interesting, but
not fun. Especially not for the
claustrophobic! Some of the men lived
underground for many years. A lot of
them went deaf, from the noise of the bombardment. During the Tet Offensive the bombs dropped
twenty four hours a day…And nobody yet has ever defeated the Vietnamese!
We leave Hue
tomorrow at 5pm, back to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City.
Yes I've been to the Cu Chi tunnels - the booby traps were what upset me the most. At the war museum in Ho Chi Min City I couldn't go into some of the rooms (photos of agent orange devastation + aftermath) , but there still a lot of haunting photos to see! War is indeed terrible!
ReplyDeleteDear Marguerite, on behalf of all your followers I think I can safely say that we all wish you a very happy birthday. Thanks for sharing your adventures through your blog and I hope there are many more adventures to come! Cheers dear, AM x
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