Fun, Fun and more Pun

We couldn’t help but be excited for the next chapter of our trip, Cambodia! I was ready to say goodbye to Vietnam and Hello to Cambodia.  Our plan was to stay for one month traveling from the South to the North and to have as many true Cambodian experiences as possible.  

We crossed the border from Vietnam and decided to check out Kampot.  We didn’t know what to expect of Kampot expect from a few good reviews from some travelers we met along the way.  By the time we checked the guest houses in the area, most of them were already booked but we were able to find a reasonable place and ready for some dinner.  We ended up meeting another couple on our travels, David and Berit.  I got a message from them to meet at a place on the river called Rikitikitavi.  It is a beautiful restaurant above a cool boutique hotel.  We sat looking out from the river and enjoyed great drinks and fish Amok,  I it will turn out to be the best Amok we had the entire month in Cambodia.  Amok is a traditional Cambodian dish with a lemongrass curry sauce and is cooked inside a banana leaf.  Not all Amok is created equal but this was by far my favorite.  After dinner it was time for us to head to sleep so we could plan for our morning adventures.  

Kampot is known for having many pepper farms.  The three types are black pepper, red pepper and white pepper.  Honestly as a “city slicker,” I don’t know very much about pepper but I can tell you Kampot pepper is really tasty.  We had stayed on a pepper farm for a few days in Phu Quoc, Vietnam so I am familiar with what a pepper tree looks like.  We rented a bike and headed to check out the market where we purchased pepper to bring back home with us.  Garrett and I have become local market aficionados.  We can walk into a market and tell you within 30 seconds to a minute whether the market will be great or about as entertaining as brushing your teeth.  

Rowan and Lu

We got back on our scooter and decide to go up to Preah Monivong National Park and to Bokor Hill Station to see the old and abandoned Bokor Palace Hotel. 

Bokor Palace Hotel

This mountain community was developed by the French in the early 1920’s and was first abandoned in the late 1940’s during the Indochina War and then abandoned for good in the 1970’s when the Khmer Rouge took control.  We were racing our scooter up the mountain when we noticed an other couple on individual automatic scooters racing up on us.  The four of us glide or scooters on the curvy road heading to the top of the mountain when we see what appears to be a gigantic female buddha statue.

Female Buddha

We pull off in a parking lot to introduce ourselves to Lu and Rowan.  Lu is from the Netherlands and Rowan is Australian.  We spend the rest of day with them checking out the sights and exploring.  The buddha is enormous and sits at the top of the hill overlooking the ocean.  We were told she watches over the sailors going to sea.  It is quite spectacular and a bit random but equally as stunning. 

We hopped (not literally) back on our scooters and away we went up to the old casino.  On  the way up there were signs everywhere the kept saying, “It not permitted to eat here.” 

Garrett and I laughed our butts off at this as it has been a running joke about how signs in English were sometimes misspelled or just grammatically messed up.  We certainly were not making fun at  the attempt to communicate in English but merely adoring the attempt and we keep a special place in our hearts for all of those “quirks.”  “It not permitted to eat here,” well I guess someone should let Stephen King know. (bad joke I know)

Anyway, we headed to the old casino and on the way up we couldn’t help but notice all of the Pirellii racing signs and guards everywhere.  We later found out there was a mass motorcycle ride up to the new casino.   On the way to the old casino we stopped at an old abandoned church also buit by the french.  This was a relatively creepy but strangely beautiful place.

old church

After the church we continued up the road to the Bokor Palace Hotel. This old casino was an abandoned structure of a hotel/casino from the 1920’s.  It was fun for us to explore the old structure and climb up to the upper balconies to see the magnificent view.  You can just imagine what the place looked like in the 20’s.  I’m sure it was incredible.

On our way back down the hill we decided to stop and check out the new casino.  This new casino was huge.  We made a quick stop into the table room and play a quick game of roulette.  I won some money and left the table as soon as I hit on 28, the day of my birthday and a number I ALWAYS play.  We left the casino headed back to Kampot and got cleaned up for dinner.   

About 30 kilometers from Kampot is a town called Kep.  Kep is on the ocean is is fairly well known for it’s crabs.  We headed to Kep in the late morning and the first thing we hit was the beach.  Garrett decided to go for a quick swim and I sat on the beach.  I think it’s no surprise to most of you who know Garrett that it was only a matter of minutes until I was being dragged through the sand into the water by my ankles and all I could do was laugh.   We got back on the bike and headed down the road when we came across a beautiful, old gated home.  We learned that home belonged to the queen and she used it as her beach home.

quees's beach house

  We were not allowed into it as they converted it to a private flower/plant nursery.  Garrett and I couldn’t help but notice the incredible size of these cows tied up all over a family’s property so Garrett pulled the bike over and we went to meet the owner.  Force of habit caused Garrett to take the bag of bananas off the bike with us and as we talked to the owner of the bulls in broken english, one of the bulls was nudging Garrett.  These bulls were the largest and cleanest I have ever seen and I actually thought they were horses when we first drove by.  The owner told us that they want our bananas and gave us permission to feed the bulls our bananas.  We fed them and got the ok to pet them.  They were the sweetest bulls ever!! They were nudging us to pat them in the correct spot and licking the back of our calves.  I’m not sure how familiar you are with a bull’s tongue but it is huge and feels like high grit sand paper.  

Ok so I know I’ve explained this before but I think it’s important to revisit the pun factor.  Garrett loves puns! From the very start of this trip he has been using puns every chance he gets.  This is why when we happened upon a restaurant called Kep a Cabana.  Kep a Cabana?! Is this a mirage? We have to stop! It was a small restaurant and we only had a snack as we had crab on the brain and already had a plan for lunch.  We met a really cool guy working there from Singapore and he had a very intricate sleeve tattoo. He told us it was made using bamboo and he got it in Japan and it took 3 months to complete.  It was quite an impressive piece of art work.  He also told us the owner of Kep a Cabana owned a really cool guest house called Kep Man Doo.  Another pun and another place we would be sure not to skip.  We went to Kep Man Doo and checked it out.  It looked like an enormous tree house and was pretty interesting.  

Now is probably the highlight of the day.  Garrett and I went to the market and made our way to the dock where the women were selling crabs.  The woman we negotiated with grabbed the rope to the crab trap and pulled it up from the ocean to give us the freshest selection of crabs she could find.  We bought a kilo of crabs and literally turned around to where women were lined up against a wall of giant pots on top of wood stoves and for an extra $1 would steam your seafood on site.  We gathered our kilo of crabs grabbed a can of beer each and headed to the dock where we sat on the edge with our feet dangling over the water and devoured our crabs in the warm sun. It was one of my favorite moments of this trip and I will never forget this day.  

On the way back to Kampot from Kep, Garrett and I see a tuk tuk screaming down the road.  This tuk tuk driver had a mohawk and was wearing turquoise Ray Bans. In the back of the tuk tuk was a girl drinking rum and cokes.  Garrett dared me to high five the girl in the tuk tuk as we passed by and of course I did.  They then invited us to a party on a locals beach.  We followed them to the beach to catch some of the sunset.  We introduced ourselves to the Cambodian guy who drives the tuk tuk  and he told us his name is, Mr. Dara International Tiku Tivu and the woman in the back is his girl friend Ellie from the UK.  We decided to go back and clean up and then meet them later with our friends for a little fire on the beach. 

That evening we met back on the beach and it was a full moon.  We invited Lu and Rowan and had a nice fire on the beach.  Garrett met some local fisherman who were spear fishing shrimp with flash lights.  They taught him how to spear them and they were having a blast spearing them and eating them raw.  

The next day we had breakfast at our favorite local soup place and checked out more of what Kampot had to offer.  I know it seams like I talk a lot about food but that is because I have had some of the best dishes of my life on this trip, which now leads me to hand made Chinese noodles.  We heard there was a movie house in town that also served hand stretched Chinese noodles. 2 orders of pork dumplings and noodle soup certainly did the trick.  We didn’t have time to see a movie but maybe next time. 

We said goodbye to Kampot and decided to head to the crazy, bustling city of Sinhoukville.  Sinhoukvillle is something out of a movie.  It’s dusty and over populated with tourists and bars. We rented a scooter and headed to Otres beach 1 to see if we could meet up with a friend we met in Laos. We found a place to stay called Mushroom Beach and this place was hysterical.  Our bungalow was actually shaped like a mushroom.  They all were and every light, lamp, or decoration in this place was shaped like a mushroom.  It was a bit ridiculous but also funny and charming.  The next day we went to Otres beach 2 because we were told we could grab a boat to an island off the coast called Koh Ta Kiev.  A fun guy from the Netherlands we met on the slow boat down the Mekong named George (pronounced Shorge) recommended that we go to Coral Beach on Koh Ta Kiev and stay at the resort for a few days.  The boat to Coral Beach came in and Tomas jumped off the boat loaded us up and off we went.  Coral Beach Resort is one of my very favorite places on this trip.  There is not a whole lot to do.  There are trails that run through the island and bring you to secluded beaches where you can swim and see miles of sea urchins and sand dollars. Naked beach, not named because of the people who visit but probably due to the emptiness of the beach, was my favorite to visit.  The sand is white and the ocean is clear and there are maybe 5 people on the beach at a time including yourself.  Naked beach is a serine place on a little slice of paradise.  

Coral Beach Resort is a special place.  The owners are a French couple named Pricilla and Mica. They are cool and laid back and Mica is an amazing chef.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner were at set times and if you wanted to eat in the communal dining space you would wait impatiently for Pricilla to write the options on the board each meal so you could order before your favorite choice ran out.   Garrett and I met great staff members who work there and joke about how they seem to all look like pirates. We were only supposed to spend 2-3 days there and we ended up staying almost a week.  We also had such a great time meeting new friends and making connections with the other like minded travelers at the resort.  Despite the fact that there was very little electricity, no wifi, a shared bathroom with a bucket to dump over your head as a shower and a critter hear and there, Garrett joked that he didn’t think I would get on the boat when it was time to leave.  The end of our week there, I was on the boat with Garrett because there was still more Cambodia to experience. Thank you to the staff of Coral Beach Resort for helping make Koh Ta Kiev one of the highlights of my trip.  I had many more photos before my phone was stolen but here are some great photos of coral beach taken by Garrett.

Cambodia Intro

Stop, go, stop, go.  We move through city and countrysides pushing further and further towards own next destination.  The same pattern emerges at each new location, no matter the country, landscape or language: food, shelter, clothing (or whatever is left thats close to clean).  It has been in these moments of searching to meet our most basic needs that two types of people have emerged.  The first, sees only the backpacks carried by confused looking white people.  Their prey is easily distinguishable and well rehearsed sales pitches are aggressively unloaded.  The only concern they have is the sale, no matter the value to the customer.  Weak travelers easily fold under the relentless pressure of their presence and misleading statements.  On several occasions we have fallen into these spider webs and have learned the teachings delivered through our pocketbooks.  A second type of local exists, albeit in fewer numbers.  They perceive travelers as fellow human beings, not simply as a pay check.  They have been warm. generous and patient.  We have been treated like long lost friends and sometimes as close as family.  

Mr. Dara International Tiqu Tica, 

Seng, 

Sing  

These characters have brightened our spirits and have taught us to keep an open mind and open heart, because sometimes a tuk tuk driver can end up being so much more.  

Vietnam had left us feeling more and more like strangers in a strange world.  The hospitality of Thailand was far behind us and we yearned for a friendly smile from a local and our pocketbooks were looking forward to more fairly priced amenities.  Cambodia has proven the ability to deliver on both.

Months before the trip had begun I had a gut feeling that Cambodia would offer a full experience.  The country is rich in history, both ancient and recent.  Cambodia and it’s people were turned on its head 40 years ago and is still recovering from the atrocities committed under the rule of the Khmer Rouge.  Many shining examples of hope, education, entrepreneurship, and an overall sense of recovery exists throughout the country.  30 days later, we can barely say we scratched the surface.  Rapid development by Russian and Chinese interests will surely dictate the direction of this country, but I believe it would be difficult to strip such a culturally rich country of all of its identity.  

Cambodia has been such a consuming experience that we neglected to write much the entire time we were there.  Our reflections will be quite retroactive, but hopefully the time will afford us greater insight to our time in this incredible land.  We currently find ourselves in Tonsai, Thailand and the pace of life here is such to allow us time to post more about our travels.  

stay tuned…

Crossing the Vietnam/ Cambodia border with a load of ramen

Factory workers being shuttled home to their villages (near Phnom Penh) 

Royal palace in Phnom Penh

Skulls of victims of the Khmer Rouge (Choeung Ek Killing Fields, Phnom Penh)

Secluded beach Gulf of Thailand (Koh Kong)

Noodle soup master (Central Market, Siem Reap)

Stacey playing with local children (Angkor Wat)

Demons guarding the bridge into the ancient city

a

Vietnam part deux

Despite my 2 days of illness Hue proved to be a place with plenty of things to see and explore but it was time to head to Da Nang. 

We moved slowly on the train making our way from Hue to Da Nang with our mouths hanging open. The view of the ocean as we traveled through the mountains was a sight to be seen.  We went from tunnel to cliff  to tunnel over and over again for about an hour until we finally stopped.  We arrived in Da Nang and took a taxi to the beach as we had surfing on the brain and heard there are decent waves there.  The city of Da Nang is quite busy.  They have 3 very whimsical bridges  one of which looks like a dragon and the are all covered in LED lights.  I am a self proclaimed expert on bridges as a Pittsburgh resident.  

dragon bridge Da Nang

Ferris wheel in Da Nang 

Garrett read about a woman named Tam that had a surf shop/cafe around the beach so we decided to head straight to her shop to ask about renting surf boards.   We found our way to Tams and were immediately welcomed by Tam herself.  She asked us where we were from and when we told her the U.S., she was so excited and happy.  She told us that during the war her village was burned down and the villagers who refused to join the Vietcong were taken in by the American soldiers and they lived on the Army base.  Tam was 12 when she was relocated to the base.  She started telling us about her experience with the war and how she refuses to let people talk badly about the American’s involvement.  This was certainly a surprise to me but as Tam says,” there are two sides to every war.” This incredible woman sat with us telling us story after story and before we had realized, 4 hours had gone by! I’m not gonna write all of her stories here as it would be the longest blog post in history so if you want to hear them you’ll have to wait for us to get home. I strongly recommend asking us because she is truly amazing.  

We decided to get some lunch at the cafe while we listened to Tam’s stories.  She told us she make a world famous hamburger and we were intrigued.   Now Garrett and I had been trying our hardest to stay away from any “western” food while traveling but every now and then it’s nice to have a reminder of home.  We decided to go for it!  As a person who just started  eating red meat after 25 years, I can tell you this was a fine hamburger.

It was loaded with things and served on a fresh bun.   I had decided the ocean looked too sloppy for the surfing I was hoping to do but Garrett decided to go for it!  

Tam 

Garret and I spent 2 nights at the beach before jumping on a bus to the highly anticipated Hoi An.  We had heard you can literally have anything you want custom made by a local seamstresses. It’s a beautiful city separated into two parts by a river and joined by a small bridge where the locals sell lanterns that you float down the river.  It’s very pretty to watch tons of lanterns around sunset floating away down the steady river.  The next morning it was on! Hoi An is a shoppers paradise.  You want a 3 piece suit? No problem custom made to your measurements.  You want shoes, bags, leather products?  same same.  I couldn’t resist designing a shoe with custom fit and specifications.  After a day of running around from shop to shop we stopped for some lunch at the market.  This is when Cau Lau and stall 34 at the market came into our lives.  Cau Lau is a dish made with special noodles that are ONLY made in Hoi An.  The complexity of the noodles, the meat, the fresh greens and the sauce make it one of my top picks for dishes in SE Asia.  I could eat this every day.  

The next day, we decided take a cooking class.  They picked us up and took us to the local market and we shopped for the ingredients to make the 4 dishes we were about to prepare.  Garrett and I spend a lot of time wondering the local markets amazed at some the incredible things we see.  It was a perfect opportunity to ask all of the questions about the foods we had seen before but were unaware of their names.  We headed to the kitchen and it was time to learn how to prepare 4 dishes;  Gỏi cuốn (fresh spring rolls), Banh Xeo (sizzling crispy rice pancake), Bun Bo Xao (Beef noodle salad), Pho (noodle soup).  Many hours and 2 full bellies later, it was time to head back to the city for a few last clothing fittings.  

 

One of the major sights to see in Hoi An is the Japanese Covered Bridge.  This bridge was constructed in the early 1600’s as a way to link the Japanese with the Chinese across the stream as a symbol of peace.  There are a pair of dog statues guarding one entrance to the bridge and there are a pair of monkeys on the other side.  These animals are the zodiac signs of many Japanese emperors.

It is also thought the dog represents the year the bridge construction began and the monkeys represent the year it was finished.  Hopefully the bridge will be a tourist attraction for many years to come as it is so pretty.  A few days later, it was time to fly from Da Nang to Saigon.  

I’d like to start by saying Saigon is gigantic! I had no idea this gorgeous city is quite as big as it is.  The first day we woke up and headed out to walk around the city for the morning.  We walked all over looking at the hustle and bustle of a major Vietnamese city.  The driving in Vietnam is insane.  The joke about the driving in Vietnam is printed all over t shirts in gift shops everywhere:

     

Yes it’s a joke… kind of 

Every time you cross the street in Saigon you have to just go,  if you hesitate you will be stuck in the middle of the road while scooters and cars go whizzing by your body as fast as they can move. We passed by the Saigon Opera House and learned about the building and the performance currently running.  The very nice woman at the opera house told us about the subway they were working on building across the city.  A subway will really make Saigon an even more livable city and it will help relieve some of their traffic issues. 

The following day we headed to Independence Palace or also known as Reunification Palace.  It is the former home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the war.  In 1975 during the Fall of Saigon, the North Vietnamese Army crashed tanks through the front gates.  It was an interesting flashback to the late 60’s early 70’s.  

We spent Christmas in Saigon and went out for a nice dinner.  Christmas was a much bigger deal than we thought it would be.  The city was set up for a huge new years celebration and a taxi driver told me that “world new year” is a huge event in Saigon in addition to Tet (Vietnamese New Year). 


















We decided to spend the week of New years on the Island of Phu Quoc. We flew to the island a few days before new years eve. The island of Phu Quoc was much bigger than I had realized.  We rented a scooter as soon as we arrived and decided we’d spend a few days traveling around the island.  The first beach we checked out was Long Beach.  Long beach lives up to it’s name and goes for miles.  This was the most popular tourist area. There were tons of huge hotels and resorts.  

The next day we took the scooter and checked out the major construction on the island.  There are roads and resorts being built everywhere.  We were amazed at how much construction they are doing.  It is really spread out all over the island.  The next beach we headed to was Soa Beach.  This beach is a nice stretch of white sand and turquoise water. The only down side to the beaches of Phu Quoc was the intense amount of garbage on the beaches.  The pollution is due to fishermen and locals throwing their trash into the ocean.  Phu Quoc was a time to relax for us and we didn’t do that much there.  We did go on a snorkeling/ fishing trip and Garrett saw a bunch of different fish but I got out of the water after 10 minutes of getting stung in the face by tiny jelly fish.  During the fishing component to the boat trip, Garrett caught the biggest fish on out boat and a Russian guy told Garrett,” You Champion!” Oh ya, thats another thing about Phu Quoc, the amount of Russians there is incredible.  Many of the menus and signs on the island are written in Russian in addition to Vietnamese.  

New Years Eve dance party

New Years eve was a lot of fun.  We went to a resort and had all you can eat seafood bbq and then headed to a party with a dj on the beach.  It was a fun night of dancing and I’ll never forget the way we rang in 2015. The strangest thing about the celebration was that there were no fireworks.  As you Pittsburghers know, we love our fireworks.  It didn’t seem like a typical New Years but then again…it’s not!

New Years Eve

Sao Beach

Sao Beach

Baby Duck Lady at the market

  

Vietnam, Part 1

Rain and darkness greeted us in Vinh (pronounced “Wing”).  This was the first substantial amount of rain on our trip to date and the forecast promised plenty more.  The bus ride had left our bodies sore from the incessant twisting and turning of the mountainous roads and we were happy to decline the aggressive offers from the cab drivers.  We started walking down the street towards the bus station.  Along our walk, we were invited to join a group of friends eating snails and drinking local beer from a keg.  We happily obliged and shared a tiny seat at a tiny table using toothpicks to coax tiny snails from their tiny shells.  Our ability to speak and understand Vietnamese was still in its infancy and we relied on the international language of facial expressions and gesturing.  Vietnam was welcoming us with open arms. 

The train station was a 20 minute walk down the rainy sidewalks.  We declined several motorcycle taxi rides, which seemed like a soggy proposition in the drizzling rain.  Bus and train stations are easily distinguished by the ring of vendors aggressively selling snacks and refreshments.  After avoiding the sales pitches, we secured our tickets for the train ride to Hue (pronounced “Way”).  The train was departing just 20 minutes after we got our tickets, canceling any dinner plans.  Road weary and hungry, we reluctantly climbed onto the train.  

The platform had been full of university students returning home from a week of classes and our train was just as crowded.  Our seats were constructed of wooden slats and we sat two wide facing another bench that seated two passengers.  This resulted in half of the train car facing opposite to the direction of travel.  Along the wall of the car was a tiny table about the size of a sheet of paper and provided a valuable asset for catching some sleep later in the trip.  The first hour or two was fun and exiting as we sat and talked with the university students.  Once they had grown weary for struggling though speaking english to us, we were left with occasionally smiling politely as our eyes met.  After two or three stops, only the long distance travelers remained on the train and everyone was jockeying for a comfortable location to try and sleep.  A man of 70 (or older) curled his petite frame up on the hard bench, a woman with her two children slept on a mat provided by the train’s staff and another man had cleverly rigged a hammock between two benches and looked the most comfortable by far.  

Our slumber would be intermittently interrupted by a strange sound, shaking of the train, a stop at some unknown coastal town or just the inherent stiffness supplied by the wooden bench.  Earlier, I had asked the conductor to wake us once we had reached our stop and, luckily, he followed through.  We stumbled off the train and into the inky black night of rainy Hue.  We found ourselves in an unknown city with no accommodations, disoriented, groggy and extremely uncomfortable at 3:00 am.  Our taxi driver took us to a hotel where the night attendant was sleeping in the lobby.  Looking as tired as we felt, he showed us to our room and we slipped into a slumber that only a long travel day can offer.  Phonsovan, Laos to Hue, Vietnam was truly, a marathon day of traveling.

Hue, Vietnam was once the capital of the ancient Ngyuen Empire.  Several dynasties ruled the kingdom from this port town and built impressive monuments that testified to the richness of the land.  Arguably the most grand structure is located in the city of Hue.  The Citadel is a walled city ringed by a moat 100 feet wide.  Bridges allow access across the moat and through a gate.  The Citadel is surrounded by a 20 foot tall and 30 foot wide brick wall. An entire city can be found inside the citadel.  Clothing stores, restaurants, karaoke clubs and all other typical stores are all within the ancient city.  Deeper inside the wall is the Imperial City.  A second moat and a second wall restrict access to the royal grounds.  Entrance is permitted only through the West gate.  Three gates are under the pavilion guarding the entrance.  There is one large arched door with two smaller doorways on either side.  As is typical with the tombs we would later visit, the center door is only to be crossed by the emperor. 

Nearly 40 years of war have left much of the historical sites in Vietnam damaged, neglected or completely destroyed.  This was very much the case with the Imperial City.  The royal palace had been completely destroyed and nothing but a foundation remained.  This is also true with the gate that stretched in front of the wall that designates the royal family’s living quarters, known as the Purple City.  Crumbling walls, foundations of buildings filled the majority of the Purple City.  Only remnant structures remained: a covered walkway, the theatre, a reading room and library.  We observed some construction that looked like it was aiming at rebuilding the historical structures using traditional techniques standards. The Imperial City was a shadow of its former glory, representing the losses suffered between World War 2 and the end of the American War (referred to in the USA as the Vietnam War).

Traditional Vietnamese believe that the grave in which you are buried is your home for the afterlife.  Therefore, it is very important to be buried.  Simple graves have a hole in the middle of the grave that is filled with gravel.  Once a year, the family burns incense in the hole in hopes the spirit of the deceased will return and exit from the grave to join the family.  The royal graves are on a royal level.  One such grave we visited was surrounded by a 10 foot wall over a mile in length.  Inside the grounds are pavilions of worship as well as residences for the royal concubines, eunuchs and family members.  Elaborate gardens adorn the walkways between the structures.  The tombs themselves are within two more sets of walls and are only a symbol of the emperor’s final resting place.  The precise location of resting place remains a secret.  Tunnels originating from outside the tomb’s outer wall were constructed to the precise location inside the burial walls.  The workers were mentally disabled or blind so that they would not remember the exact location of the tomb, hence protecting the relics buried in the emperor’s underground palace.  The Vietnamese government does not permit any research regarding the location of the tomb out of respect for the traditional values of these ancient 
rulers.

The cold weather and long travel days began to catch up with Stacey.  After insisting she wasn’t getting sick, her body told other signs.  She ran a fever for two days and was unable to do much other than watch HBO in our comfortable hotel room.  I, however, could not escape the nagging reminder of the more recent history this area held… The Vietnam War.  

For most of my life, anytime the word “Vietnam” was used it was exclusively in relation to the civil war that America involved itself.  In order to get a grasp on the magnitude of the war I signed up for a tour to the demilitarized zone (DMZ), Vinh Moc and the U.S. military base, Khe Sahn.  

The van picked arrived at our hotel at 7 a.m. and we ran a circuit through Hue to pick up the other 13 travels that had booked the tour.  The DMZ lies about 60 miles to the North of Hue  along a road lined with rice patties, brushy forest and tiny little towns built on stilts.  Our van delivered us to our start of the tour in Dong Ha.  Our guide gave us a brief introduction to the tour and a rough timeline of the day to come.  We stopped first at an area where the Ho Chi Minh trail once passed.  The trees had succumbed to the proliferation of agent orange and the area consisted of a scrubby forest clawing back from eradication.  This location served as an important river crossing along the trail to support North Vietnamese troops in the South during the war.  

A couple quick shots of the area and we drove further up the valley to the Khe Sanh U.S. military base.  U.S. command knew that NVA soldiers in southern Vietnam must receive all their supplies by land from the North.  They constructed Khe Sanh as a forward operating base to disrupt this supply route and choke the southern NVA forces.  The terrain to the West (Laos) was mountainous and impassable, forcing the route to the Eastern slope of the mountain range.  Combined with US presence between the mountains and sea created a rock and a hard place for the NVA troops supply chain.  Khe Sanh saw the most action in 1968 when the NVA attacked with 3 divisions.  The base was supplied by cargo planes landing at first, then parachuting food and ammunition in once the fighting became to intense to land.  The base was held, with massive air support that flew aggressive bombing missions.  The US lost over 500 of the some 6,000 soldiers based at Khe Sanh, while estimates of NVA losses range from 7,000 to more than 15,000.

Very little remains of the original base.  A museum stands near the historic airfield that tells the story of Khe Sanh, written by the NVA perspective.  Visitors can walk through a handful of restored trenches and bunkers that American soldiers found shelter from NVA artillery.  Most of the structures were looted by locals after the US decommissioned the base, selling the metal for scrap or utilizing it in reconstructing their homes.  Coffee plantations now cover much of the former battlefields, restoring life to a once barren land littered with bomb craters.  Life appears to have returned to normal, however a visitor to this area can’t help but feel the lasting effects of the conflict that ended two generations ago.

 The war displaced thousands, if not millions of Vietnamese.  Those who weren’t fighting were often supporting either side through farming, ferrying supplies and providing intelligence on troop movements.  Many villages sought refuge from the aerial bombing underground, either in natural caves or manmade tunnels.  Vinh Moc tunnels lie on the Northern edge of the DMZ, along the coast of the South China Sea.  The tunnels took 18 months to build and reached a depth of over 60 feet, with three main levels.  The tunnels were built under the cover of thick bamboo and darkness, while the dirt was dumped into the sea to avoid detection from air reconiscence.  Villagers would stay in the tunnels for up to 5 days in alcoves designated for each family.  The tunnels were complete with a well, meeting hall and maternity ward in which 17 births occurred.  The Vinh Moc tunnels provide a testament to the strength, ingenuity and audacity of the Vietnamese people.

We exchanged dimly lit tunnels for sunlight and started back in our bus to Hue.  I heavily reflected on the impacts of the war and the pure struggle that many people here experienced, and continue to experience.  Having known nothing but war for so long, Vietnam appears to be finally recovering, both emotionally and economically from years of conflict.  Young and old alike have truly made us welcome in this ancient land.


Images from the market in Hue