First day of cycling in Vietnam. It’s much different than in Thailand that’s for sure. The roads are pretty bad here – lots of pot holes, dirt section, and no shoulder. And the buses and trucks with their horns were nearly deafening. There were some scenic spots though when I finally got out of Hue’s suburbs…some nice rice fields and surrounding mountains and eventually when I got to Lang Co the South China Sea. The place where I’m staying is right on the beach – it’s a nice spot but the beach here is nothing like in Thailand. It looks a lot like the Jersey shore actually – brownish water with a lot of waves. Cool to see the coast of Vietnam though.
I met 2 guys on motorbikes today (American I think). Other than that it was just me and the Vietnamese. They are definitely not as friendly as the Thai people here. Mostly they just stared at me as I rode past. Not many smiles and far fewer hellos. I have to say that my impression of the Vietnamese people so far is that they are generally unfriendly and extremely greedy. All they want is our money and they don’t make any effort to sugar-coat it. It’s a strange feeling…so many people just sticking out their hand and saying’give me money’ (in a really rude and pretty mean tone) when I walk the streets. Many other travellers that I met in Thailand told me that they liked Vietnam the least of all countries and SE Asia and now I see why for myself. Perhaps it has something to do with their experiences with Americans here during the war…I don’t know. It’s one of those things though that you have to experience and decide on your own. I’m still enjoying seeing the country and learning more about the history and culture. But the people themselves have not impressed me.
Anyway tomorrow I continue south over a killer mountain pass and then into the warm climate of South Vietnam.
Miles biked today: 42.13 (66.6 km)
Time: 3 hour 30 min
Relaxing after my first day of cycling in Vietnam
The beaches of Lang Co, Vietnam
February 3rd, 2002
Getting ready to ride tomorrow…I’m in Hue which is a town on the coast about 600 km south of Hanoi and 900 km north of Saigon. I took the night train down here and arrived yesterday. Met a nice Aussie mother/daughter on the train and we wound up going to the same hotel to get rooms. We also booked a tour of the former DMZ…that is the demilitarized zone or the 17th parallel that divided the North and the South in the Geneva Agreement many, many moons ago. There was a lot of activity in that area during the war hence the reason for the tour. So we left on a bus at 6am and headed north to the DMZ.
We eventually got to Highway 9 which is an east-west road running towards Laos that the Americans used extensively during the war to set up bases and look-out points. We saw 2 former air strips, although there is no evidence of any of it because the US bombed and destroyed all of it when they retreated so that the VC couldn’t come in and use any of their stuff. We stopped at Rocky Ridge which was a famous look-out point for the US and there was a US veteran from the war on our tour (with his wife) who had been stationed on the ridge and this was his first time back since 1968. He said he wanted to climb up the ridge and look for his old bunker.
Continuing along Highway 9 we were told of the massive use of Agent Orange in this area and how the hillsides look nothing like they did 25 years ago. Only now are some bushes and shrubs growing back, but before it was a thick, green jungle. Also the whole area is still so loaded with land mines that it is unsafe to walk anywhere off the road. In the first ten years after the war there were over 10,000 land mine injuries in that area alone, and those were the ones that were reported in the hospital (there were probably actually twice as many). Pretty somber stuff.
We then went to the Khe Sanh Combat Base, a former US air base in the mountains just 20 km from the Lao border where 500 US soldiers and 10,000 South Vietnamese soldiers were killed by the VC just a week before the famous Tet Offensive. Then we drove back to the coast where Highway 9 meets Highway 1, and here our tour guide told us that there are still so many bodies buried from the war that even now, anytime someone builds a new house they are still finding bodies.
Just north up the coast we arrived at the Ben Hai River which marks the actual DMZ – looking south across the river is the former South Vietnam and standing on the northern bank is the former North Vietnam. No evidence of it now except a statue on the north side of the river.
Finally we went to the Vinh Moc Tunnels made by this village of Vietnamese people on the coast. Their village was bombed heavily during the war and they dug out underground tunnels to hide and wait out the various bombing missions over a period of 5 years. It was an amazing system of tunnels with 3 levels, a well for drinking water, and 10 different exits to the beach and ground above. At it’s height there were 500 people hiding out there and during those 5 years 17 babies were even born in the tunnels. Talk about a will to survive! That was the best part of the tour.
Eventually we got back to Hue at 7pm and I went out for some excellent Indian food with some people I had met on the tour. Two of them are heading north to Hanoi, one is heading west to Laos, and I am heading south to Saigon. It’s cloudy and cool and I’m just hoping that it doesn’t rain for my first day back on the bike.
Touring the temples in Hue
Rocky Ridge, near the former DMZ line
The site of the former US air strip at Khe Sanh Combat Base
February 2nd, 2002