Hue

After the Ha Long bay tour i went back to Hanoi for 2 days. But after having been with loads of people for the last week i got a bit bored. I bought an open-bus ticket to get me to Saigon stopping at Hue, Hoi An and Nha Trang. Although i bought a seated ticket i some how ended up on the much more expensive sleeper bus for the 13 hour journey from Hanoi to Hue (for no extra cost) which was pretty cool. On first day in Hue i got a motorbike tour of the city and beyond. It was fun and i saw lot's of stuff but it was hard work making sure he didn't rip me off. Today i did a tour of the Demilitarized Zone which involved some army bases, monuments, bridges and a lot of time in the bus. However the main reason i did the tour was to visit the Vinh Moc tunnels. Basically during the Vietnam War the Americans launched a 24/7 bombing campaign of The Ho Chi Minh trail and laos to prevent the liberation army (vietcong) moving troops and supplies though the country by bombing the crap out of them. This bombing campaign lasted several years and I think cost the Americans $2 million a day. So to escape the bombs the Vietnamese built a vast tunnel network under ground that included meeting rooms, living quarters, hospitals and bomb shelters. The tunnels are very small and some go down to over 20 meters but they were pretty cool. Unfortunately, the tour there was fairly brief so we only got 20 minutes inside the tunnels. It was more than enough for some other people though!!!