Dong Ha

I left Andy's early and walked down the street in the hope of flagging down a Xe Om driver. Of course as usually happens when you want something it's not there and I had to walk for a bit before I saw one. Then I had to struggle to make him understand where I wanted to go, it was only when he tried to drop me off at the train station and a taxi driver helped us that he took me to the bus station. I got there and the touts were out, I was grabbed by a woman and when she found out where I was going, she told me to follow her. I was doing just that and asked how much it was, the driver, it turned out, told me 200,000 VND, easily double the fare posted inside the to station. I didn't stop to argue and walked straight inside and bought a ticket, while I was at the desk the driver came in and starting putting me down to the ticket clerk, I stood and smiled. Then the female conductor started giving the driver hell as well, I think that they prefer to take the money themselves and keep a larger share of the profits. Other than this it was an uneventful journey to Dong Ha and I was glad to arrive there. Again my guide book is out of date, another bus station has moved further out of town. One of the Xe Om drivers told me that it was just another kilometre to the old bus station so I decided to walk. A local came up to me and gave me a lift into town for free. I went to a place recommended by the guide but it looked so dingy that I didn't want to stay there, I went down the street to another hotel and got a nice room. I wandered around the city for the afternoon, again feeling very conspicuous, everyone was pointing and staring. I found somewhere to have lunch, then a coffee and went back to the hotel for a nap. I arranged a tour of the DMZ for the next day. It was an uneventful evening, the town closed down very early. I didn't see any large coffee shops like there are in Phan Thiet. Despite the hotel being on Highway one it wasn't very well lit and I didn't feel very safe there. I had dinner near by and spent the evening watching T.V. in my room. I met my driver, Tin, the next morning and he took me to the local war museum, I loved it. There were a few weapons and American vehicles outside. The ground floor was dedicated to the local ethnic groups, the upper floor to the American War, specifically what had happened in the local area. The DMZ was an area created in the 50's pending full elections in the south, which the northern Vietnamese Communist party were expected to win. It was supposed to be a buffer between the north and south but ended up being the scene of some of the worst fighting during the war. My main goal was to see the Vinh Moc tunnels, the locals dug these to escape the American bombing. Tin led me around and down, he was great and kept me calm especially after I explained that if he scared me, I would hit him. I can't get over how many people they crammed into the tunnels, I don't think I could do it bu then I don't have the motivation that they did. Our route took us onto Highway one, something I am never happy about but once again I survived. I think that I have spent more time on the back of a motorbike on this trip than I did in my whole two years of living here. We stopped at a military cemetery, I had noticed a couple on my way to Dong Ha. A lot of the headstones had no name on, just unknown soldier. It was sad of course and seems so stupid. After Tin dropped me off in town I walked out to the bus station, unfortunately the buses going north don't go from there. Another helpful Xe Om driver pointed me to the other side of town, across the river so I walked there. I couldn't find the other bus station so figured I would just flag a bus down the next morning. I had another walk around town and then dinner across the street, it was another early night. I was standing outside of the hotel the next morning when another guest came out and talked to me, he was so convinced that I was standing in the wrong place that he and his friend took me to the bus station. I really did try to explain that the buses don't go from there but he wouldn't take my word for it. Of course when we got there, they all told him the same thing. His friend kindly took me back past the hotel and to the other side of the river and dropped me off. There was a bus and a few people waiting at a petrol station and they waved me over. Then that driver stopped another bus going to Vinh and we got on that and I was on my way to Dong Hoi and Phong Nha cave.