Vietnam 4: DMZ Tunnels and Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park

We departed this morning for the four hour trip to the Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park.  We made our first stop along the way at the Quang Tri Citadel.  In the small museum, they showed what the walls had looked like after the Vietnam War, before they were restored.

At the border between the north and the south of Vietnam, there was a bridge that crossed the river at the border.  

We continued on to the Vinh Moc Tunnels.  We were shown a small shelter that was a replicate of what the local people used when being shelled by the Americans.  We then went through two levels of tunnels.  These are tunnels that were lived in from 1966 until 1973, if I correctly remembered what our guide told us.  A handful of children were delivered in the caves, and they either didn't survive or ended up with mental conditions.  After seeing the tunnels, I can understand why.

On the drive, we spoke with our guide, Lee, about different topics related to his home country.  We learned that although there is resistance to accepting gay people overall, cities are much more accepting and people don't care.  When it comes to learning history, Lee used the internet as a resource to challenge the stories that he had been told in school, along with information from relatives who had been in the war.  We learned that Ho Chi Minh changed his name multiple times, taking his new name, "Ho," from someone who had saved him from being killed while being imprisoned.  "Chi" meant something along being good and/or wise.  He had no family and no children, and is referred to as the people's "uncle." Most of his friends have challenged school taught beliefs, but he has had to let some of them go because of their inability or unwillingness to consider facts that he had discovered, in order to challenge these beliefs.  He told us a story of how an American war veteran broke down and apologized to him for what we had done regarding the war.  Lee's response was that there was no right or wrong and that it was much more nuanced than that.  He is still in contact with that family today.

Just before entering the national park, we ate an incredibly lunch at a lake house resort.  This was originally the place that we were told we should stay.  While beautiful, it was not close enough to the park and the caves for me, so I pushed for something closer.  

We ended up staying at a local farmstay.  We have our own cottage, which is our biggest room of the trip by far.  The view of the mountains are incredible.  Walking nearby, we found water bison walking to a nearby watery sinkhole.  

Tomorrow, we venture into the caves.