Monday 7th November 2022
Today we’ve got a private car to take us through the DMZ to Dong Hoi, where we’ll get the onward train to Cho Sy. It’s around the same price as doing a tour from Hue to the DMZ but means we’ll end up further north, and much closer to our next destination of Ninh Binh.
Our first stop was the Hien Luong Bridge, over the Ben Hai River. It’s on the 17th parallel, marking the old border between North and South Vietnam. There are now monuments on each side of the bridge, on the northern bank a huge flagpole and on the southern bank the “Desire for a Unified Country” monument. There’s also a museum with some interesting photographs and relics from the war, but unfortunately there’s very little English text (most of the informational plaques are in Vietnamese only).
We then drove further north, to Vinh Moc Tunnels. We’ve already visited Cu Chi Tunnels, when we were in Saigon, so I wasn’t sure if this would be worth it. I’m very glad we did decide to visit though, as I actually preferred the Vinh Moc Tunnels. When we arrived, we watched a documentary film, which lasted about 30 minutes and was extremely informative and much better than the video they showed at Cu Chi tunnels (which was very hard to read the subtitles).
After the video, we went to explore the tunnels. At Cu Chi, there are a lot of staff around and they’re very particular about where you can go (I don’t think you’re even allowed inside any of tunnels without a guide), whereas here there’s someone that tells you which order you should visit them in, but then you’re left to your devices.
Before we got to the first tunnel entrance, we saw one of the deep shafts that they used for digging out the tunnels.
I hadn’t realised quite how close we were to the sea until we rounded a corner and had a beautiful view over the bay.
We followed the path until we reached the entrance to tunnel 3, which we’d been advised to enter first. These tunnels are very different to the ones at Cu Chi. The Vinh Moc tunnels were built to move a whole village underground, sage from American bombing, whereas Cu Chi were primarily built for Vietcong fighters. As such, the Vinh Moc tunnels were much taller and wider. Depending on how tall you are, you sometimes have to duck a little but you don’t have to crawl along them. There are also little compartments off to the side, which (as we’d learned from the video) each housed a family from the village. It was truly remarkable to imagine them actually living here, in the damp, dark underground tunnels.
Soon the tunnel branched into two, with one of the routes leading right onto the beach.
We walked along the seafront until we reached the entrance to tunnel 10. We couldn’t get far inside however, as it was completely flooded (and we didn’t want to get wet feet!). Not sure if this was just because we’re here at the end of the rainy season.
We backtracked to tunnel 3, and took the other branch. This led to us going further underground, to the level that houses communal spaces. We walked through the meeting room – although it looked more like a meeting corridor!
We continued and descended yet another level, to level 3, which is the deepest one In Vinh Moc tunnels. Here we found a drinking well and bathroom.
We again reached a flooded area, and had to backtrack to another point at which the tunnel had branched. We followed it to the exit, which was also the entrance to tunnel 5.
We then got back into the car and continued the journey to Dong Hoi. Here we had a late lunch / early dinner at Sophie Homy Cafe & Food. It’s got a high rating on google, so I disappointed that the food was very mediocre. On the positive, it’s extremely convenient for the station, and the owner was very friendly.
We walked the short distance to the station, which was actually very impressive – it even had a water feature on the platform!
As usual, we chose second class seats for our journey to Cho Sy station. Again, it was a comfortable journey with plenty of leg room and regular drinks and snacks trolleys passing through the carriage.
Cho Sy station is in the small town of Dien Chau. It’s a bit of a random choice, as it’s not at all touristy. However we chose it because the train doesn’t get into Ninh Binh until 02.30am and I was also intrigued to see a small, tourist free, Vietnamese town. Grab doesn’t work here, but luckily there were taxis at the station to take us to our hotel. We arrived late at night, so after checking in went straight to bed.
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 