Hue was once the capital of Vietnam (for a few hundred years), and it has some interesting sites in its own right. Nestled along the Perfume River, it is also a good jumping off point for viewing sites in the DMZ. There is an old citadel and emporers' tombs, but we are primarily going to Hue to learn more about the war and absorb the sights near the DMZ. First, we needed to get there from Ninh Binh, and that meant we had to take our first overnight bus ride.

This bus ride positively sucked. From Ninh Binh to Hue, we had an 11-hour overnight extravaganza. The bus was a little late, and when we finally got on, it looked like there were only two seats left, neither of them anywhere near each other. At the last second, a couple indicated that they were told that the bus was overbooked, and that in Ninh Binh they would need to move to the floor. So, without further ado, we took their seats, and they got cozy on the floor. I felt bad for them, so I gave the girl my pillow.

A few hours into the ride, I was so hot and so uncomfortable that I wasn't sure how I would get through the night with any sleep. Once again our "air-conditioned" bus was just blowing lukewarm air.

Bev was closer to the window, which meant she could get a little cool air. Unfortunately, the Vietnamese man behind her didn't seem to like the window, so he and Bev began an out and out battle for window supremacy. Bev would open the window, begin to cool down, start to relax, and then WHAM! The window would shut, and we would look back at the guy behind us, who would pretend to be sleeping. This happened four or five times. I stared back at the guy waiting to catch him in the act. While I looked, he didn't move. This worked until I turned back around, and then a few minutes later, WHAM! The window closed. Sigh.

Okay, now we were hot, and I was pretty uncomfortable in my seat. Bev passed out finally, but she was putting out massive quantities of heat. I needed to cool off. So, I looked down at the astro-turf covered aisle…it looked good. It looked cooler…it looked more comfy…and I made my move. I slid out of my seat, landed with an inaudible thud on the floor, and I stretched out. It was cooler. It was comfy. The gentle rocking actually helped me sleep. Man, this felt gooooood. Everything was good for about 1 hour, and then I smelled something.

The ungodly stench of someone's wretched toe-jam laden foot made its way to my nostrils. I tried to move away, but any direction I moved my head just put me closer to someone else's wretched nasty foot. I ended up just putting my face in my shirt and covering my head with my arm. I fell back asleep for a bit, and then we pulled into a rest stop at around 3AM.

More guys got on at the rest stop and filled up the aisles. Guys like these seem to just hop on the bus without tickets and hop off at unscheduled stops. They use the tourist bus system as their personal lines, and their buddies who drive the buses give them free trips. From 3AM until we rolled into Hue at around 8:30, it went pretty smoothly, except I lost my coveted aisle sleeping spot.

When we arrived in Hue, there were throngs of hotel reps vying for our business, but luckily, the guy from our hotel, Hoang, was there and ready to escort us. At first, we thought it was really nice that these guys come to greet us, and then we realized that it is a necessity for business. If they don't find their guests and whisk them away, someone else will undercut them.

We got to our hotel, and the room was fine. We grabbed a bite and then worked on catching up on our lost sleep. Later, we made plans to head out to the DMZ the next day.

We met Melissa and Laura, two childhood friends from Canada and the US respectively, who were traveling together in Vietnam. Laura joined us on the DMZ trip. We went to the Vinh Moc tunnels, where villagers hid during US attacks, planned the war effort, and shuttled supplies past the DMZ down to the south along the Ho Chi Minh trail. 12, 17, and 23 meters deep, the three layers of tunnels were absolutely amazing. There were living quarters, meeting rooms, rest areas, maternity wards, kitchens, and bomb bunkers. They even managed to use a hole created by a 500 lb US bomb that never exploded. They diffused and removed the bomb and created an airshaft out of the hole it left!

We walked through these tunnels, popping out along the beach or on a hillside periodically. We learned that they took about eight months to build this system of tunnels, which met up with approximately 42 other tunnels to create an impressive communications and supply chain system. The villagers would dig each day, and then they would disperse the dirt all around the outlying areas, to be sure the Americans wouldn't see piles of dirt and suspect anything. Villagers and VC lived in these tunnels for 7 years. 17 babies were born there, and the US shot at the shore and bombed the compounds periodically, blindly. The US suspected the area might be an enemy stronghold, but they didn't know where to look.

After experiencing the tunnels, we drove back to Hue, over the bridge on the Ben Hai River, which separated the North from the South via the DMZ. One side of the bridge used to have the North's colors, while the other had the South's, but shortly after reunification in 1975, the North took over the other half of the bridge.

We spent our last night in Hue walking along the Perfume River on the way to and from dinner, and then we packed up for an early departure to Hoi An.