Day 36 2nd jan

We depart today in good spirits... Everything gone will with the bike.... Nothing needs any welding, it's just start it up, load it up, and off we go....

We are heading from Dong Hoi - 152 km south to Hue..... Half will be done on another section of the Ho Chi Minh trail where we will make a stop to view the "Vinh Moc tunnels" which were used in the Vietnam war...

The Ho Chi Minh is as stunning as yesterday and we effortlessly count down the miles, oblivious of the distance, distracted by the environment we are lucky enough to be in....

We cross the Bến Hải River towards the end of the Ho Chi Minh trail and this signifies our crossing from North Vietnam and our arrival in South Vietnam.

Finding specific places within Vietnam is harder than you'd think... Roads have names or numbers like at home, only the road names can be the same bar one letter and the numbering system looks like it's been changed at sometime so lots of roads have a choice of two numbers..... And there's no English on 99.9% of the signs...

We head in what can only be described as the very general direction of the tunnels and more by luck than judgment we stumble across a sign on the main Highway 1 that says Vinh Moc tunnels.

We turn off the road and go the the direction of the tunnels.... There only was one sign, but after 15km we have found the tunnels....

Vinh Moc is a village area south of the Bến Hải River within the Provence of Quang Tri that was along with its neighbouring Provence of Quang Bihn north of the Bến Hải River completely flattened in the Vietnam war.... But the Vinh Moc tunnels survived and are open to the public.... We pat sound a pound to enter... And after a short walk through a small wooded area with pot marked ground from dropped bombs we find the tunnel entrance...

Armed with a torch on our phone we enter the unknown....

The tunnel complex is large... And deep.. Surprisingly deep, the hight is around 160cm him and 60cm wide and made entirely of earth witch appears reddish in colour.... There are some lights down in the tunnel but they only cover a small percentage of the tunnels.... There are tunnel walkways everywhere... They just disappear off into the darkness.... Your not given a map, or a guild, you just find your own way around.... Shiree is a little uneasy and pretty reluctant to deviate from the light tunnel paths but with phone in hand I'm more keen.... We wonder around down there for a while... Shiree staying in a light section whilst I venture off to explore and then retracing my steps to meet her again... After a while Shiree sees the light at the end of the tunnel and she dicides she's had enough so makes her way out, leaving me to explore myself.... We had passed a guilder tour going in the other direction so once on my own I decided to walk the the same direction that they had gone a few minutes previous... The tunnel complex itself is large, and built into its design in the first place were dead ends and false floors... The false floors are no longer there, but the dead ends are.... It's very easy to get disoriented down there.... I'd traveled down this once path for what felt like ages.... There were many tunnels off of the walkway I had chosen, and natural bends in the tunnel I was in and they were all unlit... After a few more mins of walking a decided to head back.... It's surprisingly hot in the tunnels and feeling just a little isolated down there a set out on trying to retrace my steps.... Thankfully a somehow remembered my route and exited via the same route that Shiree did.... This was first good, then bad.... The exit lead into the beach..... And I could not see Shiree anywhere... I'd spent a fair bit of time down in the tunnel on my own, so having exited the tunnel where Shiree was supposed to be and not finding her put me in a bit of a position... I didn't know where she was.... This exit was not where we had entered the tunnel system and was some 30 meters down a cliff face on the beach.... We needed to be exiting the tunnel on top of the cliff and there was no overland path to take you up....

I walked the beach looking for another way up.... One I'd expect Shiree to of taken, but there were only other tunnel entrances.... I decided to re-enter the tunnel where I'd first come out and try to find our original entering point.... Its a total maze down there and 80% of it is in complete darkness.... I can only assume that upon finding the beach Shiree must have re-entered the tunnel in search of our original entrance point too... Following the lights that I quickly found in the tunnel lead me out if the original tunnel entrance.... Still no Shiree... It had been 40 minutes since I last saw her and I'm beginning to get worried.... Thankfully she is by the bike, having found another tunnel exit point buy following the lights in another direction...

The tunnels were larger than is expected and they went much deeper into the ground.... They have steps in them leading down a long way and as I found out.... The tunnels are very long.... Tons and tons and tons of earth must of been removed using the most primitive of tools....

Its a real testament to the absolute dedication of the Vietnamese in building this tunnels, they really are quite incredible.

We found defensive hideouts in the tunnels and the openings where false floors would have been.... Over sharp metal spikes......

This place is a little off the tourist map, and could be much much busier if managed a little better, but we are glad it was quiet... It gave at a feel of reality..

We just back on the bike and head off.... Now in search of a war cemetery.... The boarder was the focus of a lot of fighting and there are a reasonable amount of points of interest in the area, but it's just the tunnels and cemetery we are looking for... There close to each other and literally on our route so they fit in well....

After spending 30 or 40 mins liking for the cemetery we give us..... We've been on and off the bike looking at maps more times that I care to mention, and with time getting on we call it a day and head south... Almost as soon as we start heading to Highway 1 to continue our journey to Hue we find the cenertery.... Its massive, there are thousands and thousands of head stones here..... We look at row after row of them and notice that some rows all have the same message on them.... The translator informs us there "unknown martyr" but most have the persons details inscribed....

We now have to make tracks.... We have a three hour ride to Hue and only just three hours of sunlight lift to we cover as much found as we can as quickly as we can....

We enter Hue in good time and it's like stepping back into Hanoi... There are bikes everywhere..... The pace if life here is much faster than in the Ho Chi Minh trail that's for sure.... We ride past the Citadel on our way into central Hue... There's a huge Vietnamese flag flying high in the sky from the Citadels defensive town and it all looks very imposing and impressive....

We find our hotel easily...... Shiree's now become an expert map reader, and having already booked the hotel we have an address to look for....

The hotels called Jade Hotel and it's lovely.... A little cheaper than last nights but all round nicer... We are back into civilisation at last.... The rooms clean and modern and we like it..... We are soon showered and out the door for lunch.... One advantage of being off the tourist routes is you don't have people trying to sell you something every 20 seconds.... Hue is obviously a tourist trap and its locals are hungry for your money....

We end up stopping into a pub to get away from everyone.... Its a busy lively bar and we have a couple of drinks... We were looking for a specific restaurant for dinner but end drinking to much here and finally ordering food here too before heading back to the hotel for bed..... On initial inspection I like Hue....

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vịnh_Mốc_tunnels