Joey and I were loving the laid back atmosphere of Hue and we thought it would be a good idea to experience what the town of Hue has to offer. We signed up for a boat cruise/bus tour that took us to all the "exciting" sites of Hue. It was a cheap tour (only 6USD for the whole day including lunch) so we knew what we were getting into. Honestly, we were both regretting not bringing books. The weather was dismal and the boat went 5km/h up the river. Ok, so I'm making it sound pretty horrible, but I guess I could say there were some good things too. We got to go by a fisherman's village which was kind of neat. You could see the people living on their boats and going to their neighbours in a dinghy. It was interesting to see Vietnam from a boat perspective. The whole tour was about going to different places a long the way, such as the Perfume Pagoda which was very nice. The other sites we visited we had to pay additional money to see, and being the cheapies we are, we went on our own adventures. We took pics of cows, tried sneaking across walls to take pics of the tomb or temple the group was visiting, and just going for mini hikes. It turned out to be a fun day because we did our own thing and didn't spend much money!
The next day we went on the DMZ tour. Hue and the surrounding towns were De Militarized Zone in the Vietnam war. A DMZ is an agreed upon piece of land where there shouldn't be any fighting. Unfortunately this area still saw it's fair amount of fighting. Land mines, bombs and other explosives are still very much a reality. People still die every month. Sometimes kids will even think a bomb is a toy and play soccer with it. Others take the gun powder from the bombs and go fishing with it. Agent Orange was a chemical that was heavily blanketed on the area has affected 3 generations of family with cancer, mutations and disabilities. The amount of crippled and specials needs people is one thing we have noticed since being in the central part of Vietnam.
On the tour we saw the Ho Chi Minh trail which is a trail used by the communist revolutionists of North Vietnam to get their ammunition, food, and supplies from the Laos border. It's now a paved road, and most of it still remains in Laos. On the way there we got to drive through minority villages. Most of the people in these villages are farmers and do as much as they can to live off the land. They live in houses on stilts which I thought was pretty neat. I thought it was interesting that the people living in these villages get free health care and education from the government when families that live in cities are left to fend for themselves. Vietnam is a communist country, but obviously it's not perfect.
One of our favourite stops were the Vin Moch tunnels. Vin Moch is a huge range of tunnels that go as far as 30 meters below ground. A village of 60 families lived in this tunnels during the day for 6 years. Each family was giving a room that was 2x2metres large. 4-5 people lived in each room. There was one toilet for 400 people! The tunnel was dark, humid and very wet. I can't imagine living here for 6 years. The network of tunnels was quite impressive and well thought out. There was a hospital, a school, a meeting room, and enough room for everyone. It was definitely not designed for tall people! My neck was hurting by the end of it.
The tour went from 6 am to 6 pm and by the end of it, we were so sick and tired of sitting on a bus! It felt good to get to our hotel and eat some real food at a restaurant nearby. We went to Lac Thuans restaurant which is recommended by Lonely Planet. It is run by a deaf guy and his family. He is a super sweet man who always has a smile on his face. He made both Joey and I one of his special beer bottle openers which is a well engineered piece of wood with a bolt on it. Haha. We thought it was pretty funny. During our dinner we were also visited by two rats and a gecko. Unfortunately, I think we're gonna have to get used to that.
That night I ended up buying a dress from a local tailor. They made it for me that night. It's a beautiful cotton wrap around dress and I got it for only $15. It fits me perfectly. There are a lot of amazing tailors here, but I've decided that I've got an amazing tailor at home (I'm talking about you, Grandma Sandra) who will lovingly make me anything I want :). I am thinking of buying fabric here and bringing it home so she can make me something beautiful.
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