Day 3 - The Past Remembered
This day is also one I hesitate to say was 'fun' but it was definitely educational and important, IMO. We were visiting both the War Remnants Museum and Cu Chi Tunnels before flying to Da Nang. We would be able to have liquids in our carry-ons, but absolutely no batteries could be checked. We had to make sure shavers, toothbrushes, the whisper devices etc were all in carry-on.
Our guides also let us know at this point that we would need to hand over our passports to them for much of the trip to allow them time to do all of our visa paperwork for Laos and Cambodia. Tonight would be the first stint without them and in reality we held on to them very little until we were in Cambodia. We usually got them back just long enough to get through customs and then straight back to Tony on the other side.
It was another early day, with luggage out by 6:30am and checked out and on the bus by 7:30am. It was kind of hard to believe we were ALREADY leaving Ho Chi Minh! I was glad we had the added day on the front or I'd have felt like we saw very little of the city so far. Goodbye, hotel!
The drive was blissfully short compared to yesterday, and we were there by 8am. On the drive we continued to see folk building elaborate displays for the new year and lots of flowers and trees being sold and carried home by scooters in fascinating ways.
I took very few pictures at and none from within the museum or tunnel area... it just did not feel right to me. Architecture aside it is very sensitive material after all. We had about 45 minutes to visit the museum at our own pace.
Folks were welcome to stay in the courtyard and not go in at all if they wished, which would mean they would not have to see images of the war, just various planes and tanks that were used in it. They also had a bell that was made out of an artillery shell.
We did go inside, and as expected it is told from the side of North Vietnam with us as the aggressors, with many, many images of what our troops did to their populations of innocents including the effects of agent orange. It also covered the atrocities that happened to American and other journalists who were trying to get word back home of what was happening. I did not have time to read everything, so we read some, slowly walked past others, and tried to keep in mind this was a highly controversial war and it is amazing we were as welcome as we were considering how relatively recently this all went down. Very little of this war was covered in any of my history books in school, and I admit I even now know very little about it, especially when it comes to what it did to nearby countries and its ripple effects.
At about 8:45 we reboard the bus for an hour and a half ride to the tunnels. Thankfully the time did not balloon as we drove and we really did arrive about 10:30am. Even here there were signs of Tet... my only photo showing we really did make it there.
Here Tony was able to walk us around and so we put back on our whispers and filed in. He narrated the entire time once again, which was impressive and sobering... he and his family have been through much before, during, and after the war.
ABD is very lucky to have him lead this tour as I am not sure they'd find someone else who went through so much willing to share so openly and without any anger or spite about it.
To enter you have to go down a very long ramp/tunnel that goes down and then up to enter the area and at this point some of the more infirm folk unforunately had to turn around and go right back to the bus as they realized it would be too much walking. It was also warmer than the day before, or maybe it was just that we weren't right by the river?
We only had an hour here as well, which both felt like enough time and not enough time. The place was packed with tour groups, and they had multiples of every exhibit it seemed, from the booby traps, to the pits soldiers could quickly hide in covered with leaves to pop out on enemy troops. They demonstrated all of these, and had some fake camps set up as well showing where they would cook and such, and dummies showing what they wore, how they made their special sandals, etc. We were all given the opportunity to go down into a tunnel and crawl through to see what it was like also. At one point you walk close to an artillery range and it gets quite loud there and I imagine triggering if you suffer from PTSD. I had to put in earplugs myself as my watch once again showed me just how loud it was..!
Before long we hightailed it out of there and were on our way to lunch at 11:30am, which was ontime. The bus driver and guides were all keen to head to the aiport at 12:30 to make certain we'd be on time for our 3:30pm flight to Da Nang which makes me wonder if we originally would have had more time at either or both places. Lunch was at Ben Nay Restaurant which was close by, and we quickly filled up the row of little gazebos by the water. Once again everything was served family style and consisted of various meats, vegetables, and appetizers. Neither I nor Kyle took any pictures here either of the food... eating in a group setting like this makes us both a little self conscious of doing that publicly. Its kind of rude to interrupt or slow folk down when they're hungry!
During lunch I overheard another table mention one of the guests was having a migraine so I offered my medication if it was something she used, but she politely declined. Later on that night I would realize I actually didn't pack any... which would make the first (and I hope only) medical mistake I make on a trip! I NEVER forget my meds... or at least never did until now... I had been lucky the last few weeks and hadn't had any, so perhaps it wasn't front of my mind as it usually is. For now though I was blissfully unaware as we began the two hour bus ride to the airport. Today was also a lot of bus-ing, but at least we were able to keep within estimates and we did indeed make it to the airport by 2:30... just for our flight to be a little delayed. We were on flight 134 with Vietnam Airlines and thankfully it was just a little delayed; we landed in Da Nang at around 5:15 to... no bus.
Apparently the bus was also running late, so they asked us to take a bus that was already at the airport. We all dutifully tromped a long way through the terminal and parking lot to it before Doug realized there was no way we were all going to fit on that bus - it was far too small! So we all hung around chatting and waiting while he got on the phone to see what could be done. It turned out the answer was wait for the original bus, so wait we did, until about 6:10 when it finallly arrived! Fom there it was a mere 20 minutes to the hotel, and once we arrived we were told we cold go to dinner anytime we wanted up until the restaurant closed. For this departure we were at the Hyatt Regency Danang Resort and Spa which is along the beach with other resorts (and resorts that were being built before covid hit and they were abandoned). They greeted us with a welcome drink and the guides quickly started handing keys out to us tired and mosquito bitten (ok maybe that part was just me) adventurers. We were led to our room and I was about to start taking pictures when I heard the door open behind me and another couple came in! What?!
We thought it was a one off at first before we realized the room next to us also appeared double booked... as we started heading back to the lobby Doug was already trying to gather folks back up so we could start over. Turns out our room was for neither of us, but we were swiftly given the key to the right room. Oddly we only received one key which made me nervous but I did not notice at first as the hotel staff insisted on taking the key and marching us to the room again. Once we were there I realized the other key was still missing, and more importantly that neither bolt actually locked. Given the mixup I wasn't really happy about this... I wanted to be sure if someone tried to use the other key they wouldn't be able to get in, at least when we were in the room, so I went back to the front desk again. They promptly cancelled both keys and made us new ones, then promised to send send someone over during dinner to fix one or both locks. Whew! Finally I was able to enjoy the second of our very nice hotels on the trip!
Best part of all? It came with CATS!
Three of these cuties spent most of the day lounging around outside and were friendly to pets. We are cat people who are currently catless, so it never got old. Not that we'd be here long.... we never even had a moment to use the balcony we had.
After how long it took to get to the hotel and get into our proper rooms everyone was hungry, so we pretty much all went directly to dinner! What was billed as OYO was once again a social affair... we really did not have many meals to ourselves this trip. Once again no pics were taken... the hotel restaurant was "Italian" so some folk got pizzas, some risotto, others octopus, all kinds of things. None of us remembered what we ordered until it came... the pizza took a long time to come out; Kyle had to watch us devour our meals before his surfaced. By the time we were through it was already 9pm or later... we hit the sack!
For what it is worth towards the end of the trip folk were wishing Ho Chi Mihn was dropped for more time in Laos and Cambodia. Hard to say if it was these minor things or it just doesn't hold up against whats yet to come.
