Thursday, July 2, 2009

16-17 June – Vietnam War

We visited the tunnels at Vinh Moc to see how the North Vietnamese soldier and their families survived the bombardments during the Vietnam War.
A few hundred meters south of Vinh Moc is the 17th parallel where the border ran between North and South Vietnam. For us, this area marked the eastern-most point (107 degrees east) of our overland journey. The only way is back...
A solid communist monument with the mandatory pompous mosaic showed where the border between the communist North and the capitalist South had once been.
A few meters away, soldiers were preparing to use their water canons against citizens who were walking in a peaceful demonstration against the oppressive regime.
When approaching the border to Laos, we expected serious problems. We had disregarded all the directives about the zillions of documents we had to arrange in Vietnam. But we were ready for a good fight in the name of freedom. Much to our surprise, we were allowed to exit Vietnam without any problems. Surely, all the border crossings would be a piece of cake from now on!?

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