DMZ tour

The DMZ (De-Militarised Zone) was something I was very interested in seeing and learning more about so I booked onto the ‘Hanh Café’ tour starting at 6am with breakfast… It started at 6.30 with breakfast of egg and bread with coffee (which is extra!!). Then onto the coach for the road trip to 9 sites… Some more impressive than others. Total cost $10.
Stop one is the crossroads of Highways 1 & 9 which makes it an important town in controlling the area, to be honest it is nothing but a transport stop with heavy traffic and lots of roadside stalls and poor quality hotels. Nothing to see - just the history of interest although you stop here for lunch (extra). Then onto other sites including a memorial to the fallen (built in 2004), an important bridge at Dakrong (Which was important but collapsed in 1999 and was rebuilt), the Khe San combat base used by the Americans for air support (which today has touts selling medals from the war and bullets!! Two even got into a fight when they were trying to compete for a sale 0_0), a hill used for artillery which was overrun and a museum with helicopters, bunkers, plane wrecks and a propagandist history of events. The final stop is the Vinh Moc Tunnel system complete with museum and guided tour. This is interesting to see how people lived in an area heavily bombed - the tunnels were larger than Cu Chi and housed 400 people with a hall, maternity wing (where 17 children were born) and small cubicles for families. Even though larger than Cu Chi they remained hot and sweaty places which were pitch black in places…
Also of interest is the landscape of the DMZ which seems to be a flat plane bordered by two hill ranges one controlled by the Viet Minh/Cong and one by the Americans. Today the landscape is back to lush forest, Rice fields and along the coast shrimp tanks. Still the areas affected by agent orange can clearly be seen by the new growth being light green against the dark green old forest.
Overall the tour is of interest and worth the $10 but avoid if you can any long stay in Dong Ha Town. I spent 2 hours there waiting for a bus and could feel my lungs being filled with dirt and traffic fumes 0_0 and there is nowhere to escape this!!
Next up was a 14hr overnight bus journey to Hanoi… Which of course ended up being an hour late and was along rough roads, which allowed very little sleep. My advise would be to take the train between Hue and Hanoi as it must surely be a more pleasant experience…
On arrival in Hanoi the taxi overcharged due to a dodgy meter - getting into town from the bus stand should cost no more than 100,000d but my one charged 350,000d!! 0_0 beware dodgy dealers. Advise would be to find a taxi already roaming not one which the bus company steers you to. Hanoi is busy over Christmas and my first shoice hotel was full - However, after a little walking I found the Bamboo Hotel which costs $25 a night for the balcony room with AC, breakfast and hot water. (Be aware that the hotel is not where it is located on the map from Lonely Planet… The address is right but the location on the map is wrong!!).