Well we have made it into Laos, but not before a visit to the Vietnam Demilitarized Zone.
The DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) is the region between the North and South of Vietnam that was to separate the former North (Communist under Ho Chi Min) and South of Vietnam that was supported in the war by the US. Demilitarized Zone is a bit of a contradiction as most of the US War took place in the DMZ and then secret bombing in Laos and Cambodia.
While in the DMZ we stopped for two nights in Dong Ha to take the DMZ tour. The tour took us west to the town of Khe Sanh visiting sites along the way such as "the Rock Pile", "Hamburger Hill" and the Military Museum. And passing named sites such as "Camp Carroll". For what ever reason the naming of sites by the US Marines was quite interesting. Along the way our tour guide explained for us the battles of the war, with the US holding onto two strongholds at "the Rock Pile" and an airstrip at Khe Sanh. Interestingly, as the Vietnamese guide explained, the US eventually abandoned both sites as battles were fierce and the importance of the positions was questioned. Now even though we were somewhat in South Vietnam, our guide displayed pride in the fact that the Vietnamese had pushed the Americans away. And throughout the tour there was no real explanation to American victories, although I'm not sure there were to many. In the end communism spread to the south and Ho Chi Min unified Vietnam before he led the transition to a market economy. Much more detail here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War
The most interesting part of the tour was the Vinh Moc Tunnels. Because the DMZ was the most heavily bombed place in Vietnam, the villagers in this small area were creative and dug in. Literally digging in a cave and tunnel system 10 - 30 m below the ground. This is where people lived for 6 years during the war, only to go out and attend to the crops or head off fishing. In the tunnels 17 babies were born during the war and people carried on with life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinh_Moc_tunnels
After our visit to the DMZ a trip up highway 9, AH 16, and we were headed for Laos. One day of climbing 60 km and 600 m elevation we stayed in the town of Khe Sanh, to plan our morning trip to Laos. Now with much uncertainty we headed for new lands. It was difficult to get good information on what Laos would look like as information was conflicting from roads are full of potholes and travel is very slow, to this developing country with many tourist and easy travel. And well our first experience was interesting to say the least, we have found the country to be very hospitable and will have more great blogs to come.
To touch on the border crossing we hit the Vietnamese exit and when checking out of the country the border passport control took our "one time entry Vietnam visa" and common practice was to keep them, as they were not attached to the passport. Interesting we thought? And very much so when we walked 500 m to the Laos border entry and the border guard looked through the passport to find no stamps of entry or exit from Vietnam? And I though interesting yes! Absolutely no record of how I got into Vietnam and that I was exiting by land through the Lao Bao border crossing. Phone calls were made, but seemed like no need to panic. After a few calls the Laos border attendant sent us back to the Vietnam border to obtain a copy of our Visa?. Interesting I thought, hope they chose to remember us. And as we passed the Vietnam exit booth on the way to the passport control desk the lady in the exit booth shouted out that things were OK and we were to head back to the Laos border. Under the instruction of the Laos border attendant I tried unsuccessfully to obtain a copy of the Vietnam visa. With nothing but the confirmation of a phone call we headed back to the Laos border. To our surprise we were expected and our paper work was stamped and we were of for Laos!! Not sure these practices would work in Coutts or at the Piece Arch crossing in Canada, but somewhat effective in Vietnam.
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