After stopping for breakfast at Dong Ha Town, the closest to the DMZ and now almost completely rebuilt, we passed by the Doc Mieu Fire Base on our way to the Guerilla Monument, which stands in remembrance of local guerilla fighters. We were supposed to stop at the fire base, which was once an eerie reminder of the battles that went on here, but it has now faded away and been covered with overgrowth. We then made our way across the Benhai River and saw the huge speakers on both sides of the river that were used to spread propaganda from both sides to the other! Before being hit by a bomb during the war the north side of the bridge was painted read and the south yellow, but now a huge Vietnamese flag flies from the bridge as a sign of unity.
Next we headed to what was the highlight of the day - the Vinh Moc tunnels. These tunnels were built by locals of the village (in North Vietnam) who by 1966 were living in one of the most bombed places in the world. The Viet Cong supported the locals to stay there because it was an important base during the war.
This 2.8km network of tunnels took 18 months of work with 12 entrances and 3 levels, ranging from 12-24m below the surface. Amazingly this tunnel was home for the locals for 3 years, and 17 babies were born in the tunnels. 
One of the many bombs that cratered the surrounding lands, scored a direct hit on the tunnels, but failed to blow up, and the hole from the hit was later converted into a ventilation hole. Walking through the tunnels was exhilarating and spooky at the same time - it was hard to separate the enjoyment and curiousity, from the reality of the environment that existed during the Vitnam war. 
It was a surreal feeling, trying to imagine the lives of the families who lived here and seeing the scarred rocks that bore the words of their terrors. After exiting the tunnels we walked along Cua Tung Beach, where navy ships fired on the tunnel entrances across the South China Sea.In the afternoon we stopped to glance at the Rockpile, which was a 230m high rockface where American longrange artillery was positioned and soldiers utilised the height as a vantage point to lookout over the forests that hid the Viet Cong as they made their way along the famous Ho Chi Minh trail.
From here we went to the Dakrong Bridge that was once a branch of the Ho Chi Minh trail, this section of the trail is now known as the Ho Chi Minh highway.On our way to Khe Sanh Combat base, we passed through ethnic minority villages that once homed forests full of tigers and bears. Unfortuneately much of the forest was destroyed during the war, leaving hilltops balded by the blades of agent orange and other chemical weapons. This led to villages replanting rice and coffee fields to replace the lifestyle of hunting and gathering they had previously known.
The Combat Base was where one of the most controversial and bloody battles of the war took place in 1968. On the grounds of the base scarred by bombs, white phosperous shells, and naplam lie downed helicopters (some still complete, others merely piles of ruins), tanks, and reconstructed bunkers that failed to give an idea of what it would have been like to be there during the war when the ground was literally a pile of bodies.
A long bus trip home led us to dinner and bed - basically the only choices we made ourselves today!!MAG (Mines Advisory Group) is a neutral and impartial humanitarian organisation clearing the remnants of conflict for the benefit of local communities worldwide. Check out more about this organisation and the ongoing work it undertakes in Vietnam and other countries that have been affected by landmines left after war. After a day seeing and learning about the effects of war, we're glad to see organisations like MAG working to help countries recover.
Adlibing it someone else's way.
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