Well we are at 8 weeks and counting until our next trip takes off! We’re heading to Singapore for 4 days and then carrying on to Vietnam for 9 days.
Singapore is going to be a whirlwind of eating, sight-seeing and probably some shopping but mainly I think lots of eating. Vietnam will carry that on I hope with a journey into what we are told is simply an amazing country.
Our base in Singapore will be the Ibis on Bencoolen, so if anyone has suggestions of things we must do please send them our way. Already on the list are the Singapore Zoo, both day and night as well as a look at Universal Studios. Checking out Clarke Quay and the Bugis Street Markets are also on the hit list.
Vietnam will see us fly into DaNang and then drive north to Vedana Lagoon Resort just outside Hue. From here we hope to do several day trips to check out Hoi An and the surrounding countryside.
One trip we have booked is via Annam Tours and will include an early morning departure to Dong Ha, we have some stops at sites along the way ( important to the 1972 Easter Offensive ), such as Highway of Horror, Quang Tri Citadel, the Ai Tu airfield ). From Dong Ha, we proceed west on route 9 and pass a series of the old U.S Marines’ firebases such as Camp Carroll, Fuller, Razorback ridge….The first stop is the Rockpile, an important look-out of the Marines south of the DMZ. We will view the old tactical area where the Marines fought in the famous operations Hasting and Prairie. Our next stop is Dakrong bridge – the starting point one of the main branches of the legendry Ho Chi Minh Trail leading to the infamous Ashau Valley and the Hamburger Hill, then we keep driving up to Khe Sanh plateau, on the way we have a photostop at a beautiful village of the local Bru Montargnards . The last stop in the morning is Khe Sanh Combat Base, a large Marines base camp attacked by a massive forces of the North Vietnamese Army in early 1968, where we will spend ample time exploring this famous Marine Corps base. Drive back to Dong ha for lunch break. After lunch, we continue north to the old DMZ, the old de-facto border between North and South Vietnam for 18 years, where we will take a walk on the Freedom bridge across the Ben Hai river, the river that was the only true physical demarcation line between the two Vietnams. The last stop of the day is Vinh Moc tunnels, the refuge of some 400 north Vietnamese refugees during the bombing operation “Rolling Thunder.” Drive all the way back to Hue.
Other than that we hope to spend a day wandering around Hue as well as another in Hoi An, but again if you have any ideas please share them with us.
cheers