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March 07, 2005
Dong Ha
It's now 6:30AM and I am writing you from Dong Ha town in Quang Tri province; the scene of some of the heaviest fighting during the war.
Our bicycle tour ended yesterday afternoon as we pulled into the Kids First village serenaded by a drum and bugle corps of local kids all dressed in their school uniforms. It has been an incredible experience and I'm really sorry that we haven't managed to post any photos. The internet connections are inconsistent and our schedule, through the bike riding part at least, has been tight, leaving little time to go into towns and search for an internet cafe.
We got up each morning at 6AM and tried to get on the road at 7. Most days we had planned visits to historical sites like the Vinh Moc tunnels or one of newly designated World Heritage sites like the incredible cave we boated into a couple of days ago. As we cycled away from the cave we all noticed the bomb craters- now water filled ponds- around the cave entrance area. The North Vietnamese Army used the cave as a strategic stronghold during the war. The US bombed the cave for long time in an effort to dislodge them.
We both plan to spend time writing- and yes- posting pictures upon our return. There is just so much. Our bike group is a really wonderful group of people and we have all connected very well through this shared effort. It was for all of us an emotional moment to complete the ride yesterday.
We will be shopping for new bike helmets when we get back. Most of us gave our Vietnamese guides our helmets, gloves, and water bottles. They have nothing like them here and one of our guides did the whole ride in a motorcycle helmet. They were all fantastic; supportive, organized, and funny. We all became fast friends over the six day ride andthis morning, in about an hour we will say goodbye to them.
This has been of course, much more than a bicycle ride. I think that on some very real level everyone who has been here has been changed and affected by the experience. From the complete and pure joy of hundreds of kids at a school we dropped in on a few days ago (we were literally swarmed when we pulled our cameras out) to our exploding bathroom the other night..... but I'll save that story for later.
See you in a few days!
Posted by ed at March 7, 2005 03:34 PM
Comments
Posted by: Tom at March 8, 2005 05:14 PM