Life alongside the DMZ

National Cemetery for North Vietnamese forces

Both Elizabeth and I were born in 1975, the year President Ford declared the not-officially-war in Vietnam finished, and the year the city of Saigon fell to the communist North. In a way, we're travelling the landscape that defined our parents' generation, and as Obama announced his intentions to commit more troops to Afghanistan, I couldn't help but think of the connections to this complicated land and the war that tore it apart.

Hue, where we're staying now, is just south of the famed DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) and east of the Laos border. Yesterday we braved a steady rain to explore battle sites with a veteran who worked with US forces in the war.


Reunification monuments on the river that divided North and South Vietnam


Z inside the Vinh Moc tunnels, built by Viet Cong forces to move supplies along Ho Chi Minh Trail and shelter villagers -- most of the tunnels are far shorter than this, maybe 4 feet high


A bomb-ravaged Catholic church outside Dong Ha


Our guide, Mr. Anh, with some American bombs that are hopefully defused

The day before, we also wandered through the rather wild ruins at the Citadel, a enormous old walled city-within-a-city in the center of Hue.


Pleasant walkway within the citadel


Monster guardian, monster overbite



Z's new dream house


Z sporting a fine new hat from Hoi An

Restoration work underway at the Citadel

Your karma will be weighed judiciously

From tail to ears: triceratops? No. Deer? No. Mickey Mouse?

Ancient cauldron for Vietnamese (eye of newt?) pho soup

Mobile orchid market! Remarkably, Z refrained from buying any