Traveling through Vietnam, it's easy to forget just how much war and strife that country has suffered until fairly recently. Hundreds of thousands of people died, the land was destroyed by cluster bombs and napalm, and in spite of all that, the Vietnamese have managed to build a prospering economy out of the rubble.
I paid a visit to the Vinh Moc Tunnels, near the former demilitarized zone that divided the country into North and South Vietnam before the war. Vinh Moc used to be a normal village, but once the war started, it suffered so much bombing, that the residents had to move their village underground just to survive.
I wonder if this grandmother (above) fought during the war like this revolutionary young woman below? Maybe that's her?
Old bomb craters peppered the area (above), which was situated really close to the ocean (below). The residents of Vinh Moc were able to rebuild their town underground because the bedrock here is soft limestone, perfect for carving out tunnels by hand.
Then I met this gentleman, who was born in the tunnels. He was kind of mute, but he managed to give me a good tour of the area anyway.
Stairway down into the underground village.
Family living quarters.
Underground well with fresh water.
Entrance to the underground.
It was interesting enough just to walk around underground in the tunnels, but meeting two people face to face who lived through the Vietnam war is an even more vivid reminder of how war is ubiquitously evil. Communist or capitalist, Muslim or Christian, rich or poor, black or white, it's just not worth it.
I paid a visit to the Vinh Moc Tunnels, near the former demilitarized zone that divided the country into North and South Vietnam before the war. Vinh Moc used to be a normal village, but once the war started, it suffered so much bombing, that the residents had to move their village underground just to survive.
I wonder if this grandmother (above) fought during the war like this revolutionary young woman below? Maybe that's her?
Old bomb craters peppered the area (above), which was situated really close to the ocean (below). The residents of Vinh Moc were able to rebuild their town underground because the bedrock here is soft limestone, perfect for carving out tunnels by hand.
Then I met this gentleman, who was born in the tunnels. He was kind of mute, but he managed to give me a good tour of the area anyway.
Stairway down into the underground village.
Family living quarters.
Underground well with fresh water.
Entrance to the underground.
It was interesting enough just to walk around underground in the tunnels, but meeting two people face to face who lived through the Vietnam war is an even more vivid reminder of how war is ubiquitously evil. Communist or capitalist, Muslim or Christian, rich or poor, black or white, it's just not worth it.
