They have never owned up to the POWs and MIAs they kept as slaves....they lied and continue to do so.....

Vietnam.......

1 more reply for OP:



If you're going the backroad route, know how to drive on 2 wheels before you arrive. Renting a bike for a couple weeks (assuming you're leaving where you came in, likely HCMC) will save you a lot. Should be no more than $35 for 2 weeks, and gas is next to nothing. Just be sure to 'shop around' for a good bike in HCMC. There's lots of places to look. I can give a personal recommendation for one or two if you like. I'd suggest an automatic, last 3 years, Honda or Attila. The automatics are easier to drive and significantly more comfortable, plus heavier, which is safer. Note you can take bikes with you on trains and buses (you won't want to cross country on these things, trust me). Costs 1 extra seat fare usually. If you rent from each hotel you stay at, not only will you likely end up paying $10-15 per day, but you'll get crappier rentals too. Just make sure to keep 200K, 200K, 500K in your bike at all times ($40USD total, in those 3 bills though). Cops might impound them if you don't have bribes and get caught outside the province you rented from. This is rare but it happens. Probably also buy your helmets state-side. If you do buy in Vietnam, go to Andes in HCMC, it's on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai near the reunification palace.



Again, if you want specifics on places/restaurants/hotels/ideas, PM me.



Don't plan to see the south, center, and north in just 2 weeks. I would personally just go up to Hue and return for your flight home. You probably won't even make it that far, which is fine. Hue is a great little city, with decent historical sites to see if you like that sort of thing, but there's plenty to fill 2 weeks in elsewhere.

A famous General named Hal Moore went back to Vietnam, visited and met his former enemies. And then wrote another book. Made a lot of friends out of former enemies.

Vietnam is now building a DEN/ATL sized airport to the NW of HCM, it's a monster. Vietnam Airlines is buying lotsa Airbuses and Boeing 787s, and then there is that other airline too. The one where the F/As wore bikinis for uniforms. And danced in the aisle.

"This is one weird place."

Man that's sick.  

I just turned 18.

This

someone here can find it, but there is a "range" in vietnam that will let you shoot dam near anything for cheap... including rpg's iirc (there was a post here some time ago)

 

Don't be afraid to cross the street. Just start walking at a steady pace. Don't wear any jewelry (like bracelets or necklaces) or else they'll be snatched off you. Keep your money split up in case of pick pockets. I used a box of cigarettes as a wallet out there.

Pay extra to sit in the air conditioned sections of restaurants (they'll probably put you there anyways since you're a foreigner). It may be cheaper to rent a taxi for the day rather than catch multiple taxis.

Why do folks here continue to hate vietnam 50 years after it ended and when we bombed the fuck out of vietnam?

Spent a little over 3 weeks there...was a great experience for us.  Flew into Hanoi for a couple days then on the overnight train up to Sapa to hang with the Hmong...good peeps those folks are indeed.  Back to Hanoi for a day and then out to Halong Bay for two nights on a super cool junk (boat) which was neat experience...

Flew from Hanoi down to Da Nang and then immediate had a driver take us up to Hue where we stayed in a very nice place right out over the water in our own villa.  Two days there and then down to Da Nang to fly out to Nha Trang.  Beach area there with a shit ton of Russians there on holiday.

Few days there and then down to HCMC (Saigon) for a few days there then back to the US.

The food was by far the biggest surprise of the entire trip...was good from way up north all the way south.

Here is our villa we had all to ourselves in Hue - The breakfast chicken salad was silly good!!!

That's Cambodia, outside Phnom Penh. Also hand grenades are on the menu. Also you can order a cow to shoot at. If you go to PP, these ranges are advertised at every backpacker hotel, so it's not hard to find. I am not sure if the guns are "free floating" though (see below).



There IS a range at Cu Chi in Vietnam, but all the guns are bolted down. You can, however, shoot a full auto M60, a garand, a few AK variants, and an old M16 I believe. I think it's $1 to $1.50 per shot, 20 shot minimum now.





I agree that all the hatred over a war that ended 40 years ago is misplaced. To put it mildly, both sides made mistakes, so it's probably time to move on now that most of the country wasn't even alive when it all happened.



 

Im actually in Vietnam right now doing just that.  In Quang Tri province currently, just got back from Dong Hoi.  I would suggest anyone visiting to go to see western Quang Bihn province, just stay on the beaten patch, UXO fucking everywhere out here.

Part of the JTF or NGO?

You can shoot shit in VietNam too.
And it's not cheap.

The Cu Chi Museum has an arsenal from
which you can choose and shoot American,
and COMBLOC weapons.

But no more RPGs, some EU metrosexual
dumbass ended the fun for RPG goodness.

How the hell do you guys plan trips like this?

I would love to go to some of these places, but between language barriers and lack of knowledge on the safety of the local areas i find it a bit intimidating going to a country where i could end up dead and never be found.

Throw away your M16 and get you an M14 or AK-47.  That M16 will get you killed.

Watch for trip wires and don't step on any mines.  Don't fall asleep on watch at night, VC Sappers are stealthy as fuck.

Stay out of the whorehouses.  Most of those whores are actually VC Lieutenants.  Don't smoke any dope, they lace it with morphine and pretty soon you'll be shooting up heroin.

Don't count on the ARVN.  They are not reliable.

Keep your head down and listen to the guys that have been in-country for a while.  The most dangerous part of your tour is while you are an FNG.

Good luck bro, you'll get through this.

Dad did his time there, I have no desire to visit the jungle.

Wow tons of good stuff in the thread, so thanks for that. I skimmed it for the moment, but to those of you that offered to PM them for more you can expect one this weekend once I can put some thought into my questions.

 
The biggest part is just doing it.  You can go pretty much anywhere and find someone who speaks English.  If you've got enough brains to know you're being ripped off on pricing, enough composure to get them to haggle it down and enough restraint not to be a dick about it, you're fine.


Let's be honest, you can go to the store in America and end up dead and never found.  It can happen anywhere.  Now, ask yourself, do I want to go to the Kwik-E Mart, run across the wrong tweaker and end up a cold case because someone finds my tooth 20 years from now in Arkansas?  Or do I want to go to an exotic land, see beautiful women, eat amazing food that I'll never be able to pronounce and maybe, just maybe, end up sacrificed to a heathen snake god and never seen again?


Living large, seeing the world, getting ripped off in a tourist trap and maybe ending up with your heart torn out and thrown to cobras is really only a choice you can make.

combined military and civilian effort