South Vietnam

We left Hanoi in the north today and flew to the southern part of the country. We landed at the old American Air base in Danang. Our driver met us at the gate ( found him on the Internet ) . He drove us 3 hours north on Rt 1, the main road up the coast . The South China Sea was on our right ( it was the color of the Caribbean ) with rice patties stretching to the mountains to our left . The mountains looked to be almost 5000 ft, It was beautiful . Rt 1 was a hotly contested road during the war, North Vietnam repeatedly attempted to cut this vital supply route. The only sign of the war left are reinforced bunkers built by the Americans at strategic river crossings. Most are bullet scared and empty. We found our hotel on line , it's very nice and includes breakfast for $20/nite. ( Free wifi ) We walked to waterfront and had dinner overlooking the Perfume River at sunset watching sampans go by. The city of Hue is so much quieter than Hanoi, much less traffic. When we arrived it was 95 degrees. It cooled off a bit by sunset, fortunately our room has AC .Our driver's parents fought against the Americans as Vietcong during the war ( I ask everybody ) Tomorrow we visit the old city of Hue. I finally talked Karen into getting in a rickshaw, we both squeaked in. It was fun An interesting travel note : When we went thru security in Hanoi to board our plane, someone ahead of us had a hand gun, it was in with the confiscated scissors , Etc It was in no photography area but I couldn't resist!