It has been a while since our last post, but that is only because our computer has malfunctioned and we have to wait to get it fixed when we are back home. We have made it all the way through Vietnam, and are starting our first week in Cambodia. I will start with Vietnam, and explain the adventures we had there. It is hard to write and blog about everything we do, and we can’t wait to tell the stories when we get home. Below are the list of cities we visited and what we did in each while in Vietnam.

Hanoi- We flew into Hanoi from Laos and spent about 5 days here. It was very cool and cloudy, which was a great break from the heat of Laos. We went to a famous water puppet show one evening where men and women put on an hour long show with you guessed it….puppets in water. We then spent one day at the Ho Chi Minh Museum, Mausoleum (his body is on display here), and Royal Palace, as well as the One Pillar Pagoda. We also visited the oldest university in Indochina located downtown (circa 1070 AD). The Hoa Len Prison was an interesting sight to see, and this is where they kept all the American prisoners captured during the war (ie. John McCain). There were tons of markets in town, and we were able to get a lot of good food, but agreed to pass on the grilled dog. I bargained and bought so many doughnuts from these little ladies on the streets that it was hard to keep count. It became a daily ritual to get a price lower than the day before. All in all, Hanoi was my favorite capital city of the entire trip.

Cat Ba Island/ Halong Bay- Here we stayed for 3 days and spent our time motor-biking around the island and lying on the beaches. We took a day long excursion to see Lan Ha Bay and Halong Bay from here, and got to spend all day on a boat cruising the water and visiting floating markets. We kayaked through caves for a few hours, and had a great seafood lunch on the boat. Cat Ba was an amazing island, and it felt like there were very few tourists here.

Ninh Binh- This was the most disappointing city in Vietnam. We were here for two days, but only to see Trang An and Tam Coc Caves. Basically, you hire a little lady and her boat, and she maneuvers you through these small water canals and caves in the mountains for a few hours. This is main attraction here, and it was great, but there is just nothing else to do in the city. The locals rarely see tourists….. so there was lots of staring and people taking pictures of US.

Hue- We stayed in and around Hue for about a week. Morgan and I worked for a couple of days in Dakrong Province. Here, Morgan took photos and interviews for a company called iDE back home (they are a NGO and provide help to Vietnamese farmers). They had an office in Hue, and she was there to get photos and info for success stories on rice farming, sanitation, and pig farming. It was a great two days in the field, and it was hard to meet and see villagers who live off of $600 a year. It was crazy, but humbling. While we were in Hue, there was a huge international food, music, and cultural festival going on the entire week we were there. We spent alot of time attending these events. One of the main things we did here was a DMZ tour where we went to the Vinh Moc underground tunnels, Khe San airforce base, and many other sites associtated with the split of northern and southern Vietnam during the war. Lastly, we spent a day exploring the old Imperial City and the Citadel in town. These buildings have an 11km wall around them, and we spent our day exploring this complex where royalty lived 100’s of years ago.

Hoi An- From Hue, we went to the little town of Hoi An. It was a very small, coastal town. Morgan describes it a small, Chinese- lantern town. Small buildings, quaint shops, and plenty of places to explore. This town had our favorite food out of all of Vietnam, and we ate too many bowls of Kao Lao ( noodle soup with meat, herbs, lettuce, crunchy bread). We spent a day at the beaches slumped in the lounge chairs, and a day riding bikes and window shopping. Here, you can get any type of dress or clothes made that you desire.

Nha Trang- This is a major beach town along the coast of Vietnam, and in my opinion, had the most beautiful beaches out of all of Southeast Asia. For two days, we rented an umbrella and beach chairs and laid out the entire time drinking…. water and watching Russians in speedos. One day, we rented a motorbike and explored the town. We visited the Cham Towers, a temple located in the center of the city that offered great views of the city. This is a big Russian tourist spot, so all the signs and menus across town were in Russian.

Sagion- This was the last stop in Vietnam before crossing into Cambodia. It was what you can expect from a big, Asian city…. hot and dirty. We did have a wonderful hotel (Banana Leaf Hotel), and saw all the sights that we wanted to see. Morgan and I did not have a desire to stay here too long. We visited Notre Dame Cathedral, the old Saigon Post Office, and the War Remnants Mueseum. This museum showed the photos and items from the Vietnam War, plus all the effets of Agent Orange on the Vietnamese. It was truly heartbreaking and disgusting to see the images of people permantley disfigured from what our country did. After Saigon, we took a bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the capital.

Conclusion: Vietnam had the craziest bus drivers in all of Asia. We took 6 busses in all, and 3 of them were night busses over 12 hours. They constantly honked at each other, swerved across the lanes, passed each other with oncoming traffic, and picked up locals along the way who had no tickets. This meant that they slept in the aisles and in places that they shouldn’t have. The stories we have from these bus rides are some of the best of the trip…. looking back now. The people were a love/ hate thing for us. Some were very nice and welcoming and some were very rude and mean. The women worked the hardest of anyone we saw, and the men drank tea, smoked, spit, did not cut their fingernails, and plaid checkers all day long. The Vietnamese were the WORST people for starring. They would eye you all the way down the street, no shame. I would just stare back, but it did get really old after a while. The food was great and the most diverse that we have seen. Towards the end of the trip, we got tired of eating Pho (noodle soup), and had to splurge on some American food in Saigon. We had to bargain for everything we bought, from fruit to toothpaste. Rule of thumb…. always offer half of what they start with and go from there. Bargaining is just a way of life for the Vietnamese, but we learned to like it; it’s a game.

Well that is it for Vietnam, and we will post soon on our trip in Cambodia. See everyone May 20^th!!

Cheers,

David and Morgan