Vietnam

We are in Cambodia now, but let me back up a little and tell you about Vietnam. We arrived on Feb 22nd. I was sad about leaving India, lots of feelings going on with me about leaving. I also experience culture shock when we arrived in Vietnam. It was time to readjust to a new country again. I was so familiar with India, it felt comfortable to me and Vietnam wasn't. We arrived in the evening and immediately hit up a street vendor for food. Loved the food in Vietnam. Our first day was spent walking around, spotting street vendors selling something that smelled and looked good and us saying "uh excuse me, I'll have that" "how much is it?" having no idea what things should cost and what it translated into dollars. Kayo and I both got facials because we felt after being in polluted India for so long we needed to "reinvent our faces." They were reinvented for approx. two days and then the pimples came back in force. During our first night in Hanoi (oh yeah, we flew into Hanoi, which is in North Vietnam) we walked by a square where teens were breaking to B boy music. We sat for maybe an hour and watched these kids break dance. They were good, Kayo really wanted to go and break with them. A day later we hopped on the tour train (something we didn't do in India) and headed to Sapa (7 miles from the Chinese Boarder). The town is located in the mountains and is beautiful, I explored the town with an entourage of Hmong (minority ethnic villagers) women and girls trying to get me to buy their goods. I didn't mind because they were nice and also talked to me and told me about their families and lives, and I told them about mine. We hiked down to a village and stayed one night there. It was great to be out in the mountains surrounded by beauty and to be able to observe the locals doing what they do in their villages. We soon learned that traveling in Vietnam was way more expensive than in India. In India I lived off of $26.00 a day and we were living good, not extravagant obviously, but we stayed in decent places and ate some pretty good food. We returned to Hanoi and headed to Halong Bay. The bay is surrounded by thousands of tiny islands, we took a two day/one night tour on a sick boat with an awesome crew of other tourist. From there we headed to Hoi Ann, located on the central coast. The train ride there was absolutely beautiful, the tracks literally cruise along the coast line up in the mountains (some might think dangerously close. Hoi Ann is a cute town and is famous for its clothes making. I got two dresses made to order just for me. From Hoi Ann we did something that we never thought that we would do, hopped on the back of motorbikes for a 6 day motorbike tour through the central highlands. Off the tourist track and it appealed to me because I thought (six days on the back of a motorbike, sign me up! Mr. T and Taun were our drivers and Mr. T is the coolest guy in the world. When I think of Vietnam, I will think of him. He took good care of us, played drinking games with us, showed us the true Vietnam, told us about his life and the Vietnamese culture, and told us one "story" (pretty much a dirty joke) every evening. We drove through beautiful mountains and jungles and we would had missed so much if we did not hop on the back of those motorbikes. We drove through small villages and the children would wave hello and a couple would even run along with our bikes for a few seconds. We attended a Hmong music and dance show one night and we drank jug wine. On the first day of our adventure, Mr. T pointed to a group of about thirty men on the side of the road. It turns out they were dismantling a bomb found up in the hills from the war. A war we know as the "Vietnam War" but the rest of the world knows it as the "American War". A lot of fighting took place in the central highlands, especially the area that we drove through on the first day. It was apparent that war had taken place there, much of the land is still suffering and bare. Every time a local asked me where I was from, I wondered what they would think of the fact that I am American. Every one was very friendly to me, but I still wonder what they think of the United States. Mr. T also made sure that we were fed well, and had true local Vietnamese food. In one night I had Boar, deer, and goose meat. Yum, yum. I wasn't a fan of the goose, but the boar and deer tasted really good. Drinking Vietnamese coffee is like drinking a shot of espresso and it turns out I now drink it straight. I bought some to bring home so I can get my "fix". We were sad to end our time with Mr. T but also excited to be at our own pace again. We spent a day in Na Trang and then head to Saigon, also known as the town that never sleeps. We arrived at 5:40 in the morning and it was alive and kicking, just like it does 24 hours a day. We went to a market where I decided to sit down and have some food. I felt something crawling on my foot and looked down and saw a creature the size of my thumb using my foot as bridge to the "other" side, I jumped and yelped and much laughter was directed towards me by many local women. I went to the war memorial museum. It was sad and hard to see pictures and articles about the atrocities that took place during the war. Much of the atrocities I am talking about were those caused by the United states and American soldiers. There are donation boxes set up through the city to help Agent orange and Nepalm Bombing victims. We learn about the affects of these in school, but we do not learn about the individuals and families who have suffered since that time because of these substances that we used during the war. I know I am ending on a more solemn note, but our time in Vietnam was really great. Like India, the people are so beautiful, friendly, happy, inspiring. We arrive in Cambodia last night. More to come soon.