Vietnam

We left Cambodia on a sleeper bus at midnight for Southern Vietnam last Wedensday. Southerrn Vietnam is so refreshing after the dirty, scamming, and crowded Cambodia experience. This is just before loading up on the midnight bus: We stayed at a small family-run hostel around the backpacking district of Ho Chi Min City. We both loved the city and almost stayed there for the rest of the trip! We canceled our plans to train/bus all the way up to the North and bought two cheap plane tickets to enjoy some more days in Vietnam.

We visited two Vietnam "American" war sites where we saw the Cu Chi tunnels the Vietnamese navigated through to advance past the U.S. It was incredible how small the tunnels were- and that people lived in there for months at a time! Everyone laughed when Chris went down the tunnel as he is so much taller than everyone else here. It was disturbing to see the different traps they had built and the types of torture they performed on the U.S. soldiers.

After exploring the tunnels we visited the museum/memorial of the Vietnam war. It was VERY interesting to see the war from such a different perspective. Needless to say, both the tunnel tour and the museum were very anti-American. It made me anxious to learn more about the war, and showed me how influential propaganda can be. The Vietnamese don't view the war so strongly as a conflict between the South and the North, but more so as an invasion of the U.S. It made both Chris and I feel ashamed for some of the things the U.S. did throughout the war, and are likewise doing now in the Middle East. We've been told that the attitude towards Americans is not as accepting in the North, and since we've gotten here, we both now claim to be from Australia, in hopes to prevent any over-charging/disagreable treatment.

Yes, they really wear these hats here- and it's not just for the sake of tourism! Plus, mom, you should be happy to know, they are NOT for "all the snakes that fall from the trees". They are actually very nice to wear as they shade from the hot sun, and act as umbrellas in the rain. Chris is considering a new business idea for the U.S.....

Once again, Chris tried to get me to hold the snake, but I would not. This one was a Boa Constrictor.

This was part of one of the tours we took of the South- so much fun!

We visited the water markets in the South- really cool. We took a boat out to the different vendor boats that were selling anything from fish to fruit to hats to pepsi.

This was a family that went on the two day tour with us- they reminded me alot of our own family as they had too older girls and a younger, very funny boy. It was fun to have them follow us around throughout the trip. It was not fun to spend the night between the two days throwing up and dry heaving. I think the chicken I was given at lunch was spoiled. Either that, or it was the 15 coconut candies I ate when we were given free samples at the coconut candy island. Chris, the great husband he is, took great care of me:)

The traffic in vietnam is craaaazzzzyyyy. In Cambodia it was crazy as there are no street signs or stop lights and people just kind of go in between people. But in Vietnam, there are millions of motorcyles and cars weaving in and out of eachother. To cross the street you are just supposed to start walking across- make no sudden movements, and "the traffic moves around you". We took some really cool videos of each of us crossing the street.

The street of the family-run hostel we stayed at in the South:

We got some clothes made!!! It was soooo cool; first we went to a market where there were hundreds of vendors selling material. After we picked out our material we took it to a vendor and they made us coats, suites, skirts, and shirts in just two days. I looovvveeeee them, and it was way cheap!! Thanks Mom and Dad for the birthday money!

Chris getting ready to board our flight to the North:

Last night, after treking through the city of Hanoi, two taxis, and a hopping a midnight bus that promised to drop us off in the country town of Ninh Binh we arrived at a hostel at about 2 in the morning. There isn't much accomodation for tourists, but it has been such a nice day to get away from the hustling busy tourist cities. Today we borrowed some bikes from the hostel and road out to some limestone caves where we paid a lady to row us through the river that weaved through the 15 limestone caverns. It was cool to stop every once in a while and visit the different Buddhist shrines/temples hidden throughout the valleys.