Vietnam

Hi! I feel like I'm so far behind in blogging... so much to write about! Also the blog page came up in Japanese, which is weird because I am definitely not in Japan. Whatever, I have a better chance of figuring it out than if it were in Vietnamese. Okay...

So I left off in Hanoi, which ended up being pretty cool. I did do my final run of my program, around a lake with lots of local people running, walking, and doing Tai Chi. Kind of fun. So then we went to the Ho Chi Minh. Like really, we saw him. It was kind of creepy, since he's been dead for almost 40 years. The place is really serious, you have to wear long pants, file in two-by-two, and stay silent. The guy in front of us got yelled at by a Vietnamese military guy for putting his hands in his pockets. We also had to go through metal detectors and couldn't bring cameras or even bottles of water. So you go into the mausoleum and there is a coffin-like bed with glass all around it and there in the middle is the preserved body of Ho Chi Minh. Jon said it looked like a figure in a wax museum, which is about right. He just looked like he could have sat up and opened his eyes. It took me a few hours to get my mind around the fact that the guy I had just seen has been dead for forty years. Really, really, weird, and also kind of cool.

So we did some touring that day, which included the Hoa Lo prison, which was kind of creepy. Lots of posters showing how nice the Vietnamese were to the American prisoners. A bit of a weird moment- there were also pictures of John McCain and so we started talking about American politics with our guide. He was asking about John McCain and how he was running for president, and asked how many political parties we had. We explained that there were mainly two, "The republicans and..." "The communists?" He asked. It was a totally innocent question and he clearly had no idea that he had just said something funny. I had to work pretty hard not to laugh though. Another weird moment came when he asked us how many kids people could have in the US. Crazy to me that he wouldn't realize that only some countries have a limit on how many kids you can have, and that to have a communist party as a major party in the US would be laughable. Also interesting to hear his view on politics versus our guide in Saigon. Nothing worth getting into, but different.

One of my favorite Hanoi experiences was while Jon and I were wandering around in the afternoon. Hanoi has lots of little street food vendors, who just set up little stools that you can sit at and eat whatever they sell. The most famous are the pho vendors, which is a kind of soup that has meat in it, so we didn't get any of that. But there were some people making these crazy looking drinks. Seriously, they are kind of like boba, but with lots of different stuff in them. Some jello-y looking cubes, some clear spheres, some apple-saucy stuff, some beans (like garbanzo beans, but in a sweet syrup)... and you sit there and they put each of these things in a glass for you. All together. It wasn't bad... some drinking, some chewing... very colorful... I have a great picture. We called it the "Boba Suicide" (but those of you not from the west coast probably don't know boba). Anyway, an interesting drink, and not nearly as gross as it looked.

From Hanoi we went to Halong Bay, which is just crazy looking. Giant limestone formations stick out of the water, and it's all misty and ethereal. We stayed overnight on a boat, where pretty much we spent the whole time eating and looking at the scenery. Not bad. I feel like I really just need to post pictures of the bay, so you'll see those when I either have my computer again or can figure out how to email them from my palm pilot (I keep getting so close, but my palm pilot is very moody.)

We went to Hoi An for two nights, which is an old Chinese and Japanese (at different times) port in central Vietnam. The whole town is a UNESCO world heritage site (we've seen a lot of those), so all the buildings are preserved. It is pretty much all a tourist town, lots of cute little shops, restaurants, etc. We spent the morning touring and then had the afternoon to ourselves. I'm a little embarrassed (but anyone who knows me well won't be surprised) at how I spent the afternoon. I had told Jon that we needed to factor in some breaks in our touring, because I will get tired. Unfortunately, we have a big long break at the end of the trip (Thailand) but there wasn't much in the middle of the trip. So while Jon shopped around, I went for a run and then spent the afternoon by the pool. I feel guilty, because come on, I can lay by the pool anywhere, but I think having some time for relaxation was good for me. Jon also got a suit tailored in Hoi An (they are famous for their tailors). It looks great, and I'm amazed that they could do it all in one day.

Saigon as a city is not that interesting, it doesn't have the charm of Hanoi or Hoi An, but we have done some great side trips from the city. We visited some of the old Viet Cong tunnels from the Vietnam War, which were totally crazy to crawl through, incredibly claustrophobic and really just incredible to think about, since they were hand-dug and people lived in them, sometimes for months. They also had lots of weapons from the war, Jon got to shoot an A-16 machine gun (he just told me what it was, obviously I had no idea), which was very, very loud.

The other side trip we did from Saigon was the Mekong Delta. Pretty much this was Vietnam Disneyland (I know I like comparing things to Disneyland... but it's usually a compliment). So, combine the jungle cruise ride with what Epcot Vietnam would be like. And you have our trip on the Mekong Delta! We rode a little boat, then got off and ate fruit at a little fruit farm while listening to traditional Vietnamese music. Then we went to see coconut candy being made. Then we took a horse-drawn carriage to a honey farm (would that be called a farm?) and then took a smaller boat through little palm-tree lined waterways (this is the jungle cruise part) to a nice lunch. You know places like Williamsburg where they show you how people used to churn butter and make candles? It kind of felt like that, except real. You sit there thinking, oh, they're wearing those pointy hats and making rice noodles, like it's some recreation of something that used to happen. (This was actually on our way down to the Mekong Delta). But then you find out that this group of families makes like eight thousand kilograms of rice noodles a day and is the major supplier for the region. Kind of strange to think about. And people really do wear those pointy rice farmer hats.

One other thing-- Vietnam has the funniest muzac I have ever heard. Lots and lots of Simon and Garfunkel, but played by sort of Asian sounding instruments. I have heard Sound of Silence at least six times. It's pretty funny. But the one I can't figure out is Auld Lang Syne. I have heard it everywhere. Even the Vietnamese musicians while we were eating our fruit yesterday played it as their finale. I get the impression that everyone thinks that Westerners really like hearing it. My theory is that they have some New Years song that everyone loves and likes hearing on a day-to-day basis, and so they asked someone what our New Years song is, and somehow it all got lost in translation. It's bizarre, and funny. At breakfast we heard Auld Lang Syne, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Scarborough Fair, Eidelweiss, and a song from Jesus Christ Superstar. All in the Asian-muzak version. Yeah.

Alright, that's enough. We head to Cambodia tonight, I have no idea how easy it will be to get internet, but I'm excited to see Angkor Wat. I'm sure I've forgotten a ton of stuff, like how everyone drives motorcycles so you see people holding fridges or panels of glass on their motorcycles, or stacks of dead pigs. Or how we ate dinner where Brad and Angelina went when they were here adopting (according to our guide). Lots of random little things. But I'm hungry. So I'm off.