Chao

Meghan on the motorbike tour.
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Well we made it to Ho Chi MIhn City (Saigon) a few days ago and it is quite a change from OZ.  The weather here is very hot and humid and has been raining on and off for three days.  So far we saw the local city market (where you can find anything from bolts and nuts to a side of beef), the "American" War Museum, the tunnels that the VC used during the war, and just basically wondered around the city.  Last night we boarded an overnight train to Nha Trang which is a coastal town.  Its been raining for the most of the day so we went to the local hot mud baths which were pretty fun. We'll try to post some pictures however the conection is very slow.  Tomorrow we hope to take a boat tour around the surrounding islands.

A girl making incense sticks.
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It's another rainy day in Vietnam ( I guess that's why it is so tropical here), so our boat trip was cancelled.  We are going to go to an art show and just bum around all day.  May I say I am kind of bummed that we will not be around Denver for the World Series festivities.  I hope all our Denver friends are having enough fun for us too!

We are enjoying ourselves in Hoi An right now.  This has been our third day and I think we are finally done with all the rain.  Hoi An is a great coastal town. It once was a major port for alot of different countries.  Now it is filled with shops, restaurants, food markets, and tailor shops.  I got two pairs of pants custom made and Chris got a robe.  Yesterday we took a bus to My Son, ruins that are nearly 1400 years old.  Its amazing they are still standing especially after all the bombings.  Today we took a cooking class which included a tour of the food market, a boat ride, cooking demonstrations, hands on cooking, and a lunch.  Hopefully we can recreate some dishes.  Since Hoi An is a relatively small town, you get a more personal feel of Vietnam and the culture.  Tomorrow we are off to Hue!

Our overnight train.
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Hue was a short stop on our way north.  We spent the afternoon at the Citadel.  It's a city surrounded by a six mile wall where the emperor lived.  Unfortunately it was distroyed by bombings.  It would be unbelievable if everything was still in tact.  The next day we hired drivers to drive us through the countryside.  It was very crazy since there are no traffic laws!  We saw a covered bridge, toured a bunker that was set up for the war, stopped at a street shop where conical hats and incense sticks are made, and finally a colleseum where elephant and tigers fought.  Luckily the fighting stopped around the turn of the century.

Petting the turtle for good luck at the Temple of Literature.
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Our last overnight train took us to Hanoi.  We spent a very busy day touring a museum, the Temple of Literature and a prison.  The prison held American soldiers during the war.  John McCain was a famous prisoner held captive for more than five years.  The Old Quarters is a section of the city that is crazy busy overflowing with shops and restaurants.

The next day we took a boat tour of Ha Long Bay.  There are hundreds of limestone islands jetting up from the ocean.  We docked and toured a cave on one of the islands.  It was huge. We spent Halloween on Cat Ba Island.  We are back in Hanoi ready to head off to Thailand.

Limestone caves in Ha Long Bay.
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Vietname has been a wonderful visit.  The people, food, and landscape has been unforgetable.  To answer Aunt Barb's question, a lot of Vietnamese people know a decent amount of English to get by with tourists.  We had a tour guide that was taught English by an American volunteer so basically his livelyhood is knowing English.