"All I can say is, there is something about pointy hats (nan) and bicycles (xen tam) that makes me really love Vietnam."

Crossing the border from Cambodia to Vietnam was quite a drastic change. We went from a true third world country, with bad buses and dirt roads to a nice bus with a microphone and a woman from Happy Tours singing and teaching us Vietnamese. Honestly, my first impressions of Vietnam would not show raving reviews. Picture cattle being herded from one place to another...that is what a lot of tourism here is. Our first and only day in Saigon we spent on a tour to the Cu Chi tunnels (which stretch about 200 k) which were used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam war. It is crazy to think that people lived underground in these things for years and years. We saw lot of really interesting things along with about 10,000 other people, which definitely took away some of the magic. Ironically, for a couple dollars one can shoot an AK 47 in the shooting range they have set up there. The same kind of thing was available in Cambodia. I find it a little wierd, after looking at all the horrible atrocities of war that someone would want to shoot a gun. Once again, I learned a lot of history I was unaware of. The picture above is of me trying to squeeze my not so Asian sized body into one of the secret entrances to the tunnels. After the tunnels we visited the war remnants museum, also very educational and really depressing. I will never forget, after going through the museum, seeing all the horrors of the Vietnam War, I stopped to read the comment book. It made me cry when I read "I don't believe Americans have hearts". Every entry was the same, "why do we not learn, why is the same thing still happening, this time in Iraq" always coming back to the US. It was osme pretty powerful stuff. I don't want to be ashamed of my country, but our government makes it hard not to be. Sometimes I feel more ashamed of myself for not being more proactive in changing who is representing my country, especially because it has a huge impact on the quality of life throughout the entire world. Another memorable moment in Saigon is witnessing a fight between a man and women on the street in which they both picked up huge bricks and tried to huck them at each other...we wanted to call the police, but didn't have th slightest clue how to go about that in Vietnam.

From there we took a night bus to Nha Trang. So one great thing about the ultra controlled tourist industry is it is only costing us $15 to travel the length of Vietnam on an open bus ticket. We had one day to kill in Nha Trang before catching another night bus to Hoi An, and for $3 you can get an all day booze cruise boat tour with snorkeling included. We got sucked into that one. Rach and I were the only ones who snorkeled instead of partaking in the floating bar, I think the snorkeling beat the cheap red wine for sure. We then boarded the worst overnight bus ever. It was so uncomfortable and sitting over the engine made for a hot ride. We arrived in Hoi An at 7 am after 2 nights of bad sleep on buses....and we went shopping. Hoi An is amazing, the remnants of the French coloniztaion are everywhere. The architecture and bright colors are amazing, and the bagguettes are some of the best I have eaten. Hoi An is known for its tailoring...anything you could possibly dream of can be made here in less than 24 hours for dirt cheap....we went a little bit crazy, but now we will look very professional in Korea. (it will be wierd) There is a whole other blog in order about our shoppinmg extravganza and the wonderful Vietnamese friends we made in the process, so stay tuned.

We have eaten a lot of interesting and tasty food here in Vietnam. Trying random things on the street is so much fun! They eat a lot of beans, known as che here, but not in the way one serves beans in the Americas. (Doesn't really quench the burrito cravings) Here in Vietnam they are served sweet, sometimes in a citrusy juice, other times with a coconut sauce(the woman in the pointy hat is eating that), and if it is hot out they add ice. We stopped at one street restaurant because we saw some chickens hanging up and thought, that can't be too scary. We definately got rice porridge with more than one kind of unidentifiable meat product. It was ok though because we made friends with the boys drinking beer who look like they are twelve, and probobly are. The people here are so friendly and wonderful, it is an amazing country. I always find it incredible when countries have been through so much and seen so much pain and violence, but the people remain gentle and kind. I was a bit turned off by Disneyland style tourism at first, but after being in Vietnam and interacting with the people I cannot even convey the intense positive energy I feel here....plus they wear neat pointy hats and all ride really cool bikes.