Happy New Year

Hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve. We certainly had an uneventful one. We hung out at the Why Not Bar and watched people dance like crazy people to all kinds of American 60's music. When midnight came, nothing happened. Very uneventful, but the Vietnamese new year doesn't begin until the end of January and that's when everything goes down, I guess. Yesterday we went the Oceanographic Institute and then hopped a boat to a nearby island to check out an aquarium. Not very impressive on either end. Heading out tomorrow for a beach town called Mui Ne further down the coast. Supposed to have some crazy dunes and sandsledding is just about the only activity around. Should be fun. Can't post pics from here so we'll try tomorrow.

Made it

We made it to Nha Trang, but 12 hours on a bus is a pretty awful experience when it comes to being comfortable. Especially when you have some American college kid next to you playing his walkman so loud that you have to listen to Dave Matthews, Michael Jackson, and Bob Marley over and over. We managed to sleep a bit, but are laying low today. Pretty wiped out. Drove pretty close to My Lai at some point during the trip. Kind of bummed we will miss that. I guess there's not much to see, but I really wanted to go there for some reason. Guess I am just drawn to massacres...Weather is still not great, but at least it's not raining. We'll get some pics up eventually.

My Son

Spent the morning walking the ruins at My Son about an hour outside of Hoi An. It was very early morning and many of the pictures turned out shitty. My Son is an ancient town that existed between the 4th and 13th centuries. We went with a small group of about 10 before the main tour buses arrived for the day. It was nice to be there and enjoy the sites alone. Very peaceful. We had to leave at 5am to accomplish this, but that should help us sleep tonight on the 12 hour bus ride to Nha Trang. Love the pictures with our heads on top of the headless shivas. Mocking ancient tribal Gods is funny.

Hoi An

We arrived in Hoi An yesterday refreshed from our time in Hue. Spending 6 nights in the same place was a nice change of pace. We spent the day wandering around town. Tomorrow we will tour the ancient city of My Son and then catch a night bus to Nha Trang and hopefully some better weather. Hoi An is a charming little town. One of the few untouched by the war so much of the original architecture still remains. Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. These pics are randoms. The dead rat is my personal fave. Also included, is me cleaning up my jacket after a cat sprayed it with urine at a cafe.

DMZ

Had a fascinating day touring the DMZ. Hiring the private guide was definitely the key. This guy was awesome. Like a walking encyclopedia of war knowledge. We just kept throwing questions at him for hours and he knew everything down to the exact dates of every event. Our driver was a vet that fought with the US for the South. He got a speeding ticket though that cost him $100 USD, about a month's salary. Ouch. The sites themselves weren't all that impressive besides the Vinh Moc tunnels. These tunnels were crazy. The villagers started digging them during the heaviest aerial assault and ended up living underground for almost 5 years. They would transport supplies and weapons through them too, but they were really an underground village for about 400 people. It's just insane to think that these people existed down there for so long knowing they could be killed immediately if they came up and were spotted. We met a guy that had grown up down there and he was all messed up. Couldn't have been more than 4 feet tall and was visibly screwed in the head. The entire area surrounding the tunnels is just filled with huge craters from all the bombs dropped there. The tunnels open up to a beautiful beach where many US ships were stationed off shore. The other highlight was visiting the old Khe Sanh military base where the US completely bungled their strategy opening the door for the Tet Offensive. There are old bunkers all around what's left of the base. We also walked across the bridge that marked the demarcation point that divided north from south. It was a great day and definitely one of the highlights so far.

More pics

Our view, our room, some kids, an iguana, in the chair

Hue

After a day of relaxing and watching bad movies while Jenn convalesced, just a cold not the bird flu, we hit the town today. Spent most of the day in the old city that they call the Citadel. It is a walled compound stretching about 10 km that where the emperor used to hang. Pretty decent scenery, but not the most exciting thing to see. There are a bunch of old US tanks and weapons on display near the main gate that were captured during the war. I loved reading the signs attached to them talking about the "US puppets" and such. Afterwards, we booked a tour to the DMZ for tomorrow. Decided against doing the big tour bus deal and shelled out for a personal car with driver and guide so we could actually see the places we want to visit and get the background of the sights. Going to hit some of the old combat bases and the tunnels that were used during the war. Quite a way to spend Christmas Eve. Then I got a sweet haircut and a shave. Ryan, we walked all over town for a few hours and didn't come across any school girls in white. Sorry, man.

Detour

Well, we got on the bus alright last night heading for Dong Ha, but things didn't go quite according to plan. We managed to sleep most of the way so the trip was fine, but we ended up at the wrong destination. The bus went further south and we ended up in Hue instead. This may be a blessing in disguise, however. We found a great hotel for a cheap price and are going to stay here through Xmas. This room has a computer and free internet in the room. Plus, it has satellite television, which is truly a blessing after nearly 6 weeks on the road. We are looking forward to some downtime as the weather across all of Vietnam blows right now. It is rainy and cold everywhere. Hue seems like a nice little city with plenty of good food and sights to see. It is only about an hour south of our original destination so we will still be able to tour the DMZ easily. Here are some pics from yesterday at the park.

The Night Bus

Heading south tonight via bus for the DMZ area and a town called Dong Ha. For some reason, they only have transport at night so we leave at 8:30 PM and get in tomorrow morning around 6AM, or so they claim. Saves us a night's lodging costs at least. We wanted to take a train, but they are crazy booked with the Tet holiday upcoming. Spent the day at Cuc Phong National Park. It was really nice because there were no tourists whatsoever. We took quite a long time exploring a cave with a flashlight, but I had to convince Jenn that no bats would harm her first. It was quite a task. Afterwards we went to the park's endangered primate rescue center. It was nice to see a conservation effort of some sort since it seems as if the Vietnamese will kill and eat anything that moves. There were about 20 different species of primates including one kind that has only 60 known living left on the planet. That's a shitty sentence. We'll post when we arrive and hopefully be able to load some pics.

Ninh Binh

Found a place that has USB ports so we can finally post some pics. Even have an action shot of our rock climbing excursion. I don't know what Jenn wrote about it, but it was pretty crazy scaling the side of a mountain. Never in my life have I had any desire to do such a thing, but it was pretty exciting. We met a great Kiwi expat that owned a pub on the island (maybe the only decent and honest establishment on the island) and talked with him for a few hours. He gave us great advice so we have altered our plans a little bit. The island was beautiful, but it's nice to be back to the mainland. There is one picture of a small floating village off the coast. There are many of these around the islands in Halong Bay and the people subsist by fishing alone. Boats come to buy seafood from them once or twice a week and also bring them vegetables, rice and other staples. Fascinating. Anyway, we will be heading south tomorrow night for central Vietnam and the DMZ area. Can't wait to see all the war sights.

Ninh Binh

Our time on Cat Ba Island is done. Yesterday, we went for a hike through the National Park. What the guide said would be an "easy walk" turned out to be scaling vertical cliffs - not easy after the night we spent drinking Tiger beers with a Kiwi expat. We did get some beautiful shots of the island from the top and will post them as soon as technology allows. We left the little island in a high speed boat for the mainland this afternoon. It took about 45 minutes, then we hired a driver to take us to Ninh Binh - another 3 hours away. We are planning to catch the Reunification Express train from here south. I think we are both ready to get to the Central and Southern regions of Vietnam. The north has tested our patience a bit too much... we hear it is another world down south, and we've got our fingers crossed that it is.

Cat Ba Island

We left Hanoi yesterday morning headed for Halong Bay on the Gulf of Tonkin. We planned on staying a couple of nights there before heading south, but once we arrived we hopped a boat heading to Cat Ba island instead. After about 12 hours of travelling, we made it to this quiet little town off the coast. The ride was gorgeous as we navigated through hundreds of tiny mountain islands and stopped off for a walk through a cave. The most interesting aspect was having to change boats in the middle of the water on 2 seperate occasions with all our luggage on our backs. There is a national park on the island that we will be hiking through tomorrow. No pictures yet, I'm afraid. This town only has dial up connections and is using Windows 98 that doesn't support our digital camera. It is nice and peaceful here and we are happy to be out of Hanoi. That city is filled with a bunch of people just trying to rip you off constantly. Overcharging and peddling junk seems to be the only viable economy. We did sit and have some beers with the locals that ran a cafe near our hotel and they helped redeem it. Last night we had dinner with our boat operator and overall, the Vietnamese people seem really pleasant. Discussing lifestyles and culture with these friendly folks has been very enlightening. Still can't view our blog though due to some government restriction. Hope it is posting properly.

Hanoi Day 2

Woke up early to make it over to Ho Chi Minh's final resting place. It can get quite crowded since Uncle Ho is so beloved here. It was pretty interesting to see his body on display a la Lenin. The guards make sure you keep moving around the glass case he is entombed in and twice I was pulled forward for straggling. Unfortunately, no cameras are allowed so you will have to settle for pics from the outside. I was snatched out of line by a guard on the stairs up for what I was sure was a trip to a political re-education camp, but it turns out he was just worried about the bulge my wallet was making in my pocket. Afterwards, we toured the presidential palace and Uncle Ho's older more modest dwellings. We were fortunate enough to see his old garage and a few of his cars still preserved inside. I can just see Ho now, cruising the streets in his Porsche. A trip to the Ho museum was next, although we didn't spend much time. Anyway, Ho is the man around here. And rightly so. Who wouldn't worship a man that beat the French colonialists? I'm surprised he isn't more revered in the States for this simple reason. I hope these posts are getting through. We have not been able to view the blog ourselves. Apparently it is some sort of restricted site and has been blocked at every net place we have tried. At least we are able to post.

Hanoi Hilton

We spent the day walking the city and seeing some of the sights including the Hanoi Hilton. This was by far the highlight. No wait, seeing John McCain's picture in the Hanoi Hilton was definitely the highlight. I swear, the man is such a whore for the camera that he will stick his face anywhere there may be a camera.... Kidding aside, it was quite a place. Also wandered into a local market and finally saw the dogs roasting. Now, I was sure we would see dog meat here, but I didn't expect to see the whole dog. Seeing as how we promised to try anything and everything we had the lady cut us a couple of bites to taste. It was pretty nasty actually. Really grissley and the skin was tough. It was a great photo op though and Jenn was nice enough to pose for us. This city is way too busy for us so I think we will get out after we see Ho Chi Minh's corpse tomorrow. Enjoy these pics and please don't get offended by my reading on the crapper at the Hanoi Hilton.

Hanoi

We arrived uneventfully last night on a nice flight from Vientiane. Just touring the city today and seeing some sights. Will post more later when we can find a decent computer to hook the camera up to. This city is crazy. Maybe crazier than Bangkok.

The Capital City

It's a good thing we leave for Hanoi tomorrow because there is really not much going on in the capital of Laos. We are just resting up, and getting ready for the flight to Vietnam. The flight should take just over an hour, and by early evening tomorrow, we will begin our month in Vietnam. Here are a few pics from Veng Viang - the town itself left much to be desired, but the landscape couldn't have been more beautiful. There's also a picture of a local Veng Viang menu, and a new mall being built in Ventiane (note the scaffolding made of tied together bamboo).

Vientiane

Another bus ride out of the way today as we travelled from Vang Vieng, to Vientiane. Got here a little too late to see much today, but we will explore in the morning. Been a pretty relaxed couple of days with the highlight definitely going to a bar where they were showing Full Metal Jacket. Jenn had never seen it, so what better place to take it in. Vang Vieng wasn't much at all. A tiny town that pretty much consisted of drunk kids watching Friends all day long. We were happy to leave today. More to come.

Same Same

Not much to report. A lot of kids sitting in bars watching Friends for hours on end. Think we're getting out tomorrow and heading to Vientiane. Some random pics from along the river. Gotta love the giant satalite dish on the boat.