Gooood Morning Viet Naaaaaam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have been looking forward to this for a long time - we’re really in Viet Nam!  We’ re here for several days.  As Burr said - “Never thought I’d be here - well, except for in high school when we all thought it”.  Very strange to be on the “other side” while hearing about the war from the viewpoint of our guides.  It is called "The American War" here.  They are very careful and respectful in how they describe things, but it is rather uncomfortable at times.

Viet Nam is very different than Indonesia and Malaysia.  Much cleaner, vastly more modernized, and there is a huge middle class - not just the extremes of wealth and poverty.  They are also extremely welcoming to tourists.  We started out in Da Nang, which is the fourth largest city in Viet Nam, and was the center of the Champa Kingdom which ruled Viet Nam from 192 AD to 1835.  It’s also home to China Beach - famous R & R location for American troops.  

Da Nang's iconic Dragon Bridge

We cannot get over the amount of stuff there is in these markets!

 

We visited an embroidery factory and showroom - amazing work done by these women.

We also watched marble carving - and could have brought home any of these huge pieces.

They kept telling us they ship anywhere!

We spent one day on Halong Bay, and what an amazing day this was!  Halong Bay is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and on the list of the new Seven Wonders of the World list.  We boarded a Junk boat right from our ship and headed out.  

They look significantly different on the outside than they do on the inside!

Our first stop was the Thien Cung Grotto - one of the most beautiful caves we’ve ever seen.   (I’m sorry there aren’t better photos, but the camera battery took this opportunity to die and we had to make do with just the phone).  

The view as we cruised around the bay was spectacular.  It was a hazy day, which added to the whole experience, making the rocks look shrouded in mist.

After that, we loaded into two person kayaks to explore the bay and the floating fishing villages there.  

Dozens of families live here and fish for their living.  There is even a school!  

This is the village.

And this is their school!  Mothers are picking up children in these rowboats.

Typical house.

They have been here for close to 40 years, but are being relocated now that it is a national park and UNESCO site.  The government is building them housing on shore.  As you can imagine - the conditions are incredibly unsanitary and the water pollution is becoming a huge problem.  

Ho Chi Minh City - formerly Saigon - is a huge, bustling, modern, crowded city of 9 million.  The thing that stood out the most is the traffic!  We thought there were a lot of scooters in Indonesia - forget about it!  There are more than 6 million just in HCMC!!  It is amazing to just watch the traffic flow - there are still no stop signs or traffic lights - they just merge at intersections!  100’s of scooters, cars, buses, bicycles, scooters with trailers, and cabs.  EVERYONE is on these scooters.  Young, old, large, small, men in business suits, women in dresses and high heels, workers carrying their tools or wares to sell, and entire families!  I wish I had been faster with the camera when one went by with dad driving, mom on the back with an infant in the middle breast feeding.  Unbelievable.

This shouldn't work, but it does.

Very common sight.

How much stuff can you cram onto a scooter???

Our guide assured us these puppies were being sold for pets and we chose to believe him.

Our final excursion in Viet Nam was to the Cu Chi tunnels, that were used by the Viet Cong Guerrillas during the war.  The system of tunnels is over 200km long, has several levels, containing living areas, meeting rooms, and many secret entrances.  There were people living in, using, and fighting from these tunnels from 1948 until 1975.

Very hard to spot the entrances,

Air vents

This is the "enlarged" tunnel for tourist access.

I only went 30 meters like this and was exhausted.  I can't imagine living down here.

The river is full of water hyacinths and ducks.

We had a snack of tea made from the pandan leaves and tapioca root, typical of what they ate at the time.

It has been absolutely fascinating to be in Viet Nam - a place that was such a daily presence in our lives as kids and young adults.  Reminds us of the huge debt of gratitude we owe our veterans.

Sailing away from Ho Chi Minh City - Goodbye Viet Nam!