'Nam

Written by S:

My friends from college, Dave and Izzi, joined me in Hanoi on the 16th. We were then joined by Vickie and her father Frank on the 19th. Vietnam so far has been pretty great. The natural scenery here is stunning, and the cities are an elegant fusion of asian and french influences. motorcycles are ubiquitous and the traffic is intense
(though nothing is quite like the traffic in india). vietnam is world famous for its distinctive cuisine, but unfortunately the one big disappointment here has been that the cuisine isn't particularly amenable to vegetarians. on the whole, the food has been disappointing, at least for me. food highlights have been limited to regional fruits like durian and rambutan, both of which i highly recommend if you ever get the chance to try them.

so far we've visited hanoi, ha long bay, hue, hoi an, nha trang and ho chi minh city (aka saigon). hanoi is the political capital of the country, but it still has a smaller town feel to it, and probably the heaviest french influence in terms of architecture. highlights included seeing ho chi minh's preserved body, and the lake in the city that john mccain parachuted into after his plane was shot down. hue
and hoi an are ancient capitols, where the heavy chinese influence is palpable. today these really are small towns, and we were able to bike out to some of the outlying areas to see the rice paddies and beautiful river/mountain scenery. nha trang is the huge beach resort here. we headed to what can only be described as a hippie commune guesthouse about an hour north or city. this had the nicest beach
we've seen in 8 months in asia. totally private and just stunning. saigon is the modern business capitol of the country, and here we can feel the energy, vibrancy and intense pace of economic growth most acutely. today we visited the war remnants museum (formerly named the 'museum of chinese and american war crimes'), where there was a predictably lopsided account of the vietnam war, but it was quite
moving nonetheless.

sadly, dave and izzi left for home early this morning. we had fantastic time together. they proved to be first-rate backpackers, energetic and resilient, and we're thrilled that they were able to make it. moving forward, vickie, frank and i will be heading to the mekong delta region for the next 10 days or so. after that vickie and i will head to cambodia, followed by thailand, malaysia, singapore and
indonesia.

i have a few more notes on vietnam i'd like to share but it's probably
best to save those until after we leave the country.