Vietnam

Note: I'm posting nearly a year after our trip... Mainly so I can delete these pics off my hard drive.

Many of the photos aren't very nicely done/pleasant. Sorry.

Ho Chi Min City 

War Museum + Tunnels used for Vietnamese war tactic

French Influence in the City

 Post Office

 He later dropped these! oops...

Northern Vietnam... Island Tour (Ha Long Bay)

Hanoi (The "Old City" in the North)

The shopping mall wasn't quite what we were expecting...

Overall, our experience in Vietnam was really wonderful, although if I haven't told you the one-legged lady in the park story, ask me next time I see you.

One of the interesting things about Vietnam is that the "American War" as they call it ... or "Vietnam War" as we call it... really ended up shaping their entire country.

The effects of the war are quite obvious when you travel from north to south (or vice versa).  Also, heart-breakingly, the effects of "agent orange" (chemical warfare America dumped on Vietnam) is still, and will continue to, wreak havoc on the land and bodies of the Vietnamese for decades to come.

(From my extremely basic understanding, the Northern army was considered "vietnamese rebels" and the Southern army fought with the USA military and ended up defeating the North-- So today, the South is noticeably more developed and "westernizing", while the north is comparatively floundering due to a lack of infrastructure and opportunities.)

The major cities to visit in the North are Hanoi and Sapa.  We stayed at a wonderful hostel called "Vietnam Backpacker's Hostel" in both cities-- which is a large modern chain of hostels I recommend.  If it weren't for the hostel we might of not enjoyed our stay in Hanoi nearly so much.

  The "Old town" vibe was everywhere.  Walking through the run-down and overgrown yet somehow extremely busy streets was like walking through history.  The people in the North are mostly extremely poor farmers and shop keepers.  To improve their circumstances, many young people flock to the cities (particularly in the south) in search of better education and a higher paying job to support their families in the countryside/north.  Hanoi did offer a few touristy attractions, but all of them could be done in one afternoon and some of them weren't really worth doing at all.

Our favorite thing was watching a traditional water puppet show... yes, you read that correctly.

People literally conduct a VERY fancy puppet show on a stage... made of water!

added bonus: a live instrumental section + voice actresses/singers

(all in Vietnamese but you "get it" for a few of the scenes)

PS. F*** you, tourists with massive ipads in front of us, who held up your devices in the air and recorded the entire thing... come on people.

We went from Hanoi to Ha long Bay (via like 3 buses and 2 boats) but it was organized well by the hostel so we really enjoyed ourselves.  The bay is absolutely stunning.  Green blue sparkling water, monkeys, and a private island was quite amazing.  Bunking in a stuffy cabin with a group of drunk idiot Scottish kids. . . not so much.  Ya win some, ya lose some.
 (it was on this island that Kyle and I realized we're "getting old"-- opting to stargaze in utter silence than get drunk and dance with sweaty strangers to some loud hip hop)

Sapa is in the northern mountains.  It was quite a long (somewhat miserable) bus ride from Hanoi, but totally worth it.

(For some sad reason, I have no idea where my camera pictures are from Sapa...  Here are some screen shots)

SAPA- rice terrace country

The city has gotten much bigger and more touristy in the recent years because it offers the most gorgeous views of the rice paddies.  If you don't know what a rice paddy is, imagine an entire lush green valley that tribes of people hand-carved with millions of flat terraces to farm rice.  These tribes still function today, and some of the women have basically perfected their english, so they can sell handmade items and give hiking tours to tourists.

Side note: Many people rent and ride motorbikes in Vietnam for a fun way to see the countryside...  Kyle and I were very close to doing this until we realized that we kept seeing these people in our hostel with severely burned legs and other hideous injuries... After asking a handful of people what happened, we realized literally every injury was from riding motorbikes.

To each their own, my adventurous spirit has limitations... some might say I value my legs too much.

We really wished we had more time in Sapa, I'd suggest staying for AT LEAST two nights.

The major city in the South is Ho Chi Min City, named after the leader Ho Chi Min.

The city was very modern and had everything you'd find in say, Gwangju South Korea.  In fact, Kyle and I found ourselves saying "we could live here for a bit" -- while just enjoying simple things like air conditioned coffee shops and easy to navigate roads.

In conclusion,  this wouldn't be a complete post about Vietnam without mentioning the truly MIND BOGGLING amount of motorbikes that drive through the streets of Vietnam every day with little to no traffic laws whatsoever. 

. . .

we survived!  food was . . .not as diverse as Thailand, about as okay as. . . Japanese.
(my opinion, don't hate me Japanese foodies!)

Thanks for reading~^^