On our last day in Saigon we ate breakfast on the street outside the guesthouse agan. This time it was stir-fried noodles with shrimp and pork-- very good. After eating we took motos to the War Remnants Museum. The museum was surprisingly neutral and even paid tribute to western photojournalists who died in the war. There are lots of pictures of people who have suffered birth defects because of Agent Orange, and even a few deformed fetuses on display, along side abandoned US military equiptment and tanks. After spending a while there we took a moto to Notre Dame Cathedral, because the Reunification Palace is closed for lunch. Unfortunately the cathedral was closed as well and we ended up just taking some pictures and watching a bridal catalogue photo shoot. We walked to Reunification Palace for some more photos and to have lunch at a huge Vietnamese outdoor restaurant. We had an hour to kill and a nearby travel agent advised us to walk to the Opera House and local government buildings. We took pictures with a giant statue of 'Uncle Ho' teaching a little girl to fire a rocket launcher. Done sightseeing, we took motos back to the guesthouse, said goodbye to our new local friends and headed off to the airport, enjoying our last views of Saigon.
After our time in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City, we took a plane to Hoi An, a UNESCO world heritage site and quaint town on a river in the middle of the Vietnam coast. Hoi An is known for its well-preserved historical old town (which is most of the this town of 100,000 people), its tailoring shops and its beach. We spent two nights in Hoi An and checked out the tailoring shops (Haley had a coat and some dresses made in less than 12 hours!), biked the 5km to the beautiful, white-sand beach (the water was bath-water warm) and relaxed by the river. On the second day we went on a self-guided walking tour of the old town, stopping at a Chinese meeting house, a temple, the museum of Hoi An history, the Japanese covered bridge, a traditional wooden house, and the Handicraft Center. We also met another UMichigan grad on the beach, which was random, as well as also four very interesting, nice, well-traveled and funny Brits.
Friday afternoon, on our way out of town, we stopped at the Marble Mountains (which are exactly what they sound like) to see the pagodas at the top, then carried on to the airport. We got into Hanoi pretty late but shared a cab with two Canadian boys to the Old Quarter, which is where all the foreigners stay. The next day we went to the Museum of Ethnology, which is about the cutlure and history of various Vietnamese ethnic groups, but we also learned a lot about Vietnamese history in general. We spent the afternoon roaming the city, spent time by the large lake in the middle of town, and saw the cathedral in town, which was built by the French in the late 1800s. Hanoi isn't my favorite city in Vietnam, but luckily we aren't spending too much time here. Tomorrow morning we are heading for an overnight trip to Halong Bay, which is supposed to be beautiful. Tuesday we will probably go in the more rural areas north of Hanoi to see the rice fields and steppes. Wednesday afternoon we will fly to Luang Prabang, another World Heritage site, in Lao.
Life is good here, although traveling so much does get exhausting. Most of the people we've met are very nice but I still think that the Cambodians are nicer than the Vietnamese. I'm feeling great and really enjoying the Vietnamese food; its much spicier and tastier than Cambodia's speciality of plain white rice. Ok, well time to go grab some dinner- probably noodle soup yet again. Its amazing how many delicious permutations they have developed on such a simple dish.
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