Good Morning Vietnam

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Sorry it has been a while, but its been quite the hectic time here in Vietnam. Im in the capital Hanoi and have seen a fair bit of the country. I started in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), then caught a bus to Nha Trang, where I spent a few days on the beach. Then I caught a bus to Hoi An and spent a day there recovering from the long bus rides. Then I worked my way up north to Hue and finally Hanoi. In total, I spent 32 hours on buses from Saigon to Hanoi, for a total of 1770 km of road. And it was hell. These buses here are not designed for the tall foriegners that quite often frequent them. So it was very hard to get comfortable.
I've done some pretty cool stuff here so far. I went to the Cu Chi tunnel network outside Saigon where the Vietcong hid from the Americans during the war. As well, I went to the War Remnants museum where I saw the war through the eyes of the Vietnamese. Quite intense. When I got to Hanoi I took a 2 day boat trip through Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site of over 2000 limestone islands dotting the sea. Google "Halong Bay" for pictures- it was amazing. I would put pictures on the blog, but there are no usb thingers on the computers here.
While I knew a fair bit about the war before coming here, I did not know much about Vietnamese culture, so instead of telling you about the war I'll mention a few things that I have discovered. As a Buddhist country, the Vietnamese are very conscious of their actions, because they believe heavily in reincarnation. If, for instance, a man or a woman have few or no children (a bad thing in Vietnam), then they will be reincarnated as a water buffalo, the lowest creature which spends its days working int he rice fields, then gets eaten by its owners after 15 years of hard labour. As a result, Vietnam has such a high population growth rate that the country has recently implemented a 2 child policy to prevent over-crowding. Vietnam is the 13th most populous country in the world. Aswell, if a couple divorces, they can forget about being reincarnated into anything useful.
Motorcycles here are the "in thing." In Saigon, a city of 10 million people, there are over 3 million motorbikes. If a Vietnamese teenage boy doesn't have a motorbike, there is no chance in him getting lucky with the ladies. Black and red bikes are the most popular, so guys with those colour bikes get the most popular girlfriends. And everywhere you see Vietnamese women wearing 3 inch stilleto heels while riding their bikes and shifting gears- highly amusing.
So I'm off to Laos tonite on a bus ride that is 24 hours long. It should be a great time! With any luck I will survive the grueling trek and you will hear from me in Vientiane. Talk soon- Fraz

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