And on our left ... Vietnam!

It's good to be proper traveling again. Vietnam sees us back in a more tradional exotic-cheap-backpacker situation that is a welcome change from both the relaxing bliss of Bali and the ho-hum feelings we got from Singapore. We were a little on guard because alot of the travelers we'd met who'd been through Vietnam spoke of how much the touts hassle you and how they'd been taken for rides (or robbed or whatever). It all started to sound like India Jr. and we were bracing for the worst. Much to our delight, we discovered that the reputation of Vietnam as a difficult place to travel is almost entirely unfair and obviously created by tourists who have never been to India. Phew.

Ho Chi Minh city is a traffic nightmare on par with any over loaded metropolis either of us has ever been to. Like China, death awaits around every intersection and we instantly got back into our routine of check both ways and then check the other seven ways before you cross. Once you got past the now typical asian traffic situation, the city revealed itself to be fairly clean and absolutely jammed packed with delicious food. We can't speak highly enough of Vietnamese cuisine as we haven't had a bad meal yet and the only country that is even on the same playing field for culinary exaltation is China. The city is also filled with lovely little parks that only partially manage to counter-act the traffic noise, but they do help with the clausterphobia of the densely populated country (Vietnam's pop is 85 million!). Oh yeah, and it should be noted that while the French wrought horrible times on the Vietnamese, they did bring a few excellent tid bits as well such as baguettes, cafes, coffee, patee, and pastries.

Oddly enough HCMC doesn't actually have much to see or do. Our one day of proper sight seeing centered mostly around the grim and sobering War Remnants Museum which is sort of a must-see for anyone thinking of coming to Vietnam. The museum houses a soul wrenching collection of weapons, vehicles, pictures, testimonials, and history blurbs about the Vietnam War that will make a pacifist out of anyone. Dioxin (the active ingredient in Agent Orange) is just about the most horrible thing anyone has ever done to anyone else and you feel shame just being from the same species as the people who made and used this chemical en masse to obliterate not just forest and front line fighters, but generations of offspring since. There is still fallout from Dioxin today in some of the youth in Vietnam.

The next day we partook of the unique phenomena of Vietnamese tourism and booked our first ... guided tour! Now I know there's well established backpacker wisdom that you never want to do a guided tour, but Vietnam for some odd reason is one of the only places we've ever been where the guided tours are not only ten times easier than doing it ourselves, but also cheaper! Yes, you have to deal with massive groups sometimes (though rarely), but you do not need to wrestle with every tout and you get to (in this case) float along the Mekong River Delta checking out coconut candy makers and the like for 9 USD per head! Lunch included! Let's just throw in another ! for good measure! The Mekong trip was really good to say the least.

We could have then hit up some war time tunnels the Viet Cong used to move troops around, but heard they were clausterphobic and horribly hot little spaces that aren't that much fun. Instead, we hit up the most excellent Dam Sen Water Park and had a blast until we realized that half the little 12-15 year olds running around in wave pools and water slides were drunk on beer. I mean when we were kids we got in trouble if we ate within one hour of being near a pool let alone packing away a few before sprinting onto a two hundred foot chute of death.

After HCMC, we opted out of a 19 hour bus ride and flew all the way up to Da Nang (we got carbon offsets this time at least!) where we hopped onto an overpriced cab to take us to a little town called Hoi An. Hoi An is one of those World Heritage sites that tries to preserve the look and feel of the old Vietnam and does so with reasonable success with the exception of the glut of tailors that seem to line every street. It's really odd, but there are literally over two hundred tailors here with their own shops and hawkers ready to size you up and make you the perfect ... whatever. You show them what you want, they make it for you. And from what we've heard, they're really good. Lynn and I decided that our bags were too full to really go for it, but we were sorely tempted.

We did yet another guided tour here only this time to the Cham ruins of My Son (pronounced May Sun). They were a good primer for Lynn for our eventual visit to Angkor Wat, but really weren't particularily special. It was also sick hot that day and we were glad to be back to our hotel pool that afternoon. Yes, we have another hotel with a pool. It was only 12 bucks. ... What? By the way, hotel pools are great places to meet people and we ended up meeting three Brits and an Aussie with whom we feasted, drank, and then partied with on the beach until 3am.

Anyway, despite early trepidations we're loving Vietnam and are looking forward to heading up to Hanoi tomorrow and then booking a third and final tour through Halong Bay.

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