The Many Faces of Vietnam

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We've traveled through almost half of Vietnam now and are finally resting a bit in a beach twon named Hoi An. This last week has felt like life has been in fast forward, and Alex and I are definitely in need of a little beach time. As I have been traveling the past two weeks, it seems that every place I go I love more than the last. Korea was a society rooted in tradition, and was extremely formal when set against the backdrop of Vietnam. I loved Korea, but Vietnam is absolutely enthralling. I guess I could best describe this country as beautifully orchestrated chaos.
Our first day in Ha Noi was fun, but a bit overwhelming as we attempted to grasp this entirely new culture in the midst of one of its craziest cities. We began our first day just wandering around the city taking in all of the sights and trying to figure out the exchange rate and how much we should be paying for things. In Korea there was no bartering, but in Vietnam it is almost rude not to barder. We paid $30 for our first night in Ha Noi, but soon learned that with a little tough bartering we could pay only 6 dollars for the two of us! We also discovered another gem of Vietnam, Moto Taxis. We jumped on the back of two bikes and our hilarious drivers drove us all around the city to see many beautiful pagodas, Ho Chi Minh's tomb, the presidential Palace, and introduced us to Bo Bim Bap Bo (or something like that). This is a noodle soup that is something like combining Pud Thai and Pho together which Alex and I ate thre more times by the end of our time in Ha Noi.
For our second day we went on an overnight tour of Ha Long Bay. Of course my luck as a Seattlite it rained on us for the entire first day... womp womp. We still had an ridiculously good time though of course. The weather ended up making the thousands of islands appear mystical, I felt like I was in Pirates of the Carribean or something. We got to kayak around and go into these amazing caves, we learned a Vietnamese sea shanty which I can perform on my return, and we got to jump off of the Junk that we slept on and swim in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been!
We spent one more day tooling around Ha Noi, then we jumped on a night bus to Hue and then on to Hoi An where I sit now. Getting out of the city and into the country has been an entirely different experience. We have seen so many just serene scenes that just encaptulate Vietnam to me: huge rice paddies with water buffalo, men fishing at sunset out on the river, and just so many smiling faces. The Vietnamese people are some of the most friendly, hilarious people that I have ever had the honor of meeting. Alex and I have gone to a little restaurant here on Hoi An twice already, and the little grandma that own the restaurant saw us walk in today and threw up her arms and ran to us to give us both hugs and big kisses! There is just something so magical about this place that has been though so much pain, but whose people came out of it all with smiles and so much hospitality.
Well I think its time for round two of Hoi An nightlife, but I love you all and hope everything is going splendedly with you. We're waiting for our professionally tailored three-piece suits to get done and then we're off to Na Trang a.k.a. beach town number 2, we're really roughing it our here! Peace and Love to you all.

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