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Published: April 22nd 2006
In February we spent 2 weeks in gorgeous Vietnam visiting serene monasteries, scrambling through elaborate palace ruins, getting clothes custom tailored, and sea-kayaking through the stunning lime-stone peaks of Halong Bay. We also toured pivotal sites of the “American War”, trying to understand this tragic episode that weighs so heavily on our country’s memory.
We flew into Hanoi which was cold, rainy, polluted and chaotic. In our constant search for warmer weather we flew south to the city of Hue which welcomed us with warm breezes and a laid back culture.
To open the photo album, double click on the first photo. There is an old citadel in Hue that we toured by bicycle rickshaw. The city of Hue was the capital of the Southern kingdom by all Nguyen Lords and officially became the capital under Tay Son reign. The Hue royal complex has been officially recognized by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
While in Hue, we also went on a 12 hour tour of the DMZ (demilitarized zone) made famous during the Vietnam War. It was powerful to see everything and sad to think that the same things are happening again right now. During
the war, the Ben Hai River was the demarcation line between North and South Vietnam. A Demilitarized Zone was established 5 km from the river. But during the war, the Southern area of DMZ was one of the bloodiest battlefields. The tour went to several war sites including: the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the Gulf of Tonkin, Khe Sanh Combat Base, the Ben Hai River, Hien Luong Bridge, Vinh Moc Tunnels, and the Rock Pile.
The “American War” was sandwiched between years of fighting with France and other countries. So those years are sometimes called the “30 Year War”. After so much destruction and sadness, and the starvation from the communist years, Vietnam has opened its economy and is now growing as fast as China. The people are extraordinary and they are rebuilding their country with so much passion. The human spirit is truly amazing.
From Hue we traveled to Hoi An. Someone had told us about Hoi An back in October while we were in Peru. The deal with this city is that there are loads of tailors. In typical Robin and Suruchi style, we went to 10 different tailors before we decided on a shop. Boy,
were we glad we were picky, we spent 3 days with them getting all kinds of clothes made. Getting pants custom tailored is like a dream for me, I'm not exactly the average American height. The shop was WONDERFUL and they went completely out of their way to make sure everything was perfect. It was quite fun to look through catalogs and design our own clothes! Custom tailored clothes are a luxury we just can't imagine having in the states. If you’re ever that way and want the BEST tailors in Hoi An here is their contact info:
Huong Lan II, 669 Hai Ba Trung St., (New) Hoi An Tel: 84.510.864.45 We headed back to Hanoi for a few days where we were able to go out for a tour of the magical Halong Bay
Overall we really enjoyed our time in Viet Nam. The food was excellent, the countryside gorgeous and the sights were really interesting. From Viet Nam we headed to Laos. Stay tuned for the next installment.
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Julieji
Julie Turcotte
tailored made clothes wow!
hey guys, Seems like you are continuin to have qa grand time. I am planning a trip to Asia in jan.2007 so I am very interested in this leg of your trip... I am hesitating between India, Nepal, Tibet, China OR vietnam, cambodia, laos, thailand... what would you recommend? The idea of having great clothes custom made to my extra big size is apealing. Is it expensive. Keep safe. Julie