Hanoi
Our time in Vietnam was spent discovering the triple H’s: Hanoi, Hue and Hoi An (in that order) with an en route “one day only” special appearance in Da Nang and two days in Ho Chi Minh/Saigon (quadruple H?). The Hanoi Hilton (the REAL one) turned out to be quite a comfortable temporary abode, without any ghostly apparitions 
However, Will and I managed to pick up something on the plane so we weren’t feeling too great for the first couple of days in Hanoi.
On the first day there, Will stayed at the hotel to get some rest and I decided to spend the morning at the Women’s Museum (he was SO so disappointed not to go with me haha).Vietnam has a long history of war and this museum (as it was described in my travel book paragraph) was dedicated to the women who served in combat throughout Vietnamese history.
I don’t know what I was thinking.
Access Denied
If you’re wondering why there has been a lack of posts in the past two weeks, I am here to clarify the matter. Now you may have just thought we were lazy (and well, sometimes we are) but in this instance, shortly after our arrival in Vietnam I figured out that we were denied access to the wordpress site. At first I thought the internet was slow at the particular hotel we were in, and then I thought the site was down and then… EUREKA!! I remembered, we were in a communist country. I couldn’t get access into the site, the page wouldn’t even load. I don’t think they want people blogging over there, and maybe my “Hanoi Hilton” post didn’t help all that much?
But now that I’m in Japan on my magnificent 11 hour layover, I can leisurely blog. And that’s what I intend to do to kill some time- update the blog on our activities in my “pseudo motherland” (or I guess it would be better put, land of my mother. but we did meet a Swiss gentleman in the visa line in Laos. he asked where we were from…we exchanged plesantries and then names and he inquired to the “origin” of my name because I know telling him I’m American didn’t satisfy his ethnic query. when he found out the origin he responded with “oh! vietnamese, so you are technically in your homeland”…umm yea, when I’m in Laos, Vietnam it’s all the same thing especially when you’re American?) and finally close out on our lovely travel blog.
Here we go!
Hanoi Hilton
I’d like to write a special post today to thank my mom Teri “teddie” Ha. Thanks to her lovely American Express reward points, and patience to wait for hours on the phone with the Amex people to make the reservations, Will and I have gotten to spend a couple nights at the Hilton in Bangkok (which was QUITE nice, and QUITE fancy) and also more recently- the Hanoi Hilton. Thanks Mom.
Now after staying at the Bangkok Hilton I emailed my mom from Luang Prabang 4 days in advance to see if she had enough points for us to stay at the Hanoi Hilton and to give her enough time to call and make the reservations. Usually, she responds to me with lightening speed as she ordered me before I left “hey con, you better email me once a day. Ya I said ONCE A DAY, just so I know you’re alive“. I checked my email the next day and there was no response. So I sent her another daily email and also inquired about the Hanoi Hilton. I checked my email the next day and still no response. Finally on the third day (the day before we were supposed to arrive in Hanoi) I happened to catch my mom on google chat and our conversation went a little something like this:
