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.
Hello/Goodbye
Our quick two-day stay in Saigon/ Ho Chi Minh City has come to an end and as I sit in the airport en route to Siem Reap I ponder these thoughts:
1. The new airport is QUITE nice. The last time I was here I grimaced at the thought of going to the bathroom and when nature finally came a calling it was just as horrendous as what I imagined. However, now the airport is 1st class. In fact, I’m using the WIFI at the airport right now- impressive.
It’s not just the airport though, during our quick trip it was apparent that the city has changed a lot since the last time I’ve been back… much more tourist, helmets for moped riders, chic new cafés and even street cleaning. However, some habits die hard.
Standing in line at the customs check there was an older Vietnamese man standing in front of me. He was noticeably fidgety and nervous. Before it was his turn to show his paperwork and passport he pulled out a couple bills of Vietnamese & American currency and shoved it into his back pocket. I kept my eye on his interaction with the official to see Read the rest of this entry »
and… we’re there
finally. after 17 hours of flying. and 6 hours at various airports.
flight #1 wasn’t the best — sfo to narita. in choosing seats for the flight, i forgot to account for the sun. see, in flying west the daytime creeps by awful slow. and the left side of the plane gets the sun the whole time. this means that even though the handy trip-display told me that it was negative fifty-something degrees outside, the sunshine made sure that my window was toasty hot. and made sure i woke up every fifteen minutes in a serious sweat. awesome.
but… no big deal. we got here. and our room/box has ice cold AC. and that was yesterday. we made a couple of journeys into the city today. just walked around and checked it out.
here we are getting some snacks. don’t i look ecstatic? ice cream snacks. they’ve got soursop shakes over here. delish. i had them a bunch in costa rica — they call it guayabana there — but i could never figure out what fruit it was. my cousin finally clued me in. she said soursop and it all came together. a moment of revelation.
