VIETNAM
I enjoy exploring Hanoi, eating great vegetarian food, and playing the local footbag-like game, but interesting as it is, I would rather spend my time in Laos, which by unanimous reports from other travelers, is more backpacker-friendly. (My hotel bills and change were wrong often, never in my favor). My friends Sheilah and Bert come here often as volunteers and love it, but they avoid the tourist sites. Few people speak English who do not work in the tourism industry (or international business). In other words, do visit Vietnam; it has much to explore, but count your change.
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March 2004 - Nha Trang, Hoi An, and My Son
Nha Trang is an unremarkable beach town. Hoi An is a lovely old city on a river, but the beauty is hidden behind shop after shop, with vendors endlessly calling me in to please look inside their store. So far, the highlight has been the ruins at My Son, not for the unremarkable ruins, but for the motorcycle ride into the countryside where I met lovely people who unfortunately speak as much English as I speak Vietnamese. The country folk were all smiles.
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March 2004 - Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)
Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) is an interesting mega-city, most notable to me for its dense motorcycle traffic. Vietnam is small, and has more than 90 million people. People do not smile as much as in Cambodia or Thailand, but I'm glad to be here. I went to the Cu Chi tunnels, used by the Viet Cong during the war. There are over 200 kilometers of tunnels, where some 16,000 guerrilas lived for years. I heard that only 4000 survived the American bombing and chemical attacks. Local people are still suffering the effects of agent orange. I saw a propaganda film, translated into English, where the top American killers were shown as heros. Bush must have gotten a C- in his history class.
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