Erin’s Bloggity Blog

‘Good Morning Vietnam!’ February 12, 2010

Hey kids,

I have a few minutes so I can update you on all that’s happened this past week!

Last week we (Veronica and I) spent a few days in Taipei before leaving Taiwan for Hanoi, Vietnam.  We had a very early morning and made it to Hanoi easily.  The first thing we noticed….was motorbikes and insane traffic.  Now, for those of you who live in Taiwan (or really, any Asian country) know that driving is crazy and there aren’t many rules to the road. Vietnam….is even crazier.  We were in an older part of town so the roads were smaller, which made it even more intense.  We did a quick tour around Hanoi and saw all of the main Historic buildings and memorials.

On Monday we made our way to Halong Bay. It was a 3 day trip, and we kayaked around the bay.  It was absolutely amazing.  The main reason for my trip to Vietnam was to see Halong  Bay and I was not disappointed! The tour we picked out was very nice.  Our first night was spent on a Junk Boat, and our second night was spent in a beautiful resort.

Thursday we made our way to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.  It was a huge contrast to the traditional city of Hanoi.  It is more industrialized and even MORE crazy motorbikes!!! Thursday afternoon we walked to the “Reunification Palace” (where the pictures of the tank crashing through the gates at the end of the war took place), a church and down the main street which was beautifully decorated for Tet (Chinese New Year).  Today Theresa and I went to Cu Chi which is the tourist area for the tunnels the Viet Cong used in the war.  We had an amazing tour guide, a vet, who was very passionate about his stories.  He took us around the jungle to see how the Viet Cong fought against the Americans.  We went through the tunnels (which were widened for American toursits….and still super small) and fired an AK-47 (and I hit the target!).  This afternoon we made our way to the War Crimes Museum and saw a few photo exhibits about the war.  It has been really neat learning about the Vietnam war from our tour guide and seeing the ‘other side’ to the war.  It really puts things in perspective.

Tonight we are getting ready to leave in the morning to go to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  Where it will be hotter and more crazy.  We have a long bus trip in the morning, so I should be heading off.

Hope all is well!
See you all soon!