Good Morning Vietnam

Hey all, we have been on the move for several days now, since the last post from Hanoi. The internet is good here, so we might be able to get some more photos up soon. As for us, we are happy, healthy, and in good spirits (meaning, not wanting to kill each other.) Truly, doing this trip with a family member changes the experience--its something that we'll always have together. But anyway, enough of the sap--

Vietnam. Oh, vietnam. This place is SO different compared to Laos. From the minute we touched down, this place has been different. The first thing I noticed on the bus from the airport--Power Lines. Lots of them. And manufacturing. Lots of factories. And building. People we have talked to havea described Laos as "war torn." I disagree--I observed Laos to be less developed than other places, but war torn isn't the way I would describe it. Vietnam, in comparison, is the place I expected to look "war torn." With what I knew of the country and the vietnam war, I expected to see a country slowly recovering its economy and culture. Having seen photos of the bigger cities in vietnam post-war, I knew that the major cities had been flattened by american bombers. Going to the cities now, there is no evidence of the catastrophic effects of the bombing--instead, you see progress. Hanoi was a city growing exponentially. In 30 years, a flattened countryside has been replaced with bridges, paved city streets, growing infrastructure, freeways (the best so far), overpasses, big companies, budding tourism. We have visited several museums since arriving here--and learned that vietnam is a country that has been fighting "invaders" for centuries. They think of themselves as 'tigers' in some ways--a sleeping 'tiger' economy that has finally been given the chance to show itself. They think of themselves as 'tigers' in war--repelling invasions (chinese, japanese, french, american, british, australian, mongol among others, as well as invasions internally, north vietnam into south and vice versa). With the resources here, it is incredible that this country is not a world power, although now it is one of the leading producers of rice and coffee, and its manufacturing is growing fantastically. Vietnam seems to be dealing with the issues of infrastructure better than Laos--city planning, organized garbage service, street sweeping.

With all the planning however, it is clear that vietnam, like Laos, is having a problem with culture and these new changes colliding. Motorbikes, while obnoxious and load, have also changed the family structure--allowing children to travel to the cities to work, get an education, meet potential partners who are quite far from the family home. Along the train tracks and freeways, you see men and women on motorbikes, but you also see them on bikes, carts with produce for town, and walking along herding cattle and water buffalo. You see families fishing in the culverts alongside the freeway, next to piles of garbage. You see people just sitting on the rails of the train tracks or walking alongside, as if it were a path. The "street sweepers" we ahve seen along the freeway are actually people sweeping, wearing a grass cone hat and using a handmade broom. Trucks and cars and motorbikes pass them at dizzying speeds, spewing debris, exhaust and rocks. I can't think of a more dangerous job, that is, until I see men on construction projects swinging around the tops of brick buildings without wearing a helmet or safety harness.

The country here is GREEN. So green. Every bit of space in the countryside is utilized. The neighborhoods appear to be planned from the air, in squares or circles, and rice or other crops are planted all the way around. Even the sides of the freeways are planted, and you see people working them by hand as you drive by, cutting rice, spraying pesticides. This place seems less restrained than Laos--while the cities often shut down early, there is no curfew requiring us to retire at a certain time (officers patrolled LuangPrabang to make sure you went home), and the young people seem freer here. In Laos, their expression was muted, reserved to some futive spray painting on the sides of buildings, saying thing in English like "Hip Hop." This silent, rebellious cry makes me wonder about the idyllic countrysides of Laos, and what the constrained development will mean for its youth. Speaking of youth, in these countries, Laos and Vietnam--there are NO old people. The average age in vietnam is 25. From what we have seen, most of the old people either died in the wars, or fled the country. It has been interesting to view the Vietnam war from the side of the vietnamese, and other people from around the world. Visiting the museums felt like propoganda regarding the war, we americans are cast as 'imperialists, puppeteers, controlling, murderous." Viewing the photos of the bombed cities, where dead vietnamese lay, sprawled in piles, many with their clothes blown from their bodies, children, women, other civilians, it is not hard to see how they could see Americans that way. It was also difficult to see pictures of dead american servicemen--although we visited the prison in Hanoi where they kept downed american pilots, and it was difficult to know what to think. The areas where they kept vietnamese for war crimes in this prison were horrific, but they show the american servicemen playing basketball, raising chickens, and decorating for Christmas. We saw pictures of John McCain there, laying wounded in a hospital bed there, he claims to have been tortured in this same prison. From our view, it is hard to reconcile these two versions of prison life. Maybe they are both true.

We explored Hanoi, and then booked a tour of Halong Bay, on the east coast of Northern Vietnam. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, just beautiful. I believe the pictures will speak more than words, but google "Halong Bay" and in seconds you can see what I mean. We rode a "junk" and swam in the salty bay. Wesa had the unfortunate experience of being stung by a large box jelly fish, but after a few excrutiatingly painful, burning hours, she is now pain free, although somewhat leery of jumping into the ocean. No one peed on her to reduce the pain, but the crew did have some remedies to help her through the evening. Lime, apparently, can work to help reduce the reaction. Who knew!

We will post pictures soon. Hope this finds you well.