Lemme tell ya a little sumpthin bout Nam

First stop, Sapa! (after Dien Bien Phu)

All the tribe women knew better English then any of the restaurant or hotel workers. They were of course hawking tours of their villages, had a interesting spin on it though, they would give you a cotton bracelet so they knew they spoke to you before, not sure if there is a whole system of territory with certain colors or patterns designated to a specific tribe or tribal lady, +10 for inventiveness! Great French feel to the architecture and fooooooood, pastries galooor-eous :) And the views where freaking amazing with all the rice fields on the mountains, B-A-U-TIFUL!

Hanoi didn't impress me much, although I didn't give it much of a chance. Only stayed one night because travel mates wanted to get going to Halong bay and the heat of the city kept me from disagreement.

Halong bay was freakin amazing, look at the pics, not much more can be said...

Except that it was crazy how even while in the water, those damn women still tried selling you stuff, more funny then bothersome, especially with the amazing pineapple and mangostein and dragon fruits they where touting.

The north is def more pushy in selling and ripping you off though, i talked to an old Swedish guy who has been through V-Nam for many years and he says its because of it being more strict in its Communist practice and thus not having any incentive to rip people off without getting a reward, just recently the rules have been laxed so it is of some profit to the individual. The south, on the other hand, has been ripping people off for ages, so he believes that they have settled into a balance between cost/benefit, where they still do it but it isn't as often or forceful. It might hit harder if we where talking about more then an extra dollar :) But its not so much about the money, more the feeling of getting taken advantage of, or not being treated as an equal, and it doesn't help when as soon as you fork over the cash they start to snicker with delight.

For whatever reason I have met more cool people, and just people in general, in Nam. Thinking it might be because fewer people speak english and, esp in the north, they are less friendly, so maybe people are looking for a reprieve. Nha Trang is a great place to party, drink Bia Hoi (about 1.50/pitcher of San Miguel), watch the world cup with people from all over the world, kite surf!!!, paragliding, sun bathe, swim, there is a sweet water/amusement park on an island close by connected by cable car, (moderately) cheap hostels, cheap sea food (but only certain times of day, you can only get certain things at specific times(?!)), scuba diving, snorkeling, etc etc etc...

The museums where a nice break from all the food, although very bias!

Went to the war remanence museum to find very graphic photos of the war. It was unabashedly showing how badly the north Vietnamese where treated with no indication of anyone but Americans doing the
deed. Picture after picture after graph after propaganda poster it told how the US was the opposition, with no mention about the south Vietnamese' struggle for democracy ever since the country was divided in 1948 after the French where defeated in Dien Bien Phu.

Charts and pictures describing the US with an emphases on how many women and children where killed. Then, later in the same museum, and more so in the women's museum, women and children where congratulated for their efforts in the war (whhhaaaa???????). They showed children holding guns along side their parents on propaganda posters and reprinted T-shirts. All for Uncle Ho and his catch-22.

Checked out a really fun foster home while heading up the Ho Chi Min Hwy.

Some little city in between, down a dirt road, we found a pile of scarred battered and bruised little tikes lookin for fun (and dry pants).
















They where cuuuuraaaaaazzzyyyyy, they where death defying, blater bathing, climbing cat curious, slap happy, hard-core real-deal juveniles with no time to waste. They had scrapes, scratches, marks, scars, fresh layed stitches, cicatrizing wounds and any other trama to the flesh you can find on dictionary.com.
If they find a stick everybody is gettin hit with it
If they get up off the ground somebodies comin crashing down

There is no ratio of worker-to-whippersnapper thats gonna keepem all corralled.
They are full fledged and full hearted, a killer combo which usually leaves them face down, but not for long. Moma aint come runnin for awhile now so they learnt a little quicker to walk it off and jump back in the action. No joke, one of the kids would clench his fists and teeth and start convulsing when he got really excited. They would run at me full steam, diving head first.

THEY DEFINE RECKLESS ABANDON

Anything to feel that soft resistance avoiding their self destruction.

Love you!!!