Sorry! It has been way to long since I posted something new for you all. I am going to fill you in on everything I have been up to but in an attempt to make it better organized, I am going to post in chunks of time. Here is the trip we took from Saigon to Hanoi back in O
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ctober:October 2, 2009: We left Saigon late yesterday afternoon. Several hours on a bus later, we arrived in Da Lat. This city was beautiful with a big lake and post office shaped like the Eiffel Tower. We visited a Zen Buddhist monastery and had lunch at a local farmer's house. The food was delicious!
October 3, 2009: We rode elephants today! Coolest term abroad ever! You only wish you got to ride elephants that moved whole trees out of the way! yeah that is right, the elephants moved trees out of the way that had fallen in our path. Our tour guide, Viet, told us a fantastic fable about elephants a few days ago. According to legend, the elephant used to have six legs, of which he was very proud. The dog had three legs and the duck just one. They were upset becuase they felt that they should have gotten more legs. They talked to God who realized His mistake but instead of making new legs, he asked the elephant to share his extra legs. The elephant conceded but asked the dog and duck to be very careful with his donated legs. That is why the duck sleeps with his legs tucked under him and why the dog lifts its leg to pee.
October 4, 2009: We were in Nha Trang today and went to the beach this morning. Very beautiful. Then we saw some Cham ruins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champa).
October 5, 2009: We visited My Lai today. That was really intense; it was eerily quiet and they had houses set up like they might have been immediately after the massacre. There were a few trees in which you could still see the bullet holes.
October 6, 2009: I love Hoi An, partially because we actually stayed put for more than a few hours. We had lunch at this cooking school where they taught us how to make Vietnamese food. I made fresh spring rolls, banh xeo, and chicken kebabs. It was awesome!
October 7, 2009: We visited My Son today, another exapmle of Cham temples (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%E1%BB%B9_S%C6%A1n). It was really cool!
October 8, 2009: We left Hoi An this morning to go to Hue. Ate dinner at the house of the (former) Princess. Our host was really awesome. He used to be a history professor but had to stop when the government changed because they had a different way of remembering and teaching history.
October 10, 2009: Last day of our ten day trip! We went on a boat on the Perfume River to see another pagoda this morning. Pretty fun. And then we took an overnight train to Hanoi. I was so excited about being on a sleeper train!!! Getting on board was a bit stressful: the train only stops for a few minutes so we had people on the train pulling bags up, people on the platform guarding bags and handing them up. The conductors came over to yell at us to get on the train already but Lana (Mark's wife and secretly superwoman), stood them down and gave us time to get it all together. We all made it and all of our stuff made it, the train was just as fun as I hoped, and we got into Hanoi at 4:30 AM.
And so I am now in Hanoi.
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