UPDATES (12/15): Entries updated for Phnom Penh and Siam Reap, Cambodia, and the map has been updated to show the full loop of my journey.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Good Mooooorning Vietnam!

I made it!
After about 30 hours of travel, including short layovers in L.A. and Seoul, we finally got into Hanoi at about 10pm local time last night. We're staying in a nice, small hotel in the "old quarter" and spent the morning walking around Hanoi to get a feel for the city. We visited the Ho Chi Minh museum and mausoleum, which had many historic documents and artifacts, including the communist leader's dumbbells that he used for working out. Hanoi is a wonderful, busy and cacophonous city, with scooters and cars zooming down the narrow streets in droves. This makes crossing the street not unlike playing a game of Frogger at the advanced levels. As expected, it's hot and muggy, with a heat index around 97 degrees. The people have been very friendly, and many of them relish an opportunity to work on their English. I was even greeted by a smiling toddler who waved "hi" and 'bye" to me, putting my non-existent Vietnamese language skills to shame. We are now checking out of the hotel as I type, and heading out to grab some lunch- I'm looking forward to my first authentic pho! After that, we're going to grab an overnight train to Sapa, a majestic village in North Vietnam with a significant indigenous population. I will try to upload some photos when I get a little more time at a computer. Until then, Tam biet!

2 comments:

JGB said...

way to be unfucking original on the blog post tital. whatevs. you're french.

JGB said...

...eeps! "Tital" ... i've been in China too long...