Cruising through Southern Vietnam (2010)

As many of you know, I am between jobs at the moment (December 2023), having decided to leave teaching behind for the time being. So, with a bunch of time on my hands, I’ve been trying to fill it with some meaningful activity. I’ve been on some nice hikes, I’ve started work on a couple of games, and I’ve decided that this is as good a time as I’m likely to get to dig through some of my old photos. With that last in mind, I’ve decided to go back through some of my favorite trips and put together blog posts from what I remember.

I’m starting with our trip to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in 2010, partly because it was ridiculously amazing, but also because, through some tragedy of computer and user error, somewhere over the last decade, I lost all the labeling I had done of my photos from Vietnam. Digging through some old hand-written notes, scouring Google Maps, and searching my memories, I went back through to reconstruct what I could…and found way too much to write about and share. So, welcome to episode 1 of my memories from that summer…

In the summer of 2010, Jessica and I had been living in Davidson, NC for one year, having moved there for Jess to take her first tenure-track academic job. We were living in a duplex, separated by just a thin wall from our friend, Christine, who we were so lucky to have randomly ended up having as our next door neighbor. But with Jessica finally having a real salary, we decided this was a great summer to head out on an adventure, and so we took off for Southeast Asia, an area we’d long imagined visiting.

Of course, our first stop wasn’t in Asia, it was the Bay Area. We used travel over the Pacific as an excuse to stop in Oakland and San Francisco to catch up with a bunch of friends (a few pictured below) while heading out to Vietnam (and again on the way home). While North Carolina wasn’t an awful place to be (and we did meet some great people there), it was really nice to get to see so many of our California peoples again.

After passing through the Hong Kong airport (surrounded by gorgeous mountains and rows of apartment towers)…

…we landed in Ho Chi Minh City, thoroughly jet lagged, but happy to have arrived. We spent a few days wandering the city, practicing our few words of definitely-mispronounced Vietnamese (there are six possible tones for every vowel sound, so please forgive us tone-deaf westerners), checking out a few museums and sites along the way. The city was busy, busy, busy, but spotted with a few lovely parks and a real mish-mash of architecture. There were a handful of big skyscrapers, some French-influenced colonial relics, narrow market lanes, and block after block of mixed use apartments and businesses.

The first thing we learned was to watch for motorcycles. Traffic in Vietnam was chaotic. Along the bigger boulevards people tended to follow the dictates of traffic lights, but, on side streets, urban space was basically a “first come, first served” sort of situation, with pedestrians, motorcycles, motorcycles, motorcycles, and motorcycles all dodging around one another.

Not only were motorcycles everywhere, they were used in ways far beyond what I imagined possible. One was stacked with incense, another with vegetables. It was not uncommon to see a family of four on one bike, and once I saw a family of six! Bikers didn’t stop for the rain. They just got out giant plastic ponchos made to stretch over bike and rider(s) and kept right on zipping about.

Of course, the use of motorcycles makes perfect sense. The weather is always warm enough to be outside, the spaces are narrow and there’s a ton of people to move about, so why not?

Speaking of using up little space, one of my absolute favorite things in Vietnam were the tiny plastic stools. Everywhere. Lots of life happens at street level here, with tons of outdoor food stalls and marketplaces. Rather than investing in big tables and chairs, most of the furniture at these places is tiny, cheap, plastic stuff. It works. It also makes a ton of sense for a few reasons. First of all, as I said, with such dense urban areas, space is at a premium. But, also, as we traveled more and more, it became obvious that squatting (think like a catcher in baseball), even without a little stool to perch on, was a common way for Vietnamese folks to hang out. Most toilets were also squat toilets. Culturally, it was just a normal position to be in, so why not buy something that simply makes that position a bit more comfortable? (It also worked fine for me and Jess. We’re both small people, and at the time, we were young enough that it wasn’t uncomfortable to get up and down like that. (I wonder how I’d do now with my knees and my back and…)

Probably one of my favorite photos from the whole trip is this next one. It’s got everything. Motorcycles zipping about the urban landscape, and at the same time, a woman wearing traditional and iconic Vietnamese styles, carrying stuff using a bamboo pole with baskets, but she’s got everything from fruits to nuts to plastic toys. Oh, and she’s got a tiny plastic stool to sit on.

The chaos of Ho Chi Minh City (and Vietnam in general) is also well summed up by looking just above the traffic. Telephone and electrical wiring was tangled in ways I’ve never seen duplicated, even in the craziest parts of Lima.

Elsewhere we encountered some great monuments demonstrating Vietnam’s Communism. I love the way that Communism is envisioned as uplifting and bringing people into a brighter future.

But next to the tiny stools, perhaps my favorite cultural phenomenon in Vietnam wasn’t the Communist art, but instead the ridiculous trash cans. Finding a public trash can in Vietnam could be a daunting challenge–mostly you had to find a little plastic bin in someone’s shop or market stall–but the few public ones to be found in parks and other touristed areas were over-the-top ridiculous. Here’s a sampling…

Why so many penguins?

Anyhow, besides stumbling about, dodging motorcycles, and sitting on tiny stools, we did manage to see a few things around Ho Chi Minh City. One cool site was the Phuoc Hai Buddhist Temple. This was just the first of many, many places we visited over the next six weeks that was associated with Buddhism (and, later, Hinduism). It was interesting to me, because at the time I had been teaching a bit about Buddhism and Hinduism in my middle school history classes, so I had a vague idea of some of the history and beliefs. In Vietnam, we encountered a much more Chinese-influenced version of Buddhism, more along the Mahayana Buddhism track than I had expected (whereas more traditional Theravada Buddhist beliefs are more common in Laos and Cambodia…which I’ll get to later). As we learned more about the history of Chinese influence and power over Vietnam throughout our travels, this started to make more sense.

Anyhow, this first encounter with a Buddhist Temple came with a mix of reactions. Surprised at the style of Buddhism represented. Stunned by the beauty of the woodwork. A little underwhelmed by the site overall (it was kinda small and tucked away in a corner of the city). And tickled by the turtle pond outside. Overall, a cool stop, but not quite as amazing as I expected.

We walked by some other famous places, like the “Reunification Hall,” which had been the location of the Southern Vietnamese military leadership until the end of the war. It just screams 1960s, doesn’t it?

Nearby was the clearly French-influenced courthouse.

And we visited the Museum of Ho Chi Minh City briefly. I recall kinda zipping through because I think it was closing early that day. Like a lot of museums in Vietnam, they prohibited photography inside (I’m betting those “no photos” rules have changed by now in the era of smartphones, right?), so my memories of the place are a bit thin…

The museum that sticks most in my memory from Ho Chi Minh City is the War Remnants Museum. Again, there was no photography allowed inside, but it was a pretty haunting walkthrough of many of the horrors of the Vietnam War. Napalm, torture, bombings, and the ongoing psychological effects of the war. Outside the museum, there were displays of tanks, planes, bombs and more recovered from that era. There were also the terrible “tiger cages” where Vietnamese captives were kept in cramped conditions where they could be poked at like animals in a zoo.

Speaking of the war, Jessica and I definitely wondered what the reaction would be to us ‘merican tourists. We were fully prepared for some folks (particularly older ones) to be scornful, angry, distant, etc. None of that happened. Not that the war didn’t matter, but there was a clear realization that that was a different time, and that we, as individuals who happened to be from the US, and were obviously too young to have been around during the war, were not implicated in the horrors of the past. As we traveled about, it was clear that the war wasn’t forgotten, but it was equally evident that–like those Communist sculptures indicated–people were moving forward, building a brighter future for themselves and their families and that that was the major orientation of people’s thinking. We felt a little like they were giving us a “get out of jail free” card, but it also makes a certain sense to focus on the beautiful possibilities ahead rather than the terrible memories behind.

Anyhow…after just two days in Ho Chi Minh City, Jessica and I headed out of town on a three day tour of the Mekong River Delta. I would say this was the highlight of the trip, but there were about a dozen other parts that were highlights too, so…let’s just say it was an amazing three days.

We came to Vietnam with only the sketchiest of plans for the time we had there, mostly figuring things out as we went along, so our first day in Ho Chi Minh City, we booked this tour with a little company called Innoviet that promised a non-touristy trip through the delta region with homestays and visits to a variety of farms and businesses. It was exactly as advertised. We were lucky to have a great guide and to have a completely private tour since no one else booked at the same time as us.

We zipped a few hours south of HCMC to the area along the Hau River near the city of Can Tho. The Hau is a distributary of the Mekong, one of nine rivers branching out from the main one. In fact, locals call the area the
“Nine Dragons” after this fact.

The first day was amazing. We started by taking a short boat ride to a farm where the family was busy making rice paper, but also found time to feed us a filling lunch. All across the family’s yard, there were racks where the rice paper was laid out to dry, but when it started to rain, there was no one around to do anything. Our guide jumped in right away and grabbed the rice papers to get them out of the rain. This was just one of several times he helped out the families we visited and stayed with. And, in fact, this was a common feature throughout our time in Vietnam–it was a regular occurrence to see people pitching in to help neighbors and friends with various tasks (and as we went along on a number of homestays, we occasionally did some work in as well…more on that below). I’m always skeptical of how “communist” places like Vietnam and China are, but I do appreciate a certain collective spirit that I found while visiting there. I don’t know if that’s more attributable to communist ideology or simply rural ways of life (that are not too distantly in the past even for many urban families), but it’s always refreshing to be a witness to acts of generosity, and those just seemed more common over our few weeks in Vietnam than they are in my daily life at home.

This farm was the first place Jessica and I learned about rambutan, which quickly became a favorite treat throughout our trip. After this we’d often by a bag of rambutan (or sometimes a branch) for our days wandering around one city or another.

This farm, also being a regular stop for folks on tours, had a helpful sign giving both the English and Vietnamese names of various fruits. But look closely…

…did you notice that “trai dua” means cantaloupe, coconut, pineapple, and watermelon? Of course there are very slightly different accent marks on each. We tried to learn the difference, but failed pretty badly. I recall trying to say “dua” with different intonations and being told, “you just said coconut three times.” Clearly, I need some work on the tones. However, I was confident that if I asked for a “trai dua” juice, I’d get something I’d like, and that worked a few times when I was in places where no one spoke English.

After lunch and a short break, we got on another boat. The boats in the area came in all sorts of sizes and shapes, as did the waterways, from the giant main body of the river to the various channels and side streams between the islands. Over the three days we rode in several different styles of boat. Nearly all the boats were decorated with eyes at the front (something about scaring away river monsters, I think I recall?), and the scenery was beautiful in every direction, ranging from open water to lush jungle to a variety of fruit and rice farms to to the city of Can Tho to hundreds of homes built on stilts out over the water. Here’s a bit of what we saw from the water in the Mekong…

Needless to say, it was pretty incredible.

We spent the rest of our first day at another fruit and vegetable farm, where we helped the family there with a variety of tasks as they showed us around. We did some sort of grafting on a small tree, cut firewood, and watered some plants as we marveled at the amazingly dense and varied surroundings.

That evening, the family taught us how to make banh xeo (Vietnamese pancakes stuffed with meat, shrimp, and veggies). I recall being praised for my abilities with swirling the batter in the wok.

The next morning, we left early to visit a “floating market” in Tra On, a nearby town. This was pretty incredible. Since so much of life is lived on the water here, one of the simplest ways to make transactions is…right on the water. Farmers and other vendors load up their boats with their products and then gather together in one area where wholesalers, restauranteurs, and others come to buy their goods in bulk and simply load it from one boat to another before it ever has to be transferred by land. Many of the boats feature a tall pole that displays the various fruits and vegetables they have for sale, an effective means of advertising. (Note: we also visited another floating market in Cai Rang the next day, so I’ve included a few photos from there as well.)

Other folks make a living by serving food to the various entrepreneurs at the floating market. We bought a glutenous rice treat off one woman who floated from boat to boat selling to hungry farmers and business owners.

From there we explored the land-bound, oh-so-boring-and-traditional market in Tra On as well. No. It was lovely and overwhelming in the way so many markets are, with piles of rice, vegetables, and fruits, as well as snails, octopus, and shrimp.

From there we got on bikes to explore the rice paddies and villages of the surrounding countryside. Getting a bit up from the river level gave us some great views of the area, and taking our time meandering around let us slow down enough to appreciate the beauty that surrounded us.

One of the more interesting places we visited was a brick factory. We were walked through the whole process, looking at all the various ingredients used. Probably the most fascinating part was how rice husks were used to feed the fires. This made soooo much sense. One of the things I vividly remember (but can’t seem to find a photo of) was the drying and husking of rice all through the area. This was accomplished by laying the rice out on giant plastic sheets in the middle of the road! Why the middle of the road? Because when cars drove over the rice, it would detach the husks from the rice itself. (So, just remember next time you’re eating rice…someone probably drove over it.) Those rice husks are then collected and used in places like this to help make bricks. Genius.

As we rode around, we encountered many kids who loved to yell “hello” to us–evidently the only English word many knew–and it made them smile if we replied. So that was fun. We also visited a Buddhist temple in the area. Interestingly, this one was much more similar in style to the ones we saw a few weeks later in Laos and Cambodia. Of course, this makes some sense, since the Mekong flows through those countries right down to this area, and the border of Cambodia is only about 30 miles away. We saw another, larger temple later that day when we arrived in the city of Can Tho.

After visiting the Cai Rang floating market, the highlight of the last day of the tour was a visit to a facility where rice paper and rice noodles are made. We learned a bit about the process of boiling and forming the rice, and also got a bit into the differences between various common types of Vietnamese noodles like pho and bun.

Eventually we made our way back to Ho Chi Minh City, where we boarded an overnight train heading north.

The next morning we arrived in Nha Trang, a beautiful beach town. Evidently Nha Trang is touted as one of the 29 nicest bays in the world. I won’t argue that point.

As soon as we’d dropped our bags, we headed down to the port to catch one of the many tour boats headed out to the various islands in the bay. Most did a fairly standard tour, so we weren’t too choosy about which we got on.

This is when we learned that Nha Trang is an incredibly popular tourist destination…for Vietnamese tourists. Our boat had probably about 60 people on it, and only 3 or 4 were other western tourists. The rest were Vietnamese folks (I’m guessing largely from Ho Chi Minh City).

The boat trip started about as you’d expect. We went out in the bay. We passed some islands (and the cable car connecting the mainland to a resort on one island). We landed at one (with about 20 other boats doing the same thing) where people snorkeled and swam around the beach, lay on lounge chairs, drank cold drinks, and generally enjoyed themselves. So far, so good. Fun and chill.

Back aboard the boat, we ate a communal lunch before being invited down to the main deck for a concert. The boat’s crew and guides had ditched their day jobs and turned into a surf rock band. Most of the songs were in Vietnamese, but they did sing a slightly odd version of a song by the Cranberries. Eventually, some of the other tourists started to join the band on stage to dance and sing with them as the concert became more of a live karaoke event.

Things got even stranger after that. The boat stopped in an empty chunk of the bay, started blasting electronic dance music and set up a “floating bar” (a small float with shots of rice wine available). The male tourists all jumped off the boat and swam out to the “bar” while the women stayed onboard and took photos.

After that, we had a few hours on the “Stone Beach” (yes, a rocky beach), but by then the sky was quite overcast and it was too cold to really enjoy the water, so we just sat on the beach and read.

The boat’s last stop was the local aquarium. It was like some crazy amusement park sculpture thing in the shape of a pirate ship filled with sad, dimly-lit fish, but it did have a nice view back towards town. A bit of a wacky place.

Overall, the boat trip was probably not something we would ever sign up to do in the US, but it was pretty fun to observe all the Vietnamese tourists and how they enjoyed the trip.

We spent just one more day in Nha Trang, mostly hanging out at the beach. We bought a couple of paintings off a local artist and mostly just read our books with occasional dips in the ocean.

Our only other excursion was a walk to the Cham Towers. These ancient structures were built by the Champa Kingdom, a group that dominated this region of Vietnam from around the 4th to 13th centuries, following largely Hindu beliefs. There we saw beautiful stonework and an ancient local dance form. It was interesting to see an offering of incense there as well–even though it was once a Hindu structure, the Buddhist community still sees it as a religious site. This was really the first time I realized that Hinduism had had such a wide reach in earlier eras. As with food and other aspects of the culture, it really makes terms like Southeast Asia or the outdated “Indochina” make sense. Southeast Asia really does have an interesting blend of ideas that come from both South Asia and East Asia, India and China…and of course tons that’s just their own wonderful uniqueness.

That night was a sleepless one. We took an overnight bus from Nha Trang up to Hoi An. The bus was unlike any other I’ve ever seen. It had two aisles separating three rows of narrow double-decker sleeper seats. Stupidly, Jessica and I decided we’d take a couple of the seats at the back of the bus where the aisle was replaced by another bed–so the back was really just one giant five-person-wide bed. And we were on the bottom level. We called it the cave. It was dark, sweaty, stinky, and cramped (because there were in fact five of us in there). Also, being in the back meant that every bump on the road (and there are a lot of those in Vietnam), was felt intensely. Fun times.

After our bumpy, sweaty night, Hoi An was a lovely stop. A beautiful town that was largely spared during the Vietnam War, Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with some interesting history. It was a major center of trade in Southeast Asia for centuries with large and powerful merchant families from China and Japan settling there.

But, mostly, for us at least, it was just a relaxing and peaceful place to wander around. We enjoyed the preserved wooden buildings, the Japanese covered bridge, the lanterns arranged in the canals, and a number of family assembly halls and communal houses that serve now mostly as shrines. The attention to detail in every aspect of these spaces — the gardens, the wood carvings, tiling, etc. — was spectacular. And the spiral incense burning on the ceilings was quite beautiful.

We also ate well in Hoi An, as with everywhere in Vietnam.

In fact, I remember distinctly that we declared at the end of our trip that we only had one subpar meal in Vietnam. Unfortunately, that was also while we were in Hoi An. On our second day in town we went on a guided tour of My Son, a set of Champa Kingdom ruins in the jungle nearby. The ruins were amazing and the setting absolutely gorgeous, but I recall being very unimpressed with our guide who mostly made a lot of dick jokes about the phallic imagery of some of the sculptures. And then, as we left the ruins, we were served the greasiest, slightly cold, and just all around saddest noodle stir fry I’ve ever had. Imagine if you got those Panda Express noodles, but dumped an extra helping of vegetable oil on them and then left them sitting on a paper plate for about half an hour before eating them. Oh, and with less flavor. So, yeah, other than that one lunch, the food in Vietnam was top notch. And, other than that one lunch (and that one guide), going to My Son was also quite wonderful.

On the way back from My Son, we stopped in Kim Bong, a village on the outskirts of Hoi An famous for its woodworking. We saw some pretty incredibly skilled workers there, which helped a bit to explain the beautiful wood panels we had seen already in Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City.

In fact, Hoi An is known for arts and culture in general. As we wandered about we saw amazing dance/song/music performances. I was especially impressed by the single string instrument whose pitch was controlled by adjusting the tension on it

We also visited several embroidery workshops. The level of precision with which the women sewed there was really over-the-top incredible. Truly gorgeous stuff.

Hoi An is also known for making custom clothing. I bought a cheapo t-shirt there, but Jess got measured for a dress which we picked up the next day.

In some places in Vietnam (and even more so in Laos), our obvious outsiderness was a source of interest and amusement. In particular, little kids were very fascinated by my beard. One of the funniest moments in Hoi An was when a high school aged girl asked to have her photo taken with Jessica.

And continuing on with the communist propaganda theme, I particularly liked this billboard (one of many similar ones). At the time we were visiting, it was still pre-smart phone, so we had no way to translate and no idea what most signs said, so we liked to make wild guesses at what the slogans on such signs were trying to convey. This one is definitely “Workers, farmers, families, and soldiers working together for a stronger Vietnam in 2010!” …or maybe something else. No clue.

Actually, as soon as I wrote that, I realized that now we live in the era of smartphones with translation apps. Evidently it says, “The Party and People of Cam Kim [the area around Kim Bong] strive to compete to excellency. Complete the 2010 Socio-Economic Plan!” I guess I wasn’t too far off…

But, on a more general level, traveling in Vietnam without an easy way to translate wasn’t actually too hard. Having adopted the alphabet from French colonists, it’s not too difficult for us to recognize words in Vietnamese. Understanding what they meant was harder, but reading street signs and such was no problem. (Not so when we got to Laos and Cambodia. More on that ahead…)

After a couple of days in Hoi An, it was time to move on again. We spent our last morning in the area at Cua Dai beach before catching a cab to the somewhat larger city just a bit to the north, Da Nang. Along the way we stopped in an area called the “Marble Mountains,” an area famous for its marble production and filled with yet more workshops, mostly producing statuary for homes and gardens.

And, for one reason or another, one of the most memorable meals we had was the incredibly spicy chicken noodle soup in this little place across from the Da Nang train station. It’s odd looking back which things stick in your memory more than others, but this is definitely one of those moments…

The train from Da Nang brought us to Hue, our last stop in the southern half of Vietnam. Hue was the capital of the Nguyen Dynasty which ruled Vietnam for most of the 19th and early 20th century, and thus is home to an impressive array of imperial relics. It was also the site of intense fighting during the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War, so that same impressive set of historical buildings took a fair amount of damage. Only in the 21st century has much restoration work begun, so parts of the Imperial City were amazing, but others were not in the greatest shape.

We spent two days in Hue. The first was on a whirlwind-paced organized tour of the major sites in the area. We really saw a lot, and it was beautiful and impressive. But, it was also at such a pace that I honestly can’t say I remember a ton of the history we covered. (It was also 13 years ago, so forgive me.) I mostly recall learning about the growth and eventual conquest over Vietnam of the Nguyen Dynasty in the early 19th century. Centered in Hue, they built the city up and modeled the Imperial City after Beijing’s “Forbidden City.”

The Imperial City is surrounded by a thick stone fortress wall and a moat, all with a towering gigantic Vietnamese flag flying overhead. Throughout, the level of detail in each architectural and artistic element was pretty stunning. The archways, tiling, doors, pillars, roofs, and really every element of the place showed clear stylistic intent and planning. The variety of materials used in the interior and exterior was also impressive, demonstrating a wide variety of talent from the area and also the massive power and wealth of the Nguyen family. Everything flowed together beautifully with courtyards connecting one building to another. Of course, every once in a while we came across one area or another that clearly hadn’t been restored and was sorely in need of it (piles of jumbled bricks and such), but by and large, it was a pretty incredible place to wander through.

Our tour also took us to two nearby “mausoleums.” These were huge complexes built by the various Nguyen emperors to house their remains. The first was the mausoleum of Tu Duc. It was more like a beautiful park than what I would have imagined a mausoleum to be like.

The second one was the mausoleum of Khai Dinh, which mixes in more French influence, but is built in dark imposing stone at the top of a huge hill, looming over the surrounding countryside. The interior is almost overly decorative, but my favorite parts were the soldiers in the courtyard and the detailed marble facade of the building.

The other major stop on our tour (it was actually the first part of the day) was the Thien Mu Pagoda, a short boat ride up the river from the Imperial City. Thien Mu is a gorgeous site. It was founded by the Nguyen lords of the area (long before they were the ruling dynasty of Vietnam). It’s probably most famous now for being associated with South Vietnamese anti-government protests in the 1960s. It was a center for organizing in opposition to Ngo Dien Diem’s rule, especially because he showed favoritism towards Catholicism and punished Buddhist practices. It is so closely linked to this movement that it now houses the car that Thich Quang Duc used to drive himself to Saigon (i.e. Ho Chi Minh City) when he became the first monk to commit a self-immolation to demonstrate his commitment to bringing down the South Vietnamese government. Overall, a gorgeous place with a fascinating history.

Our second day in Hue was much more mellow. We wandered in and out of the Imperial City and just enjoyed being in Vietnam. I recall quite vividly having an excellent mi bo kho (beef stew) that afternoon. We also popped into the Ho Chi Minh museum, where my favorite object was the dried gourd that was used as a bullhorn.

I really enjoyed Hue, though. Around the Imperial City were moats and ponds where we found people fishing, growing vegetables, and just playing. It was pretty and relaxing.

Another of my favorite photos from Hue is this one. There were little spots all over Vietnam for incense offerings like this. I loved how it was nestled in this gorgeous tree.

Finally, I should mention that 2010 was a World Cup year. That meant that we spent a fair number of evenings watching World Cup games with folks at various bars and restaurants, though a lot of the games were too late at night for us to watch. In Hue we saw the Netherlands beat Brazil in the Quarterfinal. Even more memorable was the Spain-Germany semifinal match when we were in Hanoi a few days later. It was on quite late and we were trying to watch in our hotel room, but kept drifting off to sleep, but every time anything exciting happened, the entire neighborhood started screaming and cheering and we would be woken up, usually in time to see a replay. Thin walls. But also always fun to be traveling when the World Cup is happening. People get really into it.

That’s it for Southern Vietnam. Sorry that was a bit epic. Northern Vietnam is up next…when I find the time.