hello there!!!
we are in vietnam and living it up, going to restaurants for all meals andstaying in a nicehotel with a view ofthe city from the restaurant at the top ofthe hotel.
we have been cycled around the city (in a chariotwith a vietnamese guy pedalling us), been to a few markets ( i bought armani sunglasses for $11 US!!!). yesterday we went to the cao dai temple (very bright and amazing.they had a service there which we watched from above - a hundred vietnamese in their white robes praying to the music of big donger bells and strange violins. then we went to the cu chi tunnels costructed by the viet cong. we got to gothrough the narrow dark tunnels, and i got to fire fivebullets from a real AK47. which was loud and amazing. elle's a pacifist though and refused to, but i thought it was a good experience.
its just like the movies here - lots of motorbikes on the streets and its impossible to cross. they all wear masks because it is so polluted. lots of beggars and little boys tugging on you for money. everyone is really friendly and keep wishing us a happy new year, then inviting us for a cyclo ride, which, after a bad experience where we werer ripped off, i don't think we will do again. today we are going to benthanh markets, the reunification palace, and the war remnants museum. tomorrow we aregoing tothe mekong deltato see the floating markets and take a boat up the most opolluted river system in the world.
i am not going to forget the smells, sights and sounds of this place. wait until you findyourself in a market selling dried prawns, more clothes than you have ever seen, dried sting rays, jellied eyes etc... i can't wait to get into nature though. mui ne sand dunes and beach resorts here we come!!
oh and we had an excellent new years eve. we wandered the streets, and had dinner in a nice restaurant with a view of the concert stage below us, where there were jazz bands, vietnamese pop singers and break dancers. the atmosphere was insane. so ... alive. very full on. we wereinvited to go to the top of the hotel where there is an open restaurant with a nice view ofthe city, and we were given free drinks and food and were invited to dance with funnyvietnamese boys to bad music. it was so funny. then we met a guy who was american but working asa fish farmer in the phillipines, and he couldn't believe wecall them fish fingers not fish sticks.he was hilarious.
havingan amazingly good time. this place is the biggest cultural change ever, but we haven't freaked out yet.
see you all in a month!!
love amy and elle
