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Vietnam- a journey- Chasing the tail of the Dragon

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Day 1 and 2- Still in Saigon?

My father was a solider in the Vietnam War.  
Vietnam day 1 and 2


Many of the locals and businesses call Ho Chi Minh City by its old name Saigon


Landed in Saigon after interesting flights and nearly lost luggage


Walked the streets around the hotel as well as going out to dinner-  went through the china town section


Walked around hotel for lunch with mom-  noodles for 78,000-
We also found a bar that served a local beer-  draft beer industry seems to be big around here


Took walking tour of China town section-  district five


Walked to a grand dinner down the street from the hotel-experienced monsoon style rain

Ready for the long flight
Our flight pattern took us over the Pacific
Airplane food

Day 3- Exploring the War

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Vietnam day 3


Cu Chi tunnels




Tour of the city of Ho Chi Minh City
        - Reunification Palace


Dinner cruise with rain storm




Drive to the Chu chi tunnels
“killed many Americans” was a common quota heard and read here 


Went into the tunnels/ gun park / 




Loved the drive- lots of rice fields-  with what looked to be grave stone markers in the middle of the fields-  these were for ancestor worship-  tombs
Saw lots of water buffalo


Learned that some women like to protect their skin from the sun-  white pale skin is considered desirable -  on mopeds these women would be covered from head to toe and have been nick-named the Ninja Women


We learned that for drivers safety rules seem to be “suggestions”


Stopped by the freedom palace


Stopped by the war remnants museum/ propaganda -  one of our travelers was a form Vietnam Viet and I asked him from his point of view what he thought about the museum and its factual account 


Our bus and dance party lighting 


We enjoyed dinner on a Saigon river cruise-  The skyline is impressive and will only grow in the future is my guess

Day 4- The Mighty Mekong

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Vietnam day 4


Mekong River cruise


Visit - Can This (town)


Bike tour near Rach Tre for home made cakes and tea


Lunch cruise


Cai Be -  large floating market




Shopping across the street


Post office stop




Learned that Vietnamese use to use Chinese script and moved to the latinized alphabet now-  this officially happened under Ho Chi Minh in 1945


Had breakfast with Bill and Dave-  Dave is a Vietnam vet and they shared Stories—- he helped get a friend who died a medal of honor in the 1990s-  they are making a film about the story
Bill told a story of stealing copper wire-  thought is was espionage but in reality it turned out to be women making necklaces and jewelry -  mom told the story about dad and the drive into town for a beer—  (need details)


Hammock coffee shops for truck drivers-  nap stops


Graves for family members are superstitious in nature-  they have to be in the right spot and facing the right direction


Stopped at a shop that had snakes-  snakes in liquor bottle —  like viagra for Chinese


(joke-  deer with no eyes————   no eye deer)


Mekong delta exp--


Cool views
Boat markets 
Boat living
Bike ride- uneven streets - difficult riding
Donut snack thingy at peoples house
See back yards
Boat ride dinner— spring rolls and fresh fish
Card shop with more of the snake wine candy making

​

Day 5-

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Vietnam day 5


Morning meetings


Airport in Saigon


Head to beach / seaside town of Hoi An


Dinner by the river


Long lines at the airport


Dinner in the place near river of lanterns


Heard the crashing waves of the ocean


Drinks on the beach


La Rue beer

Day 6- Market to Temple-  Good evening Vietnam

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Vietnam day 6-  market to market


Cooking school- making spring rolls 


Thu Bon river cruise


Shopping in the market for ingredients to cook- so many sites and sounds-
Saw a shark fin—-


Guided sight seeing of Hoi An




Old town


Temples


200 year old wooden houses


One of my favorite temples (temple to the goddess of the sea)


Sunsets


Taylor shop fittings-  wedding dress $800
Silk worms that were alive I held in my hand


Bleach time in the afternoon 
Massage
Dinner across the street 

​

Day 7

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Vietnam day 7


Transfer to Hue


Before we left I went to the beach to see the sunrise. “Good Morning Vietnam”


Stopped by a marble factory on way out of town-  amazing carvings-  see pictures


Transfer on the scenic Hai Van-   Sea Cloud pass. “The. Cloudy Pass”
Marina road.  (Madrian road)


Listened to “outbound” an EF pod cast


Truong Son Mountain range


Stopped at a beautiful bay-  drank a Pepsi for dad


Cruise down the Perfume River


Tien Mu Pagoda-  vietnam’s tallest religious building- also a monastery 


Imperial City-  walled fortress much destroyed by the Indo-China wars
Heavy rain showers






Hue Citadel-  Imperial City- modeled after the the forbidden City in china


Designated a world heritage site in 1993 the citadel was established by Emperor Gia Long in 1805. He ruled from 1802 -20


The huge fortress comprises three concentric enclosures - the civic, Imperial and forbidden Purple cities.  


Designed using the rules of Chinese geomancy and the military principles of French architect Sebastien de Vauban-
Makes for an interest and elegant complex-  beautiful palaces and temples surrounded by ramparts , bastions and moats


Their are nine deities cannons-  one for each season and element
They were cast by emperor gia long in 1803 as a symbolic protection for his new capital and each of these cannons were made out of bronze. The elements they represent are earth, metal, wood water and fire-
 
The interior of the complex has the forbidden purple city-  no man except the emperor was permitted to set foot in the 2 acre city within a city.  Any male who crossed its threshold was condemned to death   only the queen nine operate ranks of concubines female seraants and court eunuchs were allowed to enter.


Built between 1803- 1833 the forbidden city once comprised more than 60 buildings and court yards-  it was extensively damaged during heavy bombing of the ted offersive in 1968


Nine dynastic urns. Each weigh up to 2.75 tons. Planyed a role in the cult of. Imperial ancestor veneration

Day 8- Royal Tombs

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Vietnam day 8


Visited Tu Duc and Khai Dinh royal Tombs


Tu Duc used his tomb as a summer palace and retreat before he died


Khiem Lu Lake is surrounded by temples (lotus flowers)




Khai Dinh tomb is at the foot of Chau Chu mountain


We saw and smelled the process of incense making




Transfer to Hanoi- no long lines at this airport- bought some cheap junk at this airport


The royal tombs are scattered across the scenic courtside to the south of Hue. These are the tombs of the Nguyen Emperors13 rulers set on the throne between 1802 an 1945 but only 7 were given the honor of their own massoleum or lang 


Tu Duc-  considered by many to be the most elegant tomb in Vietnam. 1848-1883


Set on a pine forested hill it is flanked by beautiful lotus ponds and romantic frangipani trees


The emperor preferred the quiet comforts of his future tomb to his own palace


It is said that when Tu Duc died he was buried secretly along with a great treasure and that all those involved in his burial were later executed to keep his final resting place sage from desecration 


Tomb of Khai Dinh


(1916-25). The penultimate Nguyen emperor was the last to be buried in a royal tomb at Hue.  His tomb makes use of concrete combining European and veinamese architectural styles in a unique but not entirely successful fusion


Built on the side of a hill the tomb rises steeply through three levels. In the temple at the summit is a bronze bust of the emperor cast at Marseilles  in 1922


Went to the sky bar on the 19th floor of the building down from our hotel-  had a drink on the roof-  light rain but great view of the city




Day 9- Hanoi

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Vietnam day 9


Guided sight seeing


Ho Chi Minhs Mausoleum
An unassuminging man who prided himself on an austere almost ascentic public image and allegedly requested that he be cremated and his ashes scattered in Northern, central and southern vietnam. Symboling the national unity to which he devoted his life-  it is said that he also vetoed the construction of a museum of his life at his home village - saying those funds could be better employed in building a school-  however after his death in 69 the leading members of the government altered his final testament by deleting his request to be crewated and with the help of soviet specialist the leader was embalmed and uninstalled in the mapsoleum in 75


The building was suppose to look like a lotus flower-  noisy and loitering behaveior is forbidden as is inappropriate clothing


Ho Chi Minh’s stilt house
Believing that the presidential palaces was too grand for him ho arranged for a modest wooden structure to be build in a corner of the palaces extension grounds -  Uncle Ho’s house or Bad Ho-  it was modeled on a ethic minority stilt house


Ho lived here from 1958 t0 1969






One Pillar Pagoda-  suppose to look like a lotus- a symbol of purity rising from the sea


According to legend the king who had no son had a dream in which he was visited by Quan Am Goddess of Mercy-  She was sitting on a lotus flower and presented him with a baby boy-  soon after Ly Thai Tong married a new young queen who bore him a son- to show his gratetude the emperor ordered the construction of a. Single pillar pagoda representing a lotus flower-  it represents purity like a lotus blossoming in a muddy pond.  It was damaged and reconstructed over the years-  however none of the acts of destruction is harder to fathom than its burning by the French in 1954


Hanoi’s old town-  hidden Allyways


St. Joseph’s Cathedral 


Buzzing with noise and activity the old quarter is the oldest and most lively commercial district in Hanoi-  during the 13th century several artisans settled along the red river to cater to the needs of the palace-  later the crafts became concentreted in this area with each street specializing in a particular product.  Over the years 36 distinct craft guilds came into existence and the area earned its nickname of 36 streets. 


Lacquer village-  egg shell painting 


Lunch -  on the street-


Hanoi Hilton tour with mom


Homemade dinner


Ancestor worship in the house




Temple of literature- monsoon rains
The oldest and possibly the finest architectureal complex in Hanoi-  Van Mieu or the temple of literature was established in 1070-  during the Ly Dynasty founded in the honor of the Chinese phialsopher Confucius. It served as a center for higher learning education future Mandarins for more that seven centuries.  The temple is modeled after the orin=ginal temple of Confuciuss in the Chinese city of Qufu. -  it consists of five courtyards the first two feature well tended gardens   each courtyard is separated by walls and ornamental gateways and a central pathway through the complex divides it into two symmetrical halves-  one court yard was for a human Chess board


Temple of Confucius. Inside are statues of the great philosopher and four of his main disciples


Tortoise stele-  mounted on giant tortoise pedestals these stone stelae are inscribed with the names and brief personal details of scholars who passed examinations of Van Mieu-  only 82 of the original 112 survive


Altar of confuseius- hosts  the elaborately decorated altar of confucius- flanked by statues of cranes  standing on top of tortoised-  the king and his pandering would make offerings and sacrifices here

Day 10

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Vietnam 10


Transfer to Halong bay-


Stopped at an Gem Stars -  saw an embroidery textile demonstration - lots of precious stones


Pearl stop 


Rice paddies working in the fields 


It is a world heritage site-  it is spread over 580 square miles with more than 2000 pinnacle shaped limestone and dolomite outcrops According to legend the bay was formed when a gigantic dragon Ha Long meant descending dreagon- plunged in the gulf of Tonkin and created the myriad islets by lashing its tail
Geologist have explained that the karst topography is the product of selective erosion over the millennia-  the rebut is a labyrinthine seaspe of bizarrely shaped outcrops, isolate caves and sandy coves


This area was used for the filming of the king kong skull island movie-  the ship we were on was designed by an Architect and our cruise director Robert had actually meet Samuel  L Jackson during the filming of the king kong movie


Hang Dau Go-  cave of marvels


Kayaking off the boat


Awe inspiring cave
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Day 11- water puppets

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Vietnam day 11


More Halong bay-


The bed on the boat was amazing


Sunrise Tia Ci


Walk up the hill to the pagoda on Tuan Chau island- 700 steps


Went out to lunch with mom


Shopping- book shops-  a short ride through the jungle”


Traditional Vietnamese water puppet show


Originating in the red river delta and believed to date back almost a thousand years Roi Nuoc or water puppytry is one of the most authentic expressions of Vietnamese culture   In times past performances were held in villages using rivers lakes or rice fields-  today they are staged in large water filled tanks at theaters-  hiddeng behind the stage the puppyteers stand wast deep in water and maneuver their wooden puppets to the music of a traditional orchestra.


Tales are told from the age old perspective of a peasant culture and feature traditional protagonists and villains such as warrior heroes corrupt landlords and cruel rulers


Ty ba is a populat stringed in strident 




Rick shaw ride through the alleys


Farwell dinner


So amazing




Day 12-  transfer day-  Hong Kong Spaghetti house-  chicken bacon lasagna

day 12- reflections

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