Still Raining in Vietnam

We are making our way north, along the coast of Vietnam...Each new place we arrive,there is heavy rain just like in the place we left behind! Remember the scene in "Forrest Gump," when Forrest is fighting in Vietnam and the rains start? "And it rained, and it rained, and it rained...Big old fat rain, etc..." That is really how it rains here. We were considering heading east, into Laos, where the weather reports are dry and sunny, but we both had our hearts set on going to Halong Bay, which is on the northern coast of Vietnam, near the border of China. Halong Bay is probably the place in Vietnam most renowned for its physical beauty. Thousands of uninhabited islands, emerald waters, and limestone cliffs (called karsts) rising up out of the water. Featured prominently in the movie "Indochine," which we loved and highly recommend.
On a happier note, we found an internet cafe with a good enough internet connection for Joe to do some work, in Danang, where we holed up for a few days. Danang was an interesting stop because it is off the tourist trail. Just a big, non-descript, Vietnamese city, where we walk down the street and people stop us and call to us, not to sell us things, but just because we are a strange sight. The amount of times we have been asked by a Vietnamese person where we are from is innumerable. And people always smile when we tell them. They do not seem to harbor resentment or hatred towards the US for the war our countries fought against each other. Instead, they tell us they have a friend who lives in the US or a family member who moved to California...Or, they want to talk about Obama. A guy asked us yesterday, in a very strong accent, if we liked the "white-skinned President or the dark-skinned President more better?"
Now in the city of Hue, which is on the tourist circuit, and has good, traveler restaurants (i.e. menus in English!) and bars and "things to see and buy." It is not raining, so we will probably head out to walk around the old city soon, before getting on a night bus tonight for Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, which is supposed to have great food and architecture, both influenced heavily by its time as French colony. Joe has his heart set on eating at a recommended French-Vietnamese fusion restaurant, because of a great restaurant we used to go to when we lived in Berkeley, where the Vietnamese chef had been trained in Paris...