Vietnam Vacation

Our introduction to Vietnam occurred in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), which is the largest city in the country and was the capital of Southern Vietnam before reunification. Arriving from Cambodia's capital, Phnomh Penh, we found HCMC to be much more developed, overwhelming, crowded and more modern. Walking across the street was a real challenge, and Joe had to confidently take my hand and lead me across each, big, 4 lane road, teeming with motos (mopeds are the transportation of choice throughout the region, it seems). We would inch our way out, hoping the motos would swerve around us - and they did, they do, that is how these cities work.
We ate great food in HCMC and found comfortable cafes with wi-fi, which was a nice treat. We also went to the War Remnants Museum, which documents, through photographs, news articles and quotations, the work of journalists and politicians, the Vietnam War. As an American, I felt compelled to go, but it was very, very difficult. At the entrance of the first room that a visitor to the museum walks into, is a quote from Robert McNamara, the U.S. Secretary of defence during the escalation of the war, who said in no uncertain terms, that in looking back at the war, it was all a mistake, a terrible mistake. The photos spoke a million words: of death and destruction, lasting these 30 years after the end of the war. Babies are still being born with deformities (from the extensive use of chemical weapons) and people blown apart by landmines in Vietnam. I felt terrible to think that humans have not learned, that we are still at war with each other, in so many locations across the globe.
On a much brighter note, we met up with a friend of a friend of Joe's who had gone to Northwestern with him and has been living in Ho Chi Minh City for the past 7 years, with her Vietnamese-American husband. They are building a new house in the city, and her husband recently opened a financial services firm there. She is working on establishing a foundation that would provide technical assistance to Vietnamese non-profits. We were picked up in a Lexus by Joe's friend and driven by her Vietnamese drive to the Central market, where we ate a typical Vietnamese breakfast. It was tasty and strange, consisting of broken, deep friend rice and pounded rice paper, with fish sauce, and ordered without meat of all kinds for me, in Vietnamese, which was fun! Being a vege/pescatarian in this country is really, really challenging. Even vegetables are cooked with pork and beef bits! I see tofu for sale in the markets, but never seem to find it on menus...On the subject of food, I was slightly disillusioned with the food we were finding and eating for our first several days in Vietnam. Before arriving here, I had thought that Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese and Mexican were the highest-ranking food genres in my world and this trip to Southeast Asia was going to serve as an ultimate test as to whether Vietnamese or Thai was better, in my book. For the first several days here, I would say that Thai food was blowing Vietnamese food away, but we have had some really amazing food the further north into Vietnam we have travelled and the playing field is evening out somewhat.
From Ho Chi Minh City, we headed north up the coast to Nha Trang. Tourism is heavily concentrated in a few locations in Vietnam. It seems that getting "off the beaten path" is really difficult. The guide books, tour companies, and transportation options are limited: there are about 5-10 destinations that tourists are shunted towards and while these so far seem like good places to visit, they are touristy, and I have to wonder what the next city up the coast, that no tourist busses stop at and none of the guidbooks talk about, is like. We got to Nha Trang at the tale end of a cyclone had pushed through the area and it rained intensely and heavily for about 36 hours while we were there. Joe had previously mentioned that he would like to visit India during the monsoon season, to see what the heavy rains were really like. After our days in Nha Trang, he had decided that really didn't sound like much fun, after all. Our last day there, the weather cleared, and we had a great time walking around the town and sitting on the beach.
Now, we are in Hoi An, a small city on a river, with ancient roots. The old town is a UNESCO world heritage site, and the architecture is old, Chinese/Japanese in style. There are a lot of tourists here, so there are many good places to eat and drink (cheapest beers of the trip so far! 25 cents! this makes Joe very happy). This town is renowned for its tailor shops. Many tourists come here and have clothes and shoes made to order. There are all kinds of shops and designs and materials to choose from. I walked by a store yesterday where I liked the dresses on the manequins, I went inside, had my measurements taken, picked out different colors and patterns of material and will go back today and collect two custom-made dresses, for which I paid $25! Joe was busy drinking 25 cent beers while I shopped, and we made friends of some Dutch, Australian, and Israeli travelers over cheap beers last night...