Happy Holidays from Vietnam!!!

I hope everyone is having wonderful holidays!!! We deceided to treat ourselves and spend Christmas at a nicer place than normal in Phan Thiet, Vietnam (its a resort and we are each paying about $30 a night, yikes). It is a welcomed break from the 10 bed mixed dorm hostels we have been staying in. Today is Christmas day and we spent it on the beach - rough life I know. No, actually it is really sad not being home with the family and missing out on things. I miss them very much. Last night I did have a pleasant Christmas Eve dinner of pork spring rolls and fried tofu though...

Before coming here we flew from Seoul to Ho Chi Mihn city, and spent four nights there. That was very interesting. There are no crosswalk lights (and something like 10 million people in the city and 5 million motorbikes) and the traffic is constant. To cross any street (4-6 lanes even) you just have to confidently set out and slowly weave through the motorbikes, cars and buses, letting them pass in front of and behind you. It is quite bizarre to stand in the middle of the street and see an advancing hoard of traffic coming directly at you and feel like you are in the right place, and that nothing is strange about it. I think it was one of my favorite parts of being there - definitely some very scary moments - but fun because it was so incredibly different (the girls did not warn up to it so much). We did a lot of walking around and exploring while we were there. We were staying in what has become known as a backpacker area, so it was really fun meeting other travelers there and exchanging stories and advice. We realized as soon as we got to Vietnam that we had primarily packed for cold weather backpacking/work. So we found a few really cheap dresses that will be very handy while here. We also went to the War Remnants Museum (previously called the American War Crimes Museum and recently changed). It was interesting to see the photos and read about the war (also lots of propaganda, but I thought it was important to go there regardless). I could definitely see at least some of the lasting effects of the war in the numerous people I saw affected by "agent orange"/some of the chemical warfare we employed during the war. Many of these severly deformed people were beggars, but there we others that were not. Being in Vietnam was really the first time we felt as if we were somewhere completely different. Japan and South Korea are both such modern countries and many things felt very similar to home. Also, I never questioned my safety in those places. It's annoying having to be so cautious about everything, but also good to be somewhere so new. OH, also while we were in HCMC we went to a waterpark! It was sooo much fun! I think waterparks are pretty gross in general, and had no idea what to expect from one in Vietnam, but it was great! We spent a few hours there, went on most of the slides at least twice - they went really fast and some were pretty scary. The best part was that there was essentially no one else there. We never had to wait in line and it was lovely. We took about a 20 minute cab ride to get there, and I decided riding in a car there is much scarier than darting into the street. Also, it's not uncommon to see a family of five all riding on one motorbike.

The rest of the time we were in Seoul was great. We went to the Demilitarized Zone (the DMZ) and saw the dividing line between North and South Korea, and the 400 meters between the two. So saw North Korea in the distance, and got as close as I could without getting shot (they used to have day tours to the north, but one woman got shot three times, so they stopped - currently trying to get it going again though...). We also went down into one of the tunnels the north vietnamese dug under the DMZ into the south - 70 meters underground! It was an interesting experience to see those things, not terribly thrilling, but I thought we should do it since we were there. It was a bit stange to suddenly be on an organized tour for a few hours - we were on a bus with a guide. We spent our last night a little bit south of the city and crashed on Dobbs's floor (which was so nice of him to have us and our huge bags). He brought us to a Christmas party one of his friends was having and it was really nice to meet all the people he has met while there.

Right now the people in the room next to us are cooking a ton of crabs they bought on the beach today in an electric cooker on the balcony. The girls are eating them, I am not. I thought is was going to be hard for me to avoid having to eat seafood while here, but there always seems to be another option. However, I have tried sooo many weird fish/ocean things while I have been on this trip. Just glad I don't have to eat seafood constantly. That was a lot to write really fast, sorry for any typos. Going to shower and have Christmas day dinner... prob something weird. I hope everone's holidays are going extremely well!! love to all!!