The Rest of the Central Region Tour and the North

I have so much to write about. We're so busy and I have so many things that I've seen the past few days so this entry might not do everything I saw justice. I may try to fix it up a bit and add the Vietnamese version when I get back to Ho Chi Minh City.


After Hoi An, we went to the My Som ruins. These are some beautiful ancient temples near Hoi An. They contain a lot of Hindu iconography and are different from the majority of temples in Vietnam which are mainly Buddhist. These temples resemble those in Angkor Wat, Cambodia. However, many of these temples were destroyed during the Vietnam War. We were able to see a few of the original temples, some that we left damaged by bombing, and some that were restored.



After that, we went to Hue. Hue was the old capital of Vietnam and is a beautiful city with a lot of History. We spent a lot of time in the forbidden city which has beautiful temples commemorating Vietnam's previous emperors. Our tour guide was full of stories about which emperors may or may not have been infertile or homosexual.

Standing in the Forbidden City

Following Hue, we went to Alyce's family's hometown of Quang Tri. Quang Tri is in the central region of Vietnam and definitely not a tourist spot, though it is close to a lot of interesting historical sites. We saw the bridge that crossed the river separating the North and South during wartime and another set of tunnels used during the war. The Vinh Moc tunnels are not as famous as their Cu Chi counterparts, but are just as, if not more interesting. The site definitely has a quieter, less touristy feel to it and is on the beach which provides a beautiful setting. The tunnels were not, as in Cu Chi, "widened for Western visitors" but were still larger than those at Cu Chi. Our guide explained that was because these tunnels were used for refugee from bombing rather than for fighting. They needed to be equipped for long term survival as people lived in there for six years and even had children inside the tunnels. I went through the whole thing this time though because these tunnels didn't have bats!

Venturing into the tunnels

Although most of Alyce's family lives in the United States, she still has a lot of family remaining in Vietnam, mostly in the central region. We were able to meet some of her family and their friends. We met her aunt, who sells motorbikes and is the richest woman in Quang Tri. We also visited her family's old house where three guys that her family's church were helping lived. We met the three young men and saw the small farm that they had in the backyard. Sadly, a lot of the plants and animals that they were raising were lost in the recent typhoons. The boys did take the large pig up to the second floor of the house though and he was saved. Next, we visited the village where her grandma used to live. Now, three women from her family's church live in the house and look after it. They were extremely sweet and hospitable, though I thought they might kill me with food. They made an enormous and very delicious Vietnamese meal for us. We all ate so much but the oldest woman kept telling us that we weren't eating enough and that she was offended that we didn't like her cooking. She said that I was a college student and an American so that I should be eating more. She told me I wasn't fat enough and if I didn't gain weight, no one would want to marry me. They all offered to let Anna and I live upstairs free of charge so that we could practice our Vietnamese. This may sound strange, but we also spent a lot of time in the Central region visiting graves and memorials to the dead. It is very interesting to see the extremely elaborate graves that Vietnamese people have. Some graves are Catholic and some are Buddhist, but they all share the Vietnamese characteristic of taking care of your ancestors even after they die. Many of the graves had incense and offering of food and flowers. We also got to see a lot of homes and farms of villagers. There were houses, a lot of farm animals, and a school full of really cute kids.

Walking through the village

Kids hanging out in front of the church

In the evening we flew to Hanoi. We arrived late at night and went to bed early so that we could go to the Perfume Pagoda. The perfume pagoda is a really beautiful pagoda in a cave on top of a mountain. We met up with students from another study abroad program in Hanoi (they made me feel better about my Vietnamese. They had been taking classes here for two months and could barely count) and took a long bus ride to a bay near the mountain. After that, we went by boat. The water was unbelievably clear and beautiful, which is a nice change compared to the Saigon River which I am used to seeing. We then climbed the 600 steps to the top of the mountain and saw the beautiful alters inside of a cave at the top. It never fails to amaze me how many beautiful temples and pagodas Vietnam has tucked away in the mountains and caves.

On the way to the mountain

One of the altars inside the cave at the top

The next day, we went to Halong Bay. If you are one of those people that has a list of places to go before you die, add Halong Bay to it right now. It is easily one of the most beautiful places I have been in my life. We took a boat ride around the bay and saw many villages of people who have lived on the water for years. There were boats for fishing, houses, and even a school. We also had an opportunity to explore on our own in kayaks. Anna and I went through little caves and lagoons and found out that we are terrible at steering!

The beautiful Halong Bay. Incidentally, this rock is featured on the 200.000 dong note

Getting ready to Kayak. I'm super excited

Heading out

The next day, we had the amazing opportunity to attend a panel discussion about environmental issues in Vietnam. The panel talked about climate change, fisheries, waste management, environmental health issues, and a host of other interesting issues. We were able to ask questions about Vietnam's environment to a number of local and foreign experts in the field. It really was an amazing educational opportunity for our environmental sustainability class. After that, I went to visit the Hanoi School of Public Health. I had read about the school's opening before I went to Vietnam and knew that I wanted to visit. I was a little worried because I did not plan ahead and contact anyone before I visited. Fortunately, Vietnamese people are extremely friendly. I just wandered over to the school on my own and told the guards at the gate that I was a student at another school and just wanted to look around. They thought it was cute that I was speaking Vietnamese and gave me a visitors badge. I wandered around the school and met a consultant from Colorado. We started chatting and he told me about his work with anti-smoking campaigns in Vietnam. He introduced me to his colleagues and I talked to them about their work there for awhile. After that, I spent a few hours in the library, practicing my Vietnamese with the librarians and looking through their collection of Vietnamese and English books about public health.

After that I went to visit the temple of literature. This is a really beautiful park in Hanoi that contains manuscripts of Vietnam's kings inscribed on huge stone tablets which rest on the backs of turtles. I then headed back home (talking to a few people on the bus, of course) and have been writing this blog entry pretty much for the rest of the day... We head back for Saigon tomorrow afternoon so my project for the plane ride will be translating all of this into Vietnamese.

Sau Hội An, chúng tôi đi di tích Mỹ Sơn. Di tích Mỹ Sơn có chùa cổ, đẹp, gần Hội An. Mặc dù hầu hết đền ở Việt Nam là chùa Phật giáo nhưng các đền này có nhiều biểu tượng Chàm. Các đền ở Mỹ Sơn giống các đền ở Ankor Wat ở Campucia. Nhiều đền ở Mỹ Sơn bị phá hoại vào chiến tranh. Chúng tôi xem các đền gốc, các đền bị phá hoại, và các đền được trùng tu.

Sau đó, chúng tôi đi Huế. Huế là thủ đô cổ Việt Nam. Huế là thành phổ lịch sử.

Sau Huế, chúng tôi đi nơi quê của gia đình chị Hồng, Quang Tri. Quang Tri ở Miễn Trung Việt Nam và không là nơi du lịch. Thành phố này có một khách sạn thôi! Mặc dù không nơi du lịch nhưng Quang Tri gần nhiều nơi lịch sử. Chúng tôi thấy cầu chia cắt Việt Nam, miễn Bắc và miễn Nam. Gần cầu này có đài tưởng niệm chiến tranh. Sau đó chúng tôi đi hầm Vinh Moc. Hầm Củ Chi nổi tiếng hơn hầm Vinh Moc mà tôi thích hầm VInh Moc hơn. Hầm Vinh Moc không có nhiều khách du lịch và gần biển. Ngoài ra, ở đây không có dơi!

Mặc dù Hồng ở bang Cali nhưng có gia đình và các bạn gia đình ở miễn Trung Việt Nam. Chúng tôi có dịp gặp họ chị của Hồng và cô của Hồng. Chúng tôi đi thăm nhà cũ của bà của Hồng. Bây giờ, ba người làm việc ở nhà thờ của gia đình Hồng ở nhà này. Ba người nấu ăn nhiều và nói rằng nếu Sara không ăn nhiều hơn và béo ra thì không thể lấy chồng được.