Matti and I on one of our last little dinner moments.
Andy and I took a bus down to Hue and checked out the old Palace. Absolutely beautiful Palace. They kept the place immaculate.
Moat surrounding the whole thing. It was huge.
Kings palace chair.
Unfortunately only around 25 percent of the original buildings survived the wars with the French and US. Here is a damaged wall unfixed
General map of Palace
The Queens Ponds.
Royal courtyard.
This was our group that traveled down in motorbikes from Hue to Hoi An. One of the best rides of all time. Took almost 9 hours, 2 flat tires And getting lost once or twice.
Once in Hoi An we were able to hang out for Tet, the lunar/Chinese new year. Basically everything shut down, including buses to go everywhere. The old market in Hoi An was beautiful with all the lanterns and lights everywhere. The new years fireworks may have been the best ever. It was like a the finale for 25 straight minutes.
Andy and I got new suits. Got fitted and everything custome made. They look great. Don't have a good pic of my tho.
We went to Nha Trang next. Hung out on the beach because again, we got stuck unable to go anywhere with Tet. We somehow managed to find a bus to Saigon. Our friends on the bike ride to Hoi An had to take a cab because theycould not get a ticket. Ended up costed them 400 US dollars. We got our ticket for around 30. Twice as expensive as usual because of, you guessed it folks: Tet.
US war museum.
Lots of cool real life planes and choppers.
Apparently the North and south loved using this guy until after the war......then only the north used it, a lot......
More planes, tanks and cool stuff.
This gem was interesting.
The war museum itself depicts lots of terrible aspects of war. Especially aiming at the South and American Imperialism At the the time. Many terrible parts of the war are known to Americans and yet it was very interesting to see the perspective of the Communist North. The winners of war get to write history, yet it really is a shame that the atrocities of the North were never talked about. Not one single time, in any way. Yet the horrible parts of the south and the US were everywhere (more on this note down futher).
We ate chicken feet in Saigon on a lighter note.
Mekong Delta tour. Authentic music and boats through river canals.
Holding a python.
Making homemade Coconut toffee/candy. They break the shells, mix it, dry and cut it. Delicious.
Mekong river, not clean.
Crossing a home made bamboo bridge.
Floating markets on the Mekong Delta. Awesome, hundreds of boats selling all local food coming up from Singapore and down from China. Every type of fruit, veggie, rice and so much more. They came up and sold some amazing coffee to our boat.
Making rice noodles. Drying them in the sun, then they cut them up.
Grilled snake, bird, and frog.
We ate the snake. Bone, guts and all. Pretty good actually.
The man that cooked and showed us how to eat it was amazing. Told us about the war and the fighting, (warning graffic content ahead)how he could not go back to his village for 15 years and when he did all of his family friends had been decapitated. He then had to spend 6 months in a prison hole because he fought for the south. he also said he was very lucky given his circumstances to even come out alive after the US pulled out. Maybe the most influencial conversation of the whole trip.
5 star hotel behind Ghetto shacks on stilts on the Mekong. Welcome to South Vietnam.
Our view from our hostel balcony. Saigon. Beautiful city. It comes alive at night.
