Postcard from Vietnam

Sorry for the lack of updates! Between the great China firewall and general laziness, I just haven't found the time. Now I'm all moved out of my apartment in Beijing and traveling in Vietnam and Cambodia now with Jo, a friend from Beijing. I seem to only write when traveling...especially in transit now so some travel stories and reflections on the year:

Kunming: I stopped by Kunming for a few days to celebrate Mike's birthday and see Julie and in 2 short days I managed to find a new appreciation for this city between it's reasonably priced spas (Dianchi district) and its even more reasonably priced smoothies (5 kuai baby! or 60 cents). Plus I love Yunnan food with its goat cheese innumberable tropical fruits on every street corner (currently obsessed with mangosteens and rambutan although dragon fruit and papaya are not far behind...google it if you don't know what they are!)

2 dirty days on buses and trains later, I arrived across the border in Vietnam ... only to high-tail over to the Chinese embassy and pay more money than everyone else as a US citizen to make sure my Chinese visa doesn't expire - bleh. This whole visa thing for China is just a big scam to get more money, because it's not that they won't let you in, they just want you to pay more and more immigration/psb officials get a cut off the top.

I only had 1 day in Sapa - Northern Vietnam in Lao Cai Province. Absolutely beautiful lush terrace farms, similar to Guangxi, Yunnan, or Guizhou which are right across the border. Also lots of Miao/Hmong ethnic along with other mountain tribes (known as Montagnards in Vietnam, thanks to the Frenchies). Also thanks to the French influence there's baguette for breakfast and lunch if you choose (banh mi sandwiches with cheese, pate, veggies, chilies, whatever you dream of). Personal street food fav is bun - the cold noodles served with a soup of fish sauce that you eat with veggies and bbq pork. Wonderful in the North, but haven't seen much of in the South, much more rice from my observation.

Hanoi: Then 2 days in Hanoi which were a great blur on a lime green bike I rented. The chain came off about every time I stopped but it was lovely zooming around Hanoi anyways. Vietnam is definitely a heaven for mopeds. The nice thing about biking is you don't need to stay to the side because 2 wheeled vehicles have right of way over 4 wheeled vehicles since there are fewer cars. The Museum of Ethnology was a great bike ride (and bun meal) away and well worth it. The War Museum in Hanoi displayed a couple US airplanes captured from the Vietnam war. Eerily, it also had a centerpiece of a pile of b-52 bombs, plane parts, and other military equipment stacked together like a modern art display. I also went to a restaurant called KOTO - know one, teach one, a non-profit restaurant that trains at-risk and disadvantaged young adults. There are many restaurants/organizations like this in Vietnam who benefit orphans, children etc. Would be a good idea for China too!

Halong Bay: After meeting up with Jo in Hanoi, we took the advice of our AMAZING hostel (Hanoi Backpacker's Hostel) and took a trip to a PRIVATE ISLAND (I just like the sound of that) facing Cat Ba in Halong Bay. Think sarongs, grass umbrellas, and soft surf. Jo was hardcore and fell along a cave while kayaking so I just lapped around on these funny animal floaties...definitely regressing age-wise, it's great!

Hoi An: 16 hours train ride from Hanoi later we arrived in the quaint seaside town of Hoi An in central Vietnam. The entire town is a UNESCO heritage site. Hoi An was an important port in the "maritime silk road" and still shows its Chinese, Japanese, and later French influence in the architecture (Japanese bridge, Fujian Assembly Hall, tailoring sweatshops in French colonial buildings). Hoi An is famous for its nearly 200 tailor shops and we definitely took advantage. I finally made my first qipao/cheongsam...in Vietnam. We went to a great store called B'Lan with really friendly staff...to make me feel a little less guilty on taking advantage of such cheap labor (better my business than a cost cutting MNC right?)

Vietnam is a long strip with lush mountains (good cover for guerilla fighting and targeted by American deforestation efforts during the war) so there's coastline everywhere. 2 hours of baking under the sun so hot you couldn't walk on the sand, I emerged burnt as a muffin in Hoi An and so sticky I had to peel clothes off me after clothes-fittings at the tailors.

Saigon: We spent only one day in Ho Chi Minh City (I prefer Saigon) yesterday walking around and I didn't like what I saw as much as Hanoi which was all small alleywalls and curving streets named after traditional guilds in the Hoan Kiem area (Hang Bac = silver street, Hang Dao = silk dyer). Saigon had wide boulevards. We went to the Reunification/Independance Palace where Diem used to entertain before liberation by the N. Vietnamese in 1975. Pictures of its violent takeover along with a series of narrow hallways and rooms full of radio, telephone, and decryption equipment filled the basement. There was also a propaganda piece film shown in English, French and Chinese. More poignant was the War Remnants (former War Memorial) Museum. The exhibit on journalists who died in the war and on the devastating effects of agent orange serve as testament to the combined millions from both sides that died in this atricious war. The guestbook was split between comments from Koreans, Japanese, and Europeans on resisting American imperialism (many touching on the Iraq war), and comments from Americans on resisting Vietnamese propaganda. The other SEAsians and Malaysians especially called for peace.

I've been disappointed that I haven't learned more about the war on this trip. Other expats have asked if I've seen any hostility as an American and I can honestly say that in general, I've encountered really nice Vietnamese. This says alot about how far these 2 countries have come in the last 30 years to normalize relations as well as Vietnam's welcoming of tourist money. I met up with a friend of a friend of a ..(FOAFA) last night who's also a returned Vietnamese (from the Bay Area!) and we peppered the poor guy with our questions and observations of Vietnam. We discussed how Vietnam is becoming a popular alternative to China to set-up factories and for FDI and how money matters more than guanxi (relationships) here. China's policies swerve one way and then another and also is increasingly pickier about the foreign companies it lets set up shop in China and feed off its labor force. It's also interesting to hear the perspective of another returned immigrant to a socialist country. All these comparisons I never thought to make before because I live in the China bubble which is so all-encompassing. This year has definitely expanded my views on what being "Chinese" means, both the Han, and 56 recognized ethnic minorities...from Tibet to Xinjiang, mainland to now HK, Macau, and many many overseas. And also all the dialogue, trade, and interaction with other nations from Japan to Vietnam, Germany to Australia. We talk about how we live in a globalized world and internet is bringing us together, but with trade routes and cross-pollinating religions of centuries ago, maybe we've been a globalized world for a long time and just didn't realize it. With lower barriers to access information from all over the world, its just more reason and responsibility to see beyond our own borders and barriers into the rest of the world.

With that, I sign off from the beach town of Mui Ne. Sanddunes (white and red) tomorrow morning at 5am (no joke). Then cruise up the Mekong across to Cambodia on Saturday. Stay tuned!