Pictures!

Hello all! So I finally got around to getting all my pictures uploaded to Facebook and Flickr. I'm sure many of you have seen the ones from Facebook, and for those of you not on Facebook, head on over to my Flickr page to see them all:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54040223@N08/

Go into the "Collections" tab for a more organized way to view the pictures.

I apologize for the lack of descriptions in the photos. I hope to get around adding those soon. If you have any questions about my trip or my photos, feel free to comment here or email me at sunrisekid1@gmail.com.

Thanks!
-Adam

Sapa and Going Home

Sapa is a small town located in the far northwestern corner of Vietnam. From Hanoi, it's about an 11 hour drive by sleeper bus. To get to Sapa, you need to stop at the city of Lao Cai first, which is located right on the Vietnamese-Chinese border, and from there it's just an hour's drive to Sapa. The area around Sapa is inhabited by native hill tribes, who were there long before the French came in and founded the town. Five years ago, Sapa was not nearly the tourist hub it is today. Though still quite charming, there are over a hundred hotels in Sapa, and the many construction sites are a sure sign of things to come.
It was chilly when I stepped off the bus, and the fog was a double dose of pea soup. I had hardly gotten any sleep during the long and stuffy bus ride from Hanoi, so the early morning air was refreshing and rejuvenating.
Sapa is built high up in the mountains and overlooks a large valley. The topography makes for twisting and inclined streets, giving Sapa a dynamic layout. This can get difficult, however, when the fog gets so thick you can't see the other side of the street. After a long time walking around shrouded in mist a mystery as to the whereabouts of the hostel I was planning on staying at, I finally found it. The dorm was full, but for six dollars I got my own room that opened onto a balcony with what I was sure was going to be a breathtaking view of the valley once the fog cleared up a little.
After settling in, I hit the streets. The influence of the French is especially apparent in Sapa, with bakeries and baguette shops on every street. This is combined in a strange way with the ubiquitous presence of the local ethnic minorities who reside in various villages down in the valley and elsewhere. The main minority groups that are represented in Sapa are the Black Hmong and the Red Dzao. It wasn't long before the Hmong locals took their stabs at selling me colorful hand made clothes and bags, intricately woven and mainly dyed with indigo. Tourism has been an important source of income for many of the ethnic minorities around Sapa. Where they once trade with each other, many bring their goods to the markets to sell them cheap to tourists. Many of the locals, especially the younger ones, actually speak a fair amount of English.
After walking around and seeing the town for a bit, I booked a two day, one night trekking tour into the valley for the next day. In the afternoon, the fog had cleared up considerably, and I got my first glimpses into the valley below Sapa. I couldn't see completely across, but what I could see was breathtaking nonetheless. Sapa's iconic terraced rice paddies took up a good part of the sides of the hills. Throughout the years, the locals have built an impressive and massive system of paddies all around the valley area. It wasn't growing season for the rice, but in preparation all the paddies were flooded. Each paddy now reflected the white sky, making for a spectacular landscape feature.
After a cold night in my unheated room, I got up the next morning to meet with my tour and we headed down into the valley. The walk was not too difficult, and as we got to lower altitudes, the fog cleared up more, and we got a closer view of the rice terraces and bamboo forests. To keep the paddies filled with water, each paddy drains into the one below it and is filled by the one above it. Gravity does all the work, and only rarely is piping used. This immense, complex, and self sustained irrigation system is just one example of the cleverness and resourcefulness of the ethnic minorities. 
After lunch, we walked through a few villages and saw how the rice was separated from the husks, and how the intricate clothes of the locals were woven. I was the only one taking the two day tour, so a minibus then took the other four in my group back to town, and my guide and I headed onward to reach the home-stay we were staying at. The evening was spent relaxing on the patio, enjoying the view and getting to know the others who were also at the home-stay, although coming from different tours. Dinner was very nice, with all the usual Vietnamese fare of fried spring rolls, and rice and noodle dishes. People go to bed early in the villages, mainly because of the colder weather at night, so around 10 PM we headed off to bed, safely guarded by our mosquito netting and thick blankets.
After delicious pancakes for breakfast the next morning, my guide and I left to trek further into the valley, walking through many difficult and muddy paths along the way. After a brief stop at the top of a waterfall that provided and amazing view of the valley, we headed down to the larger village of Su Pan for lunch. After that it was a minibus back to Sapa. The trekking tour was amazing, and provided a must see look into the lives of the locals and the huge amount of work they put in to earn a living. 
The next day I recovered on sleep and caught up on laundry. I also signed up for a motorbiking tour with a couple of other people I met at my hostel. The tour, which left the next morning, went further outside of Sapa, and would eventually bring me to Lao Cai. Thankfully drivers were provided, which not only prevented us from falling off the steep drop offs on the side of the roads, but gave us time take in the scenery, which was slightly different from the valley below Sapa. Our first stop was at one of two waterfalls that comprised the tour. The first waterfall was just off the road, and attracted many tourists. Oddly enough, pretty much all these tourists were from Ho Chi Minh, and we were about the only foreigners there. It wasn't the rainy season, so the waterfall wasn't all that huge, but it was tall, and bounded down many levels of moss mos and fern covered rock. The next water fall we went to was reached by a decent hike into the hills. This waterfall was amongst a dense jungle, and there was no one else to be found except us and our guide. Maybe one hundred feet tall, this waterfall didn't have a huge flow either, but that suited the serene and private atmosphere of the clearing it pooled into. We then got back on the motorbikes and began the one hour ride to Lao Cai. Riding on a motorbike is an awesome way to travel around the region. The landscape looks quite different from place to place, and the views are to die for. 
There isn't much to do in Lao Cai, so my friends form Sapa and I walked to the Chinese border and through the market to kill time before their train and my bus left for Hanoi. Around 8 PM I boarded another sleeper bus back to Hanoi, and arrived at 5:30 in the morning and spent three hours walking around getting lost. Eventually I got to where I needed to and booked a bus to the airport to catch my flight back south.
So here I am back in Ho Chi Minh once more. I've got a bit of a cough and a cold, but the weather's warm and the people are just as friendly. Tomorrow will sadly be my last full day in Vietnam, but I'm positive it won't be my last trip here. There are so many places I left unexplored, and so many people I'd like to meet again. One month was perhaps enough as a tourist, but if you stop looking at everything through a camera lens and pull your head out of the guidebook, you'll realize a month only gives you the briefest glimpse into a fascinating culture that I think would take a lifetime to truly understand.
I hope you all have enjoyed hearing about my experiences as much as I've enjoyed sharing them. I'll post lots and lots of pictures on both Facebook and Flickr so everyone can see them. Hopefully they will inspire you to someday travel to Vietnam as well. It's a beautiful and incredibly safe country, with many happy and friendly people. As long as you've got a touch of common sense, you can avoid most of the scams and the pickpockets. I never had a problem with either. Though it can be difficult to get past the the sometimes aggressive sales tactics of the touts, the hard bargaining at the markets, the drug dealers and prostitutes in the major cities, and some of the more dubious taxi drivers, the majority of the people in Vietnam are very friendly and welcoming. If you think the war is a reason for an American to avoid Vietnam, it isn't. It's almost ancient history here, and people have moved on. I had an absolutely amazing time during my travels here, and I me so many awesome people along the way. 
Although it will be nice to head home in a couple days, back to consistently warm showers and drinking water out of the tap, it feels like my traveling has just begun, and I know before too long I'll set course once again out into the world. To finish, here's a quote from Mark Twain:


"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."


Until next time,
-Adam Holte
Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

Ha Long Bay

Here I am once again in the lively Ho Chi Minh City after flying back from Hanoi. In my last post, I had just arrived in Hanoi, and was off to see the famed Vietnamese water puppets. The show took place in an auditorium, but instead of a stage, a pool with about two feet of water was set against a backdrop of an ancient and ornate structure. The puppets emerged from behind curtains, and they appeared to glide and dance over the water, acting out many old folk stories of from Vietnamese history. Live traditional music accompanied the performance, which was quite lively and humorous, and even utilized fire and other pyrotechnics.
I would have liked to stay in Hanoi longer than one night, but I wanted to tour Ha Long Bay and then have ample time to spend in Sapa. So early the next morning, I booked a tour ten minutes before the bus left and headed out east on a two day one night tour of the bay. It was only a four hour bus ride, and before long we hit the coast. In the distance, shrouded in mist, the many jutting islands that make up Ha Long Bay slowly became visible. According to legend, the area's unique island formations were created by dragons, and Ha Long was where the mother dragon settled down to live.
We got out of the bus and headed to our junk, which is a type of boat that originated in China, and in Ha Long Bay is usually used to take tourists to see the bay. The junk our tour took place on was a very nice boat. Lots of dark polished wood and finely carved railings. The eating area on the main deck made great use of windows to provide an excellent view of the surrounding area. The top deck was open air and had no shortage of lounge chairs to relax in. The cabins were located below deck, except for several that were just off the eating area. I was lucky enough the get one of these rooms. My room was spacious and bright, with large windows on two walls and nice wood panelling.
After getting settled in, we were served lunch as the junk made its way out into the mist, into Ha Long Bay. The remarkable landscape of the bay is different than any other I've seen in my life. After getting further out into the bay, away from the fishing ships and the dense groups of tour boats, the fog created a secluded atmosphere. It was almost like being on a different planet. The small islands that make up the bay rise steeply out of the water, making beaches rare. The islands vary greatly in size and shape. Some are connected to form long chains of shrub covered limestone mounds, while others sit on their own. Various types of minerals in the bay gave the water a dark turquoise color, and because of the number of tiny islands to break up water flow, the water was much calmer than the rest of the ocean. The weather was still kind of chilly, but it was much warmer than what I was expecting. Our first stop was at a larger island where we took a short walk through small but intricate cave, and then we walked up near to the peak of the island for an amazing view of the surrounding bay. We then headed deeper into the island and eventually came across a small inland lake, completely separate from the ocean. Tranquil is really the only word needed to describe it. A gem unseen by boat, and untarnished by tourists.
After that we went to another larger island in which a family had lived and farmed there for twenty years. It's important that they continue to live there, because it's prime location for a small resort. In many parts of Vietnam, construction and expansion is ever present as tourism levels continue to rise. Ha Long Bay is no exception, so it was nice to see at least part of the natural beauty kept out of the hands of developers. After a quick hike into the island, we came back to the beach to enjoy some green tea and a surprisingly clear sunset. Then we boarded the junk once again to enjoy a few relaxing hours before dinner. These relaxing hours included swimming for me, which turned out to be absolutely freezing. Later I was enlightened to the fact that there are quite a few jellyfish found in the bay, after someone spotted a large one next to the boat. Our dinner was quite elaborate, and was brought out in several courses, comprising of various seafood dishes, vegetable dishes, and of course rice. Also as usual, fruit topped off the meal as a dessert.
The next morning we had a light breakfast and got ready to go out kayaking on the bay. With no tedious safety demonstrations and instructions, our small group made for a dense group of smaller islands. The morning was chilly but not too cold and we passed very few boats on our way. Getting up close to the smaller islands and the islands that are too steep to walk on, the formations were incredible. It was almost easier to believe dragons once made the bay instead of them naturally occurring. We spent about an hour on the water, circling around the islands and then back to the boat. Soon after that we had an early lunch as the boat returned to the dock.
At that point, the bus took us back to Hanoi, where I booked an overnight bus to Sapa for that evening. However, I'll save that escapade for tomorrow. I hope everyone is doing well back home! I'll be flying back in a couple of days and then work on getting some pictures up, so you can stop suffering through all this tedious literature.

Cheers!
-Adam
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam  

Central Vietnam and (finally) Hanoi

Greetings! I've been on the road so much this past week (a whole week?!) I've not been able to get a blog post out yet since I started north. Currently I reside in Vietnam's capital city of Hanoi in the northern part of the country, but how did I get here? As I said a week ago, I did indeed catch a bus up to the coastal beach town of Nha Trang, hoping for some sun and ignoring the generally agreed upon forecast for the region. Bad move.

Instead of the white sandy beaches and a warm breeze coming in over sparkling turquoise waters, I got rain upon arrival, and a chilly wind creating six foot mud colored waves on damp and barren beaches. Needless to say I booked my ticket outta there the same day I arrived. I spent what little time I had there walking up and down the beach, contemplating my future (i.e., the next day), observing the unceasing trials and tribulations of the tiny beach crabs (i.e., the local's snacks), and wishing I had packed more than just shorts. I also spent a good time later on in my hotel room recovering from a cold whose origins remain unknown.

The next day I took another sleeper bus, like the one I took to get to Nha Trang, to the historic and scenic Hoi An. In case you're wondering, a sleeper bus has recliner seats which are perfectly designed to accommodate anyone six inches shorter than me. Thus, for 12 hours I couldn't sit up straight or extend my legs fully. But all that aside, it got me where I wanted to go for $9. So I guess I can't complain (aloud).

In Hoi An, the weather was still cloudy and damp, and a little bit colder to boot. But after walking a good distance I reached the old part of the city that Hoi An is known for, and promptly forgot my problems with the weather, buses, and pants. I had slipped back in time 200 years and was walking though a charming river-side town, with picturesque houses and shops bordering cobblestone streets where only bikes and feet were allowed to travel. The silence created from the absence of motorbikes was filled by soft classical music emanating from craftily hidden speakers in various telephone poles. Hoi An is known for its numerous tailors, who are skilled in recreating almost any piece of clothing in existence to varying degrees of quality depending on how much you wanted to spend. Since I was not in the market for a tuxedo and/or dress, exploring the streets and some of the more ancient architecture was what I did instead. Also fascinating was walking around the residential streets/alleys on Cam Nam island, and making a stop at several of the out-of-the-way cafes which provided amazing views of the river and Hoi An's coastal front. I would have loved to stay in Hoi An for more than just one night, but I needed to be getting up to Hanoi, and I still needed to stop in Hue. Since Hue is fairly close to Hoi An, only a normal bus was required for the four hour journey. Arriving in Hue, the weather was just about the same only, as usual, colder. 

For those at home checking the weather norms for the region, or wondering why I decided to travel here in such a dreary climate, know that the weather this time of year is supposed to be fairly sunny and much warmer in north and central Vietnam. The abnormal rain and cold has been an issue for everyone I've met coming from the North.

My level of preparedness for the weather was increased greatly with my purchase of an umbrella in Hoi An. Next up, pants.

Hue is known as a cultural center in Vietnam, and rightly so as it was the imperial capital of the Nguyen Dynasty for over a hundred years. The main feature of Hue is it's massive citadel, which contains numerous ancient monuments and buildings, including the site of the forbidden city, which was home to the emperor and those closest to him. When I got to Hue, I signed up for a day long tour that covered the citadel, the Thien Mu pagoda and several tombs of emperors past among other things. The citadel was and architectural wonder, and I wish the tour had allotted more time to explore the maze of ruins and buildings. The Thien Mu pagoda was also striking, built on a hilltop overlooking the Perfume River. The emperor's tombs however, which were more like expansive complexes, were my favorite. Each was unique in it's design, and all were certainly built to be remembered and revered. At the end of the tour, we took a boat up the river back to the main city, missing the "colorful sunset" advertised on the tour description. 

With my next bus to Hanoi booked, I scoured the entire city of Hue for cargo pants, and eventually determined that they do not exist there.

After a long 14 hour ride on an always comfortable sleeper bus, I finally arrived early this morning in Hanoi! I don't have much time allotted to see the city, as I really want to get to Ha Long Bay and back with ample time to spend in Sa Pa, so I packed in what I could today. 

First off, it was warm and even partly sunny here today!! Which is fortunate, as I left my umbrella on the bus. After locating a trustworthy hotel, I made my way through the Old Quarter for a stroll around Hoan Kiem Lake. Then I ventured west in search of  Hoa Lo Prison, infamously known as "Hanoi Hilton." The prison looked kind of pretty from the outside, but told a bleak and grim story on the inside. The prison was originally built by the French and used for political prisoners, and then later by North Vietnam in the war. An interesting piece on display in the prison is John McCain's complete flight suit and parachute from when he was shot down over Hanoi. Although carefully preserved, something tells me he won't be coming back to get it. From Hoa Lo, I visited the ancient Temple of Literature, the majority of which was constructed almost 800 years ago, although it was initially founded in 1070. The temple, though a remarkable architectural piece, should more aptly be named the "Temple of Tourists." I did not spend much time there. Though I was disappointed to find that the Ho Chi Minh museum was closed Friday afternoons, a walk through the Botanical Gardens was a nice escape from the bustle of the city. Also worthwhile was catching a glimpse of the Presidential Palace and walking by the impressive and slightly intimidating Ho Chi Minh mausoleum.

For tonight, I have booked tickets see the famous water puppets of Hanoi. This form of puppetry is unique to Vietnam, and Hanoi is supposed to put on the best show. 

If I can find a tour in time, I hope to head up to Ha Long Bay tomorrow. How long I'll spend there, I do not know. But perhaps first I should go buy some pants, just in case.

-Adam Holte

Hanoi, Vietnam

The Mekong Delta and the Journey North

Hello Everyone, hope you're all doing well! 

Several days ago I took a tour to the Mekong Delta, which is a few hours south of Ho Chi Minh by bus. It was a two day, overnight tour. Our bus left HCM at 8:00 in the morning, which brought us to the start of the delta, where a boat took us to one of the several main islands on the delta. The common boat used on the delta is made of wood, and is long and skinny. Unlike most boats, these board from a plank jutting out the front, which gives them a unique shape. After landing on one of the islands, we got to sample the local honey tea, which was made of pure honey, water, and pollen gathered by the bees. I even got to try honey straight from the comb, while the bees were still swarming it. After that we tried some of the various local fruits grown on the island, and were serenaded by live Vietnamese folk music. Then we separated into groups of four and got into smaller boats which took us down the smaller tributaries that make up the Mekong Delta. The tributaries were only about 15 feet across and were bordered on both sides by water cocoa trees. The jungle was dense, and incredibly green, quite a change from the bleak late winter landscape of Minnesota. 

Our next destination was to see how coconut candy was made. I won't explain the entire process, but I'll suffice to say it tasted delicious, even the durian flavor wasn't bad. We took to the boats again, and headed to a restaurant for a late lunch. The lunch was provided on the tour, but they had a menu with other (quite expensive) things you could order. These included squirrel, turtle, and eel, among other things. From there we took the boats back to the mainland, and got on a bus that took us across a large bridge back into the delta. The bus brought us into a town where most of the people on the tour were staying at a hotel. I however, along with several other backpackers I was stalking, did a home-stay instead. For the home-stay, our host took us by boat to his house on the delta where he lived with his parents, his wife, and three kids. Most of us stayed in dorm shacks outside the house, but because there wasn't room I got to stay inside with my own room. We had a wonderful dinner of spring rolls, which we made ourselves, and steamed elephant fish cooked to perfection.

After dinner we hung out on the patio by the river and played with a "cau" which was used like a hacky sack, only it was made of feathers and a plastic spring. The next morning, we got up at 6:30 for breakfast, and then headed off to see the famous floating markets. The floating markets are a fleet of different boats that are all selling various fruits and produce and other goods. Each boat is like small shop, and the locals pull their boats up close in order to buy the day's produce. From the floating markets we went to a rice noodle factory and then walked through a tropical fruit garden, where I saw the biggest jackfruit I had ever seen. We then made our way back to the tour bus, and I took a four hour bus ride back to Ho Chi Minh.

The last couple of days here in HCM have been cloudy and rainy, so now I'm heading up to Nha Trang in an attempt to catch some sun, although the forecast doesn't look to promising. From Nha Trang I'll head up to Hue, and then further north to Hanoi, and then further north still after that. I've had an amazing time here in HCM, and met some truly wonderful people. I'm looking forward to what the rest of Vietnam has in store for me. My bus north leaves in an hour, and the rain seems to be holding out for now. So long Saigon! See you in about three weeks!

Cu Chi and More

Yesterday I took a tour about two hours north of Ho Chi Minh City. My tour covered the Cu Chi Tunnels and the Cao Dai temple in one day. On the way to our first stop, the Cao Dai temple, our tour bus visited a large ceramics and arts store called Handicapped Handicrafts. The store's wares were created by injured victims of the Vietnam War. The ceramics were very nice (albeit pricy) and the entrance to the shop went through the worker's craft tables so you got to see the pieces coming together. The bus ride was not very comfortable (I was positioned over the back wheel, so no leg room), but it was fascinating to drive through the countryside and catch a glimpse of everyday life in the region. Children played outside small tin roof houses, while water buffalo grazed in the nearby fields. In the small towns we passed, roadside stalls and shops offered cold beverages and shade to passerbys. Out in the country, the motorbike is still the primary means of transport. This means the curbs on the road, if any, are sloped to allow bikes to drive up and park on the sidewalks. It's like that everywhere, sidewalks are part walking area, and part parking lot. And the rest of the space is taken up by any of a variety of vendor's stalls.
We visited the Cao Dai temple first. The Cao Dai temple rests in a walled compound that belongs to members of the Cao Dai religion, which is a very new religion that formed in the early half of the 20th century and combines aspects of Vietnam's most prominent religions. The temple is very ornate and brightly colored, although the overwhelming crowd of tourists was slightly off-putting and perhaps provided a grim picture of what to expect on the tourist scene here in Vietnam in the coming years.
After the Cao Dai temple, it was another hour's drive to the tunnels in Cu Chi. The Cu Chi tunnels a large system of underground tunnels and chambers that were used by the Viet Cong to evade and defend against enemy troops. Our tour of Cu Chi began with exploring how the entrances were concealed, as well as examples of Viet Cong booby traps, and dioramas depicting the daily life of a Viet Cong soldier. It's worth pointing out that these dioramas are basically identical to diorama you might see of American troops in museums. At the shooting range, for a dollar a pop, we got to fire off a gun of our choosing out of the selecton provided. I decided to shoot the AK47. The gun was much more powerful and much louder than I expected. After that were the tunnels. The small part of the original tunnel system that the willing members of the group went through had been expanded to twice it's original size. Even with the expansion, the tunnels were best traversed on hands and knees. After the tunnels, it was a long bus ride back to Ho Chi Minh.
Today, I got some much needed shopping done (second pair of clothes finally! Stop crying mom), and went to a fascinating pagoda and also the War Remnants Museum. The War Remnants Museum represents Vietnam's story of the war. The museum was once called the War Crimes Museum, but was changed in 1993 to appeal more to tourists. The images and stories in the museum are ones rarely or never seen in American museums. Going through the exhibits was a gut wrenching and sobering experience. There was no need for propaganda here, the images spoke for themselves, and they spoke loudly. America has a habit of forgetting it's history, especially it's mistakes. And that's no more important as we continue the war in Afghanistan. Here I am, years after our defeat here, in a safe city with vibrant, happy, and friendly people who have welcomed me with no remorse whatsoever. We have a lot yet to learn.
Tomorrow I am headed off to the Mekong Delta for two days with a few people I met on the tour to Cu Chi. I can't wait to see scenery and experience the spectacular floating markets. I hope everyone is safe and sound and doing well!

Cheers,
-Adam
Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

We're Not in Minnesota Anymore...

Greetings from Ho Chi Minh!!!!! It's my second full day here, and I'm at the Duc Vuong hotel in the Pham Ngu Lao district, aka the bacpackers district. My time here so far has been amazing. I once thought the streets of New York were crazy, and the traffic dreadful, but it pales in comparison to Ho Chi Minh. There's a vibrancy and a life to this city that is unlike anything I've experienced. The streets are endless, and there's only one skyscraper. Each street is a beehive of activity. Not a square inch is left unused it seems. Vendors come out of the woodwork, offering a menagerie of cheap goods. From photocopied books to bootlegged movies, and even hammocks. The narow streets meld into the sidewalks, and bikes weave in between the throng of people walking about. Elderly women with their iconic conical hats crouch beside their small open flame ovens and grills, baking treats for passing tourists and hungry locals. Coming from Minnesota, the heat and the humidity are forces to be reckoned with.
Last night I stayed with a mutual friend who lived not far outside the center of Ho Chi Minh. We took his motorbike back to where we lived. To better illustrate the implications of tis form of travel, allow me to introduce you to how traffic works here. There are few cars, and the versatile motorbike is well adapted to the anarchy of the city streets. The bigger and louder vehicle has right of way, no questons asked. Crossing the streets either strong faith or a willfull ignorance. There is no light that tells you when to walk, you just start walking, and like the Red Sea, the bikes and cars and buses swerve sometimes within inches of you. There are few obeyed rules of the road.
Oh yeah, and I've never ridden on a motorcycle before. It was a little nerve racking at first, but after the initial shock, it turned out to be amazing. I can't imagine anything quite like it. Riding out of the city into the suburbs, passing shantytowns with their tin roof shacks next to their small fisheries, the men resting in hammocks as the sun set in the distance. My friend lived in a gated commuity that was apart of a large area of new development. His apartment's balcony overlooked a winding river, with the city far off in the distance.
Now I'm getting ready to see some more of the city again, as well as shopping for a much needed second set of clothes.
I hope everyone back home and elsewhere is doing well! I'll try to write some more tonight.

-Adam
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam