Nothing says "Happy New Year" like burning a paper donkey.
"I keep my rice outside on the street next to those pots I used a few years ago."
A museum image of what was once the entire Hanoi "Hilton" Prison. Only one section remains, in the center of the city. Does it freak anyone else out that prisons are such popular tourist destinations?
Woof woof!
Chop, chop.
Streets of Hanoi.
Check out the wiring. Now imagine being the guy called in to fix that when someone's lines go down.
Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. I wonder if Hu Jintao is a cool enough Commie to get embalmed?
Not built for us big-boned Westerners.
A seat. Scissors. And some style.
Prawns in a market, not the biggest we saw, but not bad.
The fireworks show on Tet lasted almost a full half-hour, very impressive.
I violated a few intellectual property rights here, but this picture was just so cool. These people put anything and everything on their bikes. I believe the man's book was called, "Bikes of Burden." See, attribution.
Walking into the historic quarter of Hoi An.
Corny photo.
The best restaurant in Hoi An.
The flags were on every building during the holiday which was eerie and cool.
Generic art stores took away from the ambiance a bit. But a guy's gotta make a buck.
Scooters wizzin' by, horns blaring, on the riverside at Hoi An.
Outside Hoi An.
The family that kindly invited us in and chatted with us for an hour while we rested. By chat, I mean the daughter who spoke a few words of English did an amazing job of reading our charades. They also offered me an ice-cold beer. It was 8 in the morning.
The ancient Cham ruins at My Son (pronounced Me Sun).
It wasn't Siem Reap, but still very fascinating and a lot less people.
The jungle surrounded the entire complex, with plenty of visible craters from American bombings.
It was said that when the VC hid out in Tower Three, American efforts to bomb the site were in vain. It was impenetrable. The US became so enraged, they sent in helicopters and had gunners fire RPGs into each historic tower from close range until they fell. This callous destruction of historical sites caused a major uproar in the West.
Losing your head = not so cool.
Uga shaka uga shaka.
Eric aptly titled this one, "Miles thinks napalm is shitty." If you look closely at the hilltops you can see the sparse vegetation finally starting to grow back 35 years later.
The countryside was beautiful.
This is apparently a famous painting. Eric didn't see it.
I've got a real appreciation of personal shrines.
Japanese bridge. Linked the Chinese side with the Vietnamese side back in the day and really boosted the trade. Apparently the ten foot wide stream had been quite a detriment.
One of my favorite things about Asia: groups of people sitting outside on small stools, playing cards, eating, spitting, yelling, and getting drunk.
Market in Hoi An.
"Life is but a beach chair." But I don't think this is the one Jay-Z was talking about.
On our way outside of Nha Trang, one of the most unimpressive and over-hyped spots I have found in my travels in Asia.
Uncle Ho and nationalist propaganda were everywhere.. I wonder if there is still a guy somewhere in some office lamenting on the fact he couldn't get approval to make this sign even bigger.
We took plenty of random dirt roads on this day, but this one turned out to be fruitful.
Finally we found a beach spot where the locals chilled out.
Inner channels surrounded by former military bases.
Where we ate and made a rather innocent discovery.......
..... in the bottle to the woman's left, you can see 16 snakes coiled up in a huge jar of alcohol. Now, snake wine is pretty common in Asia. So Eric and I gulped down a hefty little sample. Then, the owner of the spot twisted the jar to show us the TWO huge dead crows also floating/ decomposing in the back of the jar. Apparently, the birds are good for your health.
Plenty of abandoned military bases around, which is both a good and bad thing I suppose.
Here is another much larger abandoned base. It seemed like the people still there were squatters. But occasionally someone would be wearing a helmet. Who knows, maybe he just found it on the ground and liked it.
We thought this was a great deal on some prawns. That's all I want to say about that.
Saigon. Flourishing.
One of the tanks that broke through the gates of the National Palace in 1975, effectively ending the N-S civil war.
Two floors below ground in the president's bomb shelter.
Please read the captions.
Substitute "communism" with "radical Islam" and "South East Asia" with "the Middle East."
