From August 23 - September 25 2006, Aaron and Andria traveled to Vietnam to eat, sleep, eat, and explore, and in doing so, to begin to understand a small part of Andria's Vientamese heritage.
We started in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), traveled south for a few days in the Mekong Delta, then endured a grueling 13 hours in a local stuffed-with-people-and-luggage-on-our-knees bus to Dalat. After five days of touring the Central Highlands with our own driver and guide, who did his best to educate us on minority villages and the Ho Chi Minh Trail despite our single-minded pursuit of food and humidity-free environments, we finished in Hoi An. Ah, Hoi An, also known as "An Ancient Town", but better known to us as the land of the tailored clothes, poolside hotel rooms, and lantern-lit streets. From there to the almost-nonexistent beach town of Lang Co, then the rather brusque people of Hue, to culminate in the capital of Hanoi and with a sea kayaking trip through the rocky crags of Halong Bay and Cat Ba National Park.
If this extended description has not already bored you, feel free to peruse through our pictures (pared down from 800+ to a mere 90 or so) and send us your comments.
And for the seemingly thousands of people who want to know (and have asked), no, Andria does not speak Vietnamese. The only phrases she knows, which were picked up on the trip, are "That's delicious!" and "I'm full!"
2006 - Andria Thomas & Aaron Datesman Random Creative Pursuits. All rights reserved.
StrictlyNormal Travel Department
