and the
BU'U DIEN
Hanoi was beautiful, tree-lined streets, Party flags on every corner, French architecture, bushes packed with orange kumquats in honor of Tet and purple-flowering bougainvilla. Deb sampled tasty corn-flavored candy chews and Bill was continuously in search of sausage. We spent a day wandering the zany streets with Bill's parents and hopped a night train south. Some friendly North Vietnamese taught Deb and me Vietnamese words for major body parts and for Bill's 'stache and goatee (the zia and zo).
In Hue we biked through villages to a gorgeous, deserted mausoleum in the hills. We were poled across the Perfume River by a 70 year-old woman, bikes included. We toured the DMZ for 12 hours one day, on the backs of motor bikes driven by ex-South Vietnamese military officers. Bomb craters are still evident but now filled with grass. Trees have regrown in massively defoliated areas. Everyone has a personal story about the war.
In coastal Hoi An we bought the cutest little banana leaf packages that were, sadly, filled with fermented pork, and participated in a great laundry debacle. We were then joined by The Bronze, a 22-kilogram box of ancient bronze relics (with a few gongs thrown in for Bill) that became our fourth - albeit silent- travel partner. We visited My Lai, the site of a massacre of 504 villagers by US troops. The photos were unbelievable.
Further south in coastal NhaTrang, the waves were huge, the ocean warm. We celebrated Tet, Vietnamese New Year, in grand fashion with the family who ran our hotel. Despite drinking from miniature glasses, we grew tipsy and coveted a 29-foot sweet sticky rice cake in a banana leaf. We dove in the South China Sea the next day. I was paired with divemaster Jean-Pierre, who made me stroke the anemones. From there we headed into the dry Central Highlands, home to the Chicken Minority Village and legendary nine-nailed, 15-meter high, stone chicken. We biked 70 miles back to the coast, to a town called Mui Ne that had killer beachside hammocks.
Our last cross-country cracker bus deposited us in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City). Booming, packed with people and ethereal women in silk and conical hats, huge hotels, neon lights. Jaw-dropping war photos, captured planes and artillery were on display in the museums. We had several dates with the BuuDien (GPO) and customs, but The Bronze was ultimately cleared, stamped and mummified in two rolls of tape. Although we may be removing a national heirloom, it's with official Party approval.
A great moment on my last night, Deb commented she and Bill had known each other 17 years, he touched her cheek and they both smiled and laughed. They will have many more adventures whether by bus, boat, train, plane, bicycle or even yak.