Friday, May 7, 2010

Vietnam + Laos

Just a quick update. The fact that this post covers two countries and only six days will tell you something about the trip so far. We've been moving around quite a bit, which is okay, because I can't really get around the countryside on my own so seeing it from the window of a bus is the closest I'm likely to get right now. As you may know I injured my ankle in New Orleans during a night of carousing as exciting as it was enigmatic. The details are hazy, but probably awesome. Anyway, this limits my mobility just enough to be annoying.
We got into Saigon Saturday night after what seemed like a week in the air but still managed to drag ourselves out just long enough for one beer and to notice that certain Vietnamese women can be very forward. Very. We managed to both get back to bed alone and spent most of the next day wandering around the city sweating. We also visited the old presidential palace, which was very sixties-spy chic and the war remnants museum, which despite it's name portrays the war as a serious of brutal massacres of innocent civilians by America soldiers who somehow died in vast numbers(did you know 1 million Americans died in the war?). The food everywhere was plentiful and fantastic, but we decided to make the most of our time and move on to Laos.
Vientiane was fairly nice, as fair we could tell, but we were bound for Luang Prabang, which is one of those rare cities that just feels nice, like someone had layed it out for you. We saw a lovely cave and some waterfalls, and met what was probably the drunkest American in southeast asia(but friendly) and now we are on to Vang Vien for some tubing and a Beerlao or two.