Vietnam

Vietnam

18-Aug-00 thru 06-Sep-2000

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VietnamOur primary objective in Vietnam was to see if we could find the orphanage where SaraGrace's brother Kevin and our friend John McArdle were adopted out of. We also wanted to visit the scenic Ha Long bay at the opposite end of the country, and figured that the American war would pop up left and right so we would see the sights related to it as we traversed the country from south to north.

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Vietnamese visaAlmost everyone needs one of these. You have to arrange it in advance, and need to specify entry and exit points, and prove that you posses tickets in and out. Pain in the ass; especially if you wish to travel overland; but given the recent history of abuse of the Americans¹ I was surprised that we could get a visa at all.

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Entry and exit stamps

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Flag for our backpacks

200 Dong note1 Dollar US = about ₫17,000

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₫10000 noteUncle Ho appears on all currency here

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2000 DongWe had great fun making jokes about the currency name.

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BGI BeerThin insipid lager. cost about ₫17,000 a bottle. We preferred to drink bia hơi, which is mostly home brew and cost ₫17 a cup. In most cases bia hơi was not much better than BGI; but you couldn't beat the price.

Lonely Planet VietnamThe guidebook to have in Vietnam.

Uncle Ho's Victory GardenThis book was sold (in pirated form) by just about every tout in Vietnam. It was everywhere. Understandably popular as it's subject matter should appeal to most tourists at the time. The author, Tim Page, was a photographer during the war and this is his account of returning to the country as a tourist 20 years later.

The Quiet AmericanGraham Greene's classic tale of the French-Indochina war is almost required reading before coming here.

1. And French before them, and Chinese before them (and if you really want to stretch it the Khmer before them)