Surprisingly awesome Jazz club. Dana: "Is going to see Jazz in Vietnam like seeing Opera in Jamaica?" If it is, I'm impressed.
Our friend Fa and her mom, who took us to a beautiful pagoda on the Perfume River, where we saw monks in training as old as 3, and walked beneath pine trees that smelled of home.
Dana, master bargainer, surrounded by H'Mong women selling bracelets and anything/everything else.
Street pho and a journal - pretty much sums it up.
Famous Vietnamese coffee... and a journal. This is what we do. This is at an unmarked cafe in Hanoi that is only accessible through a storefront, where, when asked "cafe?", the shopgirls playing cards just point to a shadowy back alley. It opens up into a balcony with an incredible view of Hoan Kiem lake in the Old Quarter.
Mary: Too much has been happening to really catch you all up effectively - we slept on a boat amidst rock islands and floating villages, made friends, ate lots of street food (natch), drank beers from an old lady with a keg on the street (25 cents a glass), and much more, experiences too rich and numerous to summarize. Most of it has been facilitated by very strong Vietnamese coffee, served local style with condensed milk. Did you know that Vietnam is the worlds second-largest coffee producer, after Brazil? We do now! Yes yes, we do!
Oh man, ok, we are currently in Sapa, sitting still amidst a fluttering horde of porters packing bananas and baguettes into bamboo packs and listening to a rain storm that woke us up in the night with its force. In 5 minutes, we leave with our lovely porters, looking a bit like old fashioned court pages in their traditional H'Mong coats, on a two day trek to Mt. Fanispan. At 3,143 meters, it is the highest mountain in Vietnam. 15 days ago (about that, sort of fuzzy with my dates these days) we were in the Mekong Delta, probably the lowest point in Vietnam, with all the houses on stilts and the markets floating on the water. I feel like this final Vietnamese journey, to the summit of Fanispan, brings us full circle. 'Nam, it's been real.
When we return, it's off immediately to Luang Prabang, in Laos, where we will start from scratch: learning a new language (or at least how to say "how much", "too expensive", "beautiful" and "thank you"), trying new foods (bamboo dip? spicy salad? yes please!), and, of course, experiencing a new kind of massage. We must be thorough, eh?.
Wish us luck that the rain abates, our trip is not canceled, and we are able to rock out the way god and nature intended - with wet feet and smiling faces. We love and miss you guys!
(Special love goes out to Madie and her car hunt. I am thinking of you, sweet one.)
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