Good Morning Vietnam

Another quick and dirty recap - (after the fact: or maybe not so much this time)

Vientiane: Capital city of Laos
Duration: 2 days
Kinda dull city but it had some memorable moments.
specifically:
1. Their version of Paris' Arc de Triomph: In the 60's America gave them concrete to build an airport runway and they decided to use that gift to build the arc... construction was halted some time ago and to this day it is left unfinished. It is nicknamed: The vertical Runway

2. Buddha park
3. Beer Laos factory. Free beer .. free tour .. free stickers.. Did I mention free beer?
4. Finding a veggie burger

From the capital I did a home stay with in a small village that I can't remember the name of but if I wrote it it wouldn't really make that much of a difference. I can say though that it was near the Vietnamese border. Wasn't much to do there but relax.
I am told that during the Vietnam war more bombs were dropped in Laos then all the bombs used in WWII. All the empty fuel tanks from planes were dropped over their mountains and the Laos people converted them into boats, planting pots and other things. Pretty intuitive. I took a boat ride in one of them and watched a pretty crappy sunset.

Later I moved onto Ha long Bay in Vietnam. It was foggy but I still managed to see hundreds of small islands scattered everywhere. Did some night swimming and slept aboard roach infested quarters.

Hanoi
Awesome city and very fast paced. 8 million people, 5 million motor bikes. Almost got run over several times. In this city when you happen to come across a traffic light, green doesn't mean go but proceed with extreme caution. I spent 3 days here and the city really grows on you after a while. The people are shocked even if you know hello in their language. It is amazing how far Hello, That's Expensive, No Thanks and Thanks can take you in a foreign country. Checked out the old city, a water puppet show, 15 cent beer and the Hilton prison.

Side note: They have a bridge here designed by the guy that did the Eiffel tour.

Highlight:
Speed of city

Hilton prison. A great museum full of propaganda. It displays the rough and grueling conditions the french had for the Vietnamese prisoners which was probably true. My favorite part was how the American POWs where treated. They where put into a high class resort where they received gifts from family, exercised regularly, given good food, playing cards and much more.. Always a smile on their faces. Surprised to find out that Senator John Cain was held in that prison.

Over night trained it from that capital and arrived in Hue this morning.
Spent the day on a motor bike and saw a bunch of their attractions.