Vietnam Adventures

Vietnam, see through my eyes as I went on a Wilderness Travel adventure through Vietnam spring 2002. Starting in Hanoi, a thousand year old city that lies on the banks of the Red River and still retains much of its French colonial atmosphere. We visited Ho Chi Minhs tomb and surrounding grounds. We wended our way through the heavy traffic to visit the Turtle Shrine, the Chinese Shrine, the War Museum, and the Centrale Maison, better known as the Hanoi Hilton. American fighter pilots, such as Senator John McCain, were held prisoners. But for the Vietnamese it is a cruel reminder of the harsh treatment they suffered under French rule.
We toured the Old Quarters where you will see some of the stores in the video such as the lacquer stores, the metal works and basket shops. We attended the famous Hanoi Water Puppet show, which also featured some wonderful music that you will hear in this video.

Under a light rain in Hue, we toured the Citadel. This was Vietnams political capital from 1802 to 1945 under the reign of 13 emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty, and was also the site of some of the bloodiest battles in the 1968 Tet Offensive. We also enjoyed a wonderful walk through the Hue market, which had everything imaginable for sale. We took a boat cruise down the Perfume River past boat villages and workers dredging sand from the river bottom until we arrived at the Thien Mu Pagoda. We met the monk that tends all of the beautiful gardens, which include many bonsai trees and displays. There was also a display of the car the monk, Tich Quang Duc, used to drive to Saigon to protest the Diems regimes repression of Buddhists in 1963. We visited the Luong Kheim Temple and the Khai Din Tomb while in Hue.

Some of us went to a snake restaurant where we played with our food before eating it. One of our travelers had the honor of drinking a shot of blood rice whiskey along with the still beating heart of the cobra. We were served up a four course meal of the entire snake which included cracklings, mint spiced ground snake meat, steamed, spring rolls, a casserole of liver, stomach, and intestines washed down with the blood rice whiskey. This part of the video is not for the squeamish—just fast forward.

From Hue to Danang and Hoi An we saw fishermen, the Cham Museum, China Beach, and the Marble Mountains. Our visit to Hoi An included a tour of a factory that grew and harvested silkworms, made silk and then sold the silk clothing and artwork. We also visited many other arts and crafts shops as well. We saw the launch of a boat and then further down the river we watched a fisherman catch fish with suspension nets.

An early morning flight brought us to bustling Ho Chi Minh City. We visited the Reunification Palace and toured a lacquer factory that sold some beautiful furniture and accessories. The following day was a trip out to the countryside and to some of the Cu Chi tunnel network.

This video is 46 minutes long. Rick Hunt filmed this March 2002. For more travel pictures go to www.huntforgold.homestead.com.

For more about Room to Read and site visit opportunities with them, go to www.roomtoread.org.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Vietnam
• Hanoi
• Red River
• French colonials
• Ho Chi Minh
• tomb
• Turtle Shrine
• Chinese Shrine
• War Museum
• Centrale Maison
• Hanoi Hilton
• Old Quarters
• Hanoi Water Puppet show
• Hue
• Citadel
• Nguyen Dynasty
• Tet Offensive
• Perfume River
• Thien Mu Pagoda
• monk
• TichQuang Duc
• Buddhists
• Luong Keim Temple
• Khai Din Tomb
• Danang
• Hoi An
• Cham Museum
• China Beach
• Marble Mountains
• HCMC
• Cu Chi Tunnels
• cobra
• snake restaurant

[xXGIANTxWOOKIEXx]

Do you know what instrument he was playing? The one with strings and a whammy bar

[huntforgold]

It is a dan bau.

[damienjameszimbrick]

wow everything their seems more peaceful and organized