Last Day in Hanoi

So I have yet to get run over by a motorcycle, but it is a little unnerving when they drive right up into the stores. Yeah.

Our tour guide's name is Tu. That's pronounced "Dtoooooooo?" like you're asking a question. If you don't inflect correctly, his name literally means "fuck" in Vietnamese.

There are only eleven people on my tour. I'm the only American. There are two New Zealanders: Colin and Naomi (I might be wrong about her name). Everyone else is Australian: my roommate Carmen (26), John (50's?), Shaye and Biddy (20's), and four 40-ish women, though I only have two of their names: Lorraine and Leah.

Last night after meeting each other and going to dinner, I got talked into going to this weird puppet show with Shaye, Biddy, John, and Carmen. It would have been fine if the theater wasn't so dark - I was constantly falling asleep. I really would have rather had a beer with everyone and met some of the other Westerners we saw hanging out on our way to the theater, but unfortunately this is a communist country and I guess I have to do it for my comrades.

Today we did some tourist sight-seeing: the Temple of Literature, the Hanoi Hilton (P.S. John McCain was hot when he was in the army), and the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. Then Carmen and I ran around Hanoi buying gifts and souvenirs. I love this area - it's crazy, noisy, but so full of life. Everyone lives very much outside here, so it's always lively.

Tonight we are taking the overnight train to Hue. We'll get there at about 7:30 in the morning. Accomodations on board are "basic," and Tu advised that we bring both our own food and our own toilet paper with us.

Anyway, I should run... sorry for the lack of pictures, but there's just no time to figure it out here.

Hope everyone is having a safe Sept 11.