No more honking!!!

Hong and I are back in Oakland after a horrible 13-hour flight from Hanoi. I was dehydrated and ended up having a mini-faint on the airplane. I sort of collapsed on the floor by the bathroom and scared Hong. But I'm all good now. It was while most folks were sleeping. Anyways, our airline serves nasty food which they kept feeding us- like every three hours. Ugh!

Haven't seen many people. Before we leftfor Vietnam, we managed to visit my family and Hong's and saw Jagjeet, Edwin and their sweet baby Erielle. We also stopped by and saw Cy, Loi and their new baby Minh. (Check out their photos.) We also celebrated my little brother- Russel's fifth birthday- dinosaur theme. He is really into dinosaurs but he can't pronounce or recognize the types of dinosaurs yet.

We got into Hanoi on December 18th and met my classmate Emily at her law firm. We spent lots of time with her and friend Vijay. We ate lots of coffee egg at a cafe that you get to by walking though an art gallery. Very hidden but best coffee whipped with egg whites. Sounds weird but delicious! We also ate lots of kem com which is spring rice ice cream- only 25 cents! It's located in this cool drive-in looking place where folks can park their motorbike while socializing and eating ice-cream.

Hong and I did lots of touristy things like visit Ha Long Bay- a very beautiful place. It seriously looks like all the scenes in paintings that I thought were just some artist's imagination. Nope- it is very real and very beautiful. We also went to Sa Pa in northern Vietnam. It is a small town with many ethnic minority villages. I met up with some contacts there and had a blast. My new best friend is Shu who is a 21 year old Hmong woman. She works as a tour guide and is so bright and inspirational. She and I spent hours talking about Hmong issues, life and travel. While we live worlds apart we both thought the same on many issues.

On our last leg of the trip, we went to Saigon to visit Hong's cousins. They took us out to dinner and then made an amazing sea food lunch buffet for us at their home in District 13. They sell seafood so the crabs, shrimps, prawns and clams were all super fresh and delectible. We ate for two hours straight- just amazing grilled seafood.

The best part about Vietnam was where we lived. While in Hanoi, we lived in a house near Hoa Ba Mau. Since our friend Emily stayed in the house during the semester, we had free lodging. Every district has mini-street markets, Most mornings, we would walk through a winding alley which we only followed by instinct and landmarks since there are no "alley names." Then we would find our favorite food ladies for a breakfast of 30-50 cents. My favorite meal while in Hanoi was this sticky rice dish served with a sucy tofu and egg broth. It cost 30 cents a bowl and all we know is that it is served by the lady in house number 75 in the alley. We often ate this noodle dish with pork and eggrolls- 60 cents a person. Of course we tried restaurants too but we always returned to street food for the best food. We usually got around via taxi (super cheap- costs about $1.50-$2.00 one way to Old Quarter). We also took the bus which costs 3000 dong or about 18 cents a ride.

I also had a chance to interview some attorneys in Vietnam since that was the main purpose of my trip. My legal research produced interesting perspectives and I can't wait to see Vietnam in another five years after it's participation in the WTO.

I miss the food but I do not miss the persistent honking. Traffic is scary and there are really relaxed traffic rules so pedestrians have to cross busy streets with motorbikes and cars coming from everey direction.

Please enjoy our pics in the first folder.

We're in CA until Monday morning then we return to Madison. Hong starts school on Tuesday. I start school on Jan 22nd.

For spring break, we're thinking of hanging on the beach with some school friends- maybe Miami??

XOXO- nancy and hong