Our first tourist stop in HCMC was to the War Rememberance Museum. On the outside was a bunch of tanks, helos and airplanes left over from the war.
The inside was filled with a long narrative on the ills of the war, and included a large display of all the killing devices of the American War machine. It was all propoganda, but poignant none the less. I don't have more pictures than the one below because most of them were very, very graffic. I think the point was to show how gruesome war is and so there were many pictures of American GI's with the remains of landmine victims or pics of soldiers torturing suspected VC. It made me sad to think of the how out of control the Vietnam War became and mad over the politics of it. 
One of the overarching themes of the museum was the widespread and grotesque after affects of chemical warfare. The are large walls filled with pictures of agent orange deformities, children that were burned by napalm and landmine victims. There was also a glass case filled with deformed fetuses. I was very sobering to walk thru this museum and I think that every US military member and legislative member should see the museum. War is not pretty, nor should it be entered lightly. It is a neccessary evil, but everyone should know the potential cost. Off my soapbox.
On a brighter note, the lady below was Cliff's HCMC crush. She blended any kind of fruit in a her van mounted, generator-power blenders for 12,000 VNDong (about 60 cents). The strawberry and mango shakes were heavenly. We came here three times in one day...later on, Cliff found out that he could get a fruit shake for 8000 VNDong near our hotel...he was so upset--its like his shake lady had cheated on him or something.
Both the foreground and background were common Vietnamese sites. It seems like the whole power system in Vietnam was some jerry-rigged decade old jigsaw puzzle. I always laughed because if one of these poled went down, they'd never be able to piece together all the broken wires correctly. In the background is a busy intersection filled with motorbikes. The roads are built for cars, but bikes rule here...it is like taking your life in your hands whenever you cross the street here...its great!
We have some more pics of the VC tunnels and food in HCMC, but we'll have to wait until our sd card is returned...meanwhile, we bussed to Mui Ne for alittle kiteboarding. This beach was a great set up...long straight coastline, blue water, lots of sun and relatively cheap equipment rental. 
Cliff really stepped up his game here....I merely plodded along. Below is Cliff on his first day out (and on his way to a nasty, back peeling sunburn).
Cliff really improved this trip...he was all over the bay.
My time on the board was alittle more elementary...the owner of the shop was giving me some pointers. He has a really neat story...the best of which is that he died kiteboarding once, but was recescitated, put into a induced coma for a couple weeks after slamming into a levy near the Golden Gate bridge. Regardless, he was a great guide and I'm sure kiteboarding is a relatively safe sport.
Believe it or not, I actually rode!!!
My form looks pretty good...even the bystanders were watching!!! Thank god this wasn't the picture of me running over a swimmer--true story!!
Cliff was the superstar though--he's really stoked about our next trip!
Our accomodations on Mui Ne were pretty great. We paid 40$ a night for a beach-front cottage. It was nothing special on the inside--just a queen size bed and our own bathroom.
But, the view from our front porch made it worth the (very little) money.
The chairs on the beach right in front of our place were perfect--great lounging for the non-wind days.
Mui Ne was really beautiful...lots of sun, light wind and beautiful surroundings--we will definately be back!
After Mui Ne, we headed up to Nha Trang...we arrived at 7pm and left on an overnight bus the next night. Since we had just spent 5 days on the beach and the weather was rainy/cloudy while we were there, we only have a couple pics from there, but Cliff was experimenting with his camera and these were the best two results.
The next night we got our first taste of an overnight bus. Basically, we paid 10$ each for a 10 hour bus ride up the coast. The bus had upper and lower births and a single toilet. The back of the bus has five seats side by side on the top and bottom bunk. Cliff and I booked late, so we got those seats. It was nice because we got to spread out, but bad because Cliff had to sleep next to a dude for a couple of nights. Here is the view from the right-middle seat:
And...our upper bunk bed/chairs.
On the way to Hoi-an, we stopped at one of the most beautiful rest stops I'd ever been to. Of course it was also overgrow with tourist trap shops, but there was also a chinese-looking cave, Karst limestone cliffs and one really gross toilet.
We had a six hour stopover in Hue and decided to go with a pedi-cab tour. we went to the citidel which is (ironically) modeled after the forbidden city. My cab driver was pretty nice, but spoke as much english as I speak vietnamese.
Cliff's driver was alittle younger, but also a heavy smoker--he was often lagging behind on the tour.
Behind me is the front gate of the citadel...its crowned with the largest flagpole in Vietnam, which has had to be rebuilt 3 times in the last several hundred years. It seem the invading army-de-jour likes to topple it.
The citidel bears no resemblence to the forbidden city, IMO.
In side the front gate is a Koy pond, stocked with man-eating goldfish. I paid a couple cents for feed and watched these things climb on top of each other for kibble...it was gross.
Another sad part about SE asia, is that many 'entreprenuers' will take local wildlife into the city and make profit off of them. Here is one in a pair of elephants that give rides around the park. It didn't move, except to list from side to side, which I've heard is a real sign of distress. I guess it could be worse...like the baby elephant we saw in front of the Thai boxing staduim in downtown Bangkok. To anyone out there reading, please do not take pictures or buy rides or do anything to support the people that are exploiting these animals...its just really sad and cruel.
We did see plenty of photograph worthy arches and such...really interesting with all the colors and aging...I wish we had more time to walk around!
One last photo at the park exit...It was a very interesting interpretation of the forbidden city and a real reminder of how heavy the Chinese influence still is in Vietnam (especially in the Communist north)
So long for now...more pics to post later.
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