These are the steps that lead into the Perfume Pagoda.

Some of the scenery on the way to the Perfume Pagoda.

I made a trip to the Perfume Pagoda on Sunday. Supposedly it's the most remote pagoda in Vietnam.

We had Thanksgiving at the Horison Hotel. The buffet menu included Mexican and Balinese delicacies (I think).

The last few weeks approach

Time is becoming short here. Most of the group just got back from a week long trip in Sapa. Those of us who stayed behind had a very low key week of rest and relaxation. I got some reading done and we had a few nights out on the town. I went to the Perfume Pagoda yesterday. It is southwest of Hanoi by a good distance and the trip was pretty physically exhausting. We had to take a small boat and hiked up a mountain to get to a temple nestled into a cavern with stalactites and stalagmites.

Now we have to focus on school for the last three weeks of our program. It will be difficult getting in all of our papers while all we want to do is hang out with each other before going back to real life - at least it will be for me.

Tan dancing with some ladies at a market in Saigon.

Noah and Steffanie in Da Lat with Da Lat's Eiffel Tower in the background. Da Lat used to be the summer get away for the French technocrats of Saigon.

A Catholic church in Da Lat.

Thai, Christie, and Ngan on the roof of the Caravelle Hotel in Saigon

Myself, Noah, and Diane on the roof of the Caravelle Hotel.

Part of the skyline from the Caravelle (sp?) Hotel in Saigon (taken by Eric Yang).

Yes, these are "NAZI" shoes. Who knew?

A Cao Dai temple in Can Gio. Cao Dai is a religion that believes in a pantheon of prophets including many famous Western intellectuals.

The still life reenactment of a battle between an NLF sapper and an alligator in Can Gio, the sapper won by "calmly drawing his knife out and plunging it into the eye of the alligator".

Ngan, Diane and Kristy just outside the bunker.

The view from the motorboat.

Sean and I in an NLF sapper's bunker.

Tan prospecting the swamps of Can Gio.

We took small motorboats around the swamps in Can Gio.

This bear was in the mangroves in a cage that measured about 12 by 12 by 8 - with another bear.

One of the monkeys who awaited us at Can Gio, a swampy area south of Saigon that was a stronghold for the NLF during the Vietnam War.

The view from the upper deck of the ferry we took to get to the mangroves of Can Gio.

Catchin a few z's on the way to Nha Trang.

This tile mosaic adorned Nguyen Cao Ky's favorite pho restaurant in Saigon.

Noah and Diane at Nguyen Cao Ky's favorite pho restaurant in Saigon.

NVA tanks rolled up this boulevard, knocked down these gates, and across this lawn in April of 1975 to put an end to the RVN and houst NLF flag above the presidential palace.

This is the Saigon church where Ngo Dinh Diem and Ngo Dinh Nhu were picked up in an armored personnel carrier and then bound and shot in November 1963, the point at which many believe the South Vietnamese state was doomed.

This is our group playing the game mafia on the bus to Nha Trang.

This is the KFC in the Cho Lon area of Saigon. Now that Vietnam has banned the sale of chicken I don't know what KFC is going to do.

Here I am with an 86 year old Buddhist monk at a pagoda in Da Lat. He was really friendly.

Lounging in Nha Trang

Today, we lounged in the Nha Trang sun. Sean and I slept in till about noon and then groggily showered and sauntered down to the beach where our friends were chilling (or simmering). We tanned and read for a few hours and most went parasailing. It looked interesting but was very expensive. Tonight, who knows.

Nha Trang has a beautiful beach and is very accomodating to tourists. Lots of bleach blonde Europeans running around buying things at ridiculously inflated prices. Our hotel is really nice (maybe the nicest we've stayed in) and there's even a pool in the atrium.

MS World

I wanted to relate an anecdote about our time in Da Lat. On the drive in, the very first commercial establishment that I saw after the 'Da Lat' sign was an internet cafe called 'Bill Gates Internet Cafe'. Interesting.

We drove into Da Lat last night and did a fair amount of shopping. The vendors had a very interesting way of hocking their goods. They called out the prices explicityly, limiting haggling room. This is unique in Vietnam according to the other EAP kids. I didn't end up buying any of the clothing in the markets. I didn't really need any warm clothes and none of it really fit me anyway. Da Lat is known for its wine and so I picked up some of than and tried it - I couldn't tell that it was good, but I'm not a wine conneiseur. I also bought a couple of books and some fabrics for my mother. The prices weren't all that great for most things and I got ridiculously inflated prices to boot.

Da Lat, as a whole, is a nice town. It's hemmed in by tall hills and reminds you of (as Noah said) Milbrae or the hills of South San Francisco. It also kind of reminded me of Truckee and some other towns in the Sierras. I thought it was interesting that the Vietnamese people wore heavy winter coats in weather that was really very comfortable, especially in Berkeley.

Today we drove to Nha Trang after a tour of Da Lat. The bus ride was very bumpy but we got some great views. We just had dinner and are looking forward to a great couple of days in a beautiful place.

Saigon Times

We came down to the south of Vietnam for the week. We've now been in Hanoi for a few days and we're having a great time. The shopping here is really good and we have all honed our shopping skills by living in Hanoi so we're making a killing off of the vendors. The city itself is, in my opinion, much nicer than Hanoi. It has an older feeling to it than Hanoi even though Hanoi is much, much older than Saigon. When I'm in Hanoi I feel like the city is always under construction, but here I don't feel like that.

More later.

Our wonderful guides for the weekend, Sho and Za (spelling?).

It was pretty rainy in Moung Khoung village but it seemes that everyone was well prepared.

The mountains in the area were breathtaking.

The valley where we spent one night was just beautiful.

This is the Tay village where we spent the night. Climbing in and out of the valley was extremely difficult.

The Hmong and other ethnic minorities terraform the hills in order to farm on these terraces. It's pretty much subsistence farming and, according to Eric, the Hmong just want to be left alone.

A local Hmong woman who kept us company during our lunch break.

A girl of about four carrying her little brother. There were no parents in sight. She spoke not a word as we passed by.

Rose, Christine, and Xuan exploring a stream near Sapa.