My Trip to Vietnam 2008

After planning it for years, finally in September 2008, along with good friend Minh (who is from Vietnam), I made my "triumphant return" to Vietnam. Here's how it happened.

Below you can see the slideshows of various portions of the trip, plus narratives as to what happened on each leg of the trip.

Click on "Slideshow" to see the pictures; click on "Story" to read the narratives. Naturally... BTW, since the photos are on the large size, you might profit from pressing the F-11 key (on most browsers) and view the slide shows full screen. The slides are timed to change every five seconds.

NOTE: This is still very much a work in progress. I've found it difficult to make the time to label all the pictures in the slideshows, plus write a narrative for each leg of the trip. But I'm working on it.
Right now there are narratives to the first seven sections, Hanoi, The Wedding, The Hanoi Hilton, Halong Bay, Hue and Nha Trang. Be sure to check back periodically to see the new narratives that have been added.

Slideshows & Stories:

1. Hanoi Slideshow Story Pictures of Minh and me, the happy couple, the streets of Hanoi, Hoan Kiem Lake, the Ho Chi Minh Museum and mausoleum, the One Pillar Pagoda, the statue of Lenin, the Military Museum, our hotel and Hanoi at night.	109 Images
2. The Wedding Slideshow Story Pictures of the wedding on September 14th, including the happy couple and me with my "adoptive" Vietnamese parents.	16 Images
3. The Hanoi Hilton Slideshow Story Pictures of the notorious prison in Hanoi that housed American POWs during the Vietnam War.	24 Images
4. Halong Bay Slideshow Story Pictures of our overnight trip on a boat in Halong Bay, including the treacherous trek through a gigantic limestone cavern.	117 Images
5. On the Trains Slideshow Story Pictures from two of our three train journeys, including the overnight Hanoi-to-Hue run and then the day train from Hue to Nha Trang along a spectacular coastline.	112 Images
6. Hue Slideshow Story Pictures from the old imperial capitol of Hue, including tours of several elaborate tombs of the emperors and a visit to the old walled city which became so infamous during the 1968 Tet Offensive.	120 Images
7. Nha Trang Slideshow Story Pictures from our stop at the beach resort of Nha Trang, including a visit to the Vin Pearl Resort, a boat trip on the bay and some pictures of future opera diva mezzo soprano Mareike Braun.	149 Images
8. Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City) Slideshow Story Pictures from Saigon, including downtown, the central market and our hotel on "backpackers' alley".	149 Images
9. Thu Duc Slideshow Story Pictures from the former village and now urban district Thu Duc.	91 Images
10. 543rd Trans Co & TC Hill Slideshow Story Pictures from the former location of the 543rd Transportation Co at Thu Duc and the former Transportation Corps HQ at TC Hill, Long Binh.	48 Images
11. Military Cemetery Slideshow Story Pictures of the former South Vietnam Military Cemetery at Thu Duc, including pictures of the grave of South Vietnam's Unknown Soldier.	32 Images
12. Cao Dai Temple, Tay Ninh Slideshow Story Pictures of the Cao Dai Temple at Tay Ninh, and some pictures of the road from Saigon to Tay Ninh.	52 Images
13. Cong World Slideshow Story Pictures of the Tunnels of Cu Chi "destination park" – which I immediately dubbed "Cong World".	63 Images
14. Mekong Delta Slideshow Story Pictures from our overnight trip to My Tho and Can Tho in the Mekong Delta southwest of Saigon.	62 Images
15. Floating Market Slideshow Story Pictures from our trip on the Mekong by boat to see the floating markets.	75 Images
16. Vung Tau Slideshow Story Pictures from our overnight hydrofoil trip to the coastal resort of Vung Tau.	124 Images
17. The "Beer Tour" Slideshow This is us, drinking beer in various locations throughout Vietnam; we drank so much of it – all local – that we started calling the whole trip our Beer Tour. There's no "story" link because there really wasn't a story to tell. Just pictures of us drinking beer.	33 Images
18. Dogs of Vietnam Slideshow For some reason I found myself taking a picture of nearly every dog we happened upon – probably because 40 years ago, pretty much the only dog you saw was on the menu… As with the Beer Tour, there's no "story" link because there really wasn't a story to tell. Just pictures of dogs.	17 Images
19. Panoramic Photos I also took an occasional series of photographs with the intent that I would "stitch" them together into a panoramic image when I got back. You can see the results of that on the Panorama Photos page. Some of them turned out pretty good, others not so much. The series I took at the former location of the 543rd Transportation Co turned out the best, I think.