Wrapping it all up

Well, it looks like I won't have time to catch up on every day of this trip with a full post before we all get home and start telling stories in person. Instead, I'll give you some of the highlights of Vietnam, so you know what to ask us about.

• Getting tailor-made clothes from the eccentric Mr. Xe in Hoi An.


• Exploring the imperial citadel in Hue (including the imperial tennis court, which was one of the first few things to be rebuilt!) and eating the local specialties (seafood and vegetable pancakes and grilled beef wrapped around lemongrass) in a tiny restaurant inside the walled city.


• Touring the DMZ on motorbikes with the son of a South Vietnamese soldier and exploring the Vinh Moc tunnels.


• Meeting some rather interesting bugs in those same tunnels...


• Taking the Reunification Express north to Hanoi, and making Harry Potter jokes the entire time.


• Catching the last bus and boat to Cat Ba Island, in Ha Long Bay, and enjoying a speedboat ride out to the island at sunset.


• Going kayaking between the karsts of Ha Long Bay in the morning and rock climbing up them in the afternoon.


• Going out to a Mexican restaurant in Hanoi just for the heck of it, all dressed up in our fancy new clothes. Being asked if the guys were teachers, because no one in their right mind goes backpacking with a three-piece suit.


• Sitting in a cathedral in Hanoi when a group of old ladies began to sing pentatonic hymns.


• Eating our last dinner in Vietnam on a fifth-floor balcony and watching the traffic below us.

And from Japan:

• Going to Ueno Park and Shibuya Park and wanderings through the Japanese maples and the gingko trees as they changed color.


• The view of Tokyo from the 52nd floor of a tower in Roppongi Hills.


• Going to Kamakura with Hiromi and Ando-san and seeing the giant Buddha statue there.


• Riding the trains through the Japanese countryside to Kyoto and seeing Mt Fuji out the window.


• Seeing the Golden Pavilion and the Zen rock garden in Kyoto.
  
  
• Staying at a ryokan in Kyoto and enjoying a ten-course meal and hot baths.


• The JR train museum and karaoke in Nagoya.

We're almost home, with backpacks full of souvenirs (and presents!) and heads full of stories. See you soon!