Words can hardly express the joy felt at experiencing 90° weather in December. It's been absolutely gorgeous so far, and it's been a treat to walk around Ho Chi Minh City. On Saturday we visited the War Monument Museum, which was riveting to say the least. The focus was primarily on the after effect of the war, such as deformities suffered as a result of chemical warfare and the devastation caused by unexplored ordinances. Some of the stats they list are quite sobering. If I recall correctly, the U.S. estimated that around 77 million pounds of chemical weapons (including 44 million pounds of Agent Orange) were dropped on Vietnam, though a study conducted by Columbia puts the number at something like 150 million. Conspicuous in the museum is the lack of reparations and humanitarian aid administered by the aggressors. In the evening we bummed around the city a bit, checked out the night life and what not. 

    Sunday we were given a walking tour of the city and learned about some of the history of Saigon. Around mid afternoon we flew out of the city into Hue. Monday we biked around the area, visiting temples and the like. So yeah, that's about he long and short of it. Sorry if this post seems a tad rushed, internet here is a little spotty and quite tired. Hopefully I'll be able to update y'all with some photos sometime in the near future. Until then, adios. 

The First Leg...

And so it begins. My foray into Eastern culture is underway. After a collective 22 hours in the air (not counting layovers), we've arrived in Ho Chi Minh City. The hotel is nice and the view is superb, but I'm dog tired, so I'm just going to list some highlights from the trip so far:
1. Paying a little over $10 for a tuna sandwich in DIA
2. Asking for "a meal" on Asiana Airlines and being given "a beer"
3. Communist propaganda

Pictures of all of the above will soon follow.