Same Same.... BUT DIFFERENT

Ok, first a few funny things about Vietnam:

1) people here wear pajamas as clothes.  i'm not talking old timey silk pajamas, i'm talking about cotton twinsets with cartoon frogs on them, grandpa pajamas with stripes and buttons.  amazing.

2) "same same" is the worst phrase in the world.  it is the phrase that people here use when something is not remotely similar, it costs more and you will be unhappy about whatever they do next. when someone says "same same", run.

3) at any given time if you turn on a tv to an english channel there will be a CSI or NCIS on, pretty much 24 hours a day.

The last few days we have been all over the place!  We went on a moderately ill-fated trip to Halong Bay.  Thankfully, as the pictures show, it was really beautiful, and that made up for it.  The tour was just all crazy pants, as Mike would say, it was more a random conglomeration of experiences rather than a tour... but at the end we got almost half of our money back, so happy endings for all.  We ended up scheduling a night train to Hue for the following day, so we booked a nice hotel as a treat.... and it was AMAZING. The staff was lovely, and helpful and really made up for all of the shuffling around in Halong Bay.   We spent the next day wandering the old quarter, and enjoying Hanoi despite the craaaazy amount of traffic.

The overnight train was an adventure! The 'soft sleeper' beds were for sure the hardest beds we have ever encountered, and the train rocked so much that I had a dream that I was in an endless earthquake... in my dream I was like, it's almost like being on a crazy freight train... then I woke up ON A CRAZY TRAIN. Ha.

We spent the next two days in Hue, the imperial captial of ancient Viet Nam. We had a great morning exploring the citidel (walled city), which has an imperial palace (also walled) in it, and in that the forbidden purple city! (also walled). The buildings/ruins (I say that because some of the buildings have been restored, and some are ruins, and there is really no rhyme or reason, just ruins, then building, then building with nothing inside... made it a great adventure). Regardless, there was amazing mosaic work on them, the palace buildings and temples were really lovely. We also went for an imperial feast for lunch, 7 courses, including one that was a carved pinapple/with carrot pieces to make a rooster covered with toothpicks holding spring rolls, and a dessert that was a sweet bean paste shaped like fruits and perched on a fake plant!

Today we took the train from Hue to Danang, which is supposed to be a gorgeous ride.  The scenery was amazing, incredible coastline, beautiful jungle.... the train, however, was the most disgusting thing we have ever seen. Trash everywhere, windows so dirty you could hardly see out of them, puddles of unidentifiable brown goo (my backpack was minor victim to one)... and getting off the train in Danang was melee (they recheck your ticket on the way out, so everyone crushes through one door). Meanwhile, we finally got to Hoi An, which is LOVELY. We spent the afternoon walking around and exploring (and booking a reeeally nice hotel for the second half of our stay here). Twilight here is downright magical, all cute streets and lanterns and such. We plan to stick around for a few days, getting some clothes made (supposed to be cheap and awesome), hanging out by the riverside (or beach). Then on southward...