Greetings from Hanoi

So here we are in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. What this means is that the traffic is a little crazier than in other parts of the country, the prices are a little more expensive, and there are police and army officers everywhere. On the other hand, Hanoi has every other city in Vietnam beat (so far) in terms of restaurants, and there are slightly fewer vendors stopping us on every street corner to sell us postcards...although the motorbike drivers are just as aggressive in demanding our business.

We left Hội An on Wednesday and traveled over a winding mountain pass to Huế, Vietnam's third-largest city. The trip was more than a little harrowing — if I was on a road only slightly wider than the van I was driving, and there were motorbikes whizzing around every hairpin turn, and cows wandering across the road, I probably wouldn't try to pass the propane truck in front of me. But that's just me.

Huế turned out to be worth the wait, however. We visited the Citadel — the past home of Vietnam's kings and the scene of the bloodiest fighting during the 1968 Tết Offensive. We traveled by boat up the Perfume River to visit the tombs of kings, a Buddhist temple and always, places to buy incense, statues or conical hats.

We came to Hanoi by overnight train, arriving at 5 a.m. and almost immediately boarding a bus for Ha Long Bay. There, beneath towering rocky outcrops inhabited only by birds, iguanas and the occasional postcard vendor, we explored a cave and went swimming in water so warm that I felt like a tea bag.

Back in Hanoi, we visited the Army museum, which seems to be divided almost equally between images of the French defeat at Điện Biên Phủ and artifacts from the American War — debris from downed B-52 bombers, a diorama of the Ho Chi Minh trail and exhibits praising American war protesters. Today, I visited the site of the former Hỏa Lò prison — better known as the "Hanoi Hilton" — stood in the cells, and saw the flight suit and helmet purportedly belonging to John McCain. It was a sobering morning, to say the least.

Now we're fighting the traffic in Hanoi's Old Quarter, and getting ready to spend some quality beach time in Nha Trang...