i grew up pretty close with the family when i was much younger in southern california. the parents relocated to vietnam for work and their kids (around my age) were visiting for xmas so it worked out perfectly and i got to see everybody.
Took a day trip with the family friends to a place north of Ho Chi Minh to see an area where the viet cong had set up. It was crazy, and entire underground complex. Little tunnels connecting everything, kitchens, military planning rooms, the works... I hadn't realized this before but in Vietnam they call what happened there the American War. I thought that was interesting.
an american tank that was brought down. -looks like it caught a bullet on the snout.
the tunnels were actually enlarged so that tourists could explore the place
Veggie Pho in Vietnam. Helen is jealous.
dinning area with tunnel entryway
we took some paths that kinda got us freaked out, bats and stuff
drying rice paper
inside the roof - those are leaves folded over the poles of wood
outside of roof
traps - used to catch animals for eating until the war
the tunnel that goes to the river seemed pretty crazy to me
x-mas dinner! american style food (hadn't had that in a while)
one of maybe two skateparks in vietnam. this one, oddly enough was inside a guarded private residence, so it took a lot of attempts / craftiness and more than an hour to finally skate it.
they seemed pretty into celebrating christmas considering they are mostly buddhists and probably not very familiar with the tradition...
i love pho!!!
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