It has been 18 years since I left Viet Nam, so last November I decided it was time to go back for a photographic tour of the country. I traveled from the south to the north during the two weeks there. It was a wonderful trip and I took about 70 rolls of films. I was able to visit a lot of places that I had not been to when I lived in Vietnam (Vinh Long, Phan Thiet, Hoi An, Da Nang, Hue, Ha Noi, Ha Long, and the Northwest). A lot of places I only knew by reading books and watching movies, now I was there in person. The traveling schedule was a bit hectic (one city in one or two days). Some of the traveling was treacherous, especially in the Northwest area (closed to China and Laos borders); we only traveled 15 miles an hour, even with a four-wheel drive SUV! But the sights were worth the trouble!

I flew from Los Angeles to Tokyo, and then Tokyo to Saigon, arriving at 11:00 pm. It was past midnight by the time I got to the hotel. With a little jet lag, I could not sleep, so I walked around Nguyen Hue Blvd. to Ben Bach Dang around 4:00 am. The next morning, I went to Vinh Long to see the floating village. We took a little boat and rode along the Mekong river. It was quite an experience for me since every activity was conducted on the river. In the evening, we returned to Saigon.

Saigon is so crowded with lots of motorbikes. I closed my eyes most of the times when the driver drove us around the city; it is pretty scary the way they drive there and I am not used to that. The driver honked most of the times and he said that the way they drive in VietNam. The next morning, we left Saigon for Nha Trang. We stopped by Phan Rang to visit the Champa towers. We tour a cruise along the four islands (The whole day trip cost about $6, with food included) and visited the fishing village in Nha Trang. The wives rode the basket boat for tourists; it costs about 30 cents for half an hour ride.

We then drove from Nha Trang to Hoi An, stopped by Qui Nhon on the way. We saw a little street- market along the way where they sell peanuts. I asked the driver to stop so we could take some pictures. It was the longest drive of the trip, and we arrived at Hoi An at night. This is one of my favorite cities. It was a port and UNESCO now dedicates it as one of the World Heritage cultural cities. Every full moon, the city is lit by lanterns. It is a little village by the Thu Bon river, an artist colony with art galleries.

The next day, we drove to Hue, which is a short distance from Hoi An. Hue was the imperial city, where the Nguyen dynasty resided and one of four World heritage sites in Vietnam. There are seven mausoleums for the last seven emperors. We only had time to visit the Forbidden City, the Thien Mu pagoda and Emperor Tu Duc's mausoleum. At night, we took a small boat tour along the Perfume river while listening to the traditional Vietnamese music performed by the local artists. We lit more than a dozen of small candles, put them in little containers and float them along the river.

The next day we flew to Hanoi. We visited One-Pilar pagoda, Quan Thanh pagoda, Temple of Literature – first University of Vietnam, The-Huc bridge, Ngoc Son Temple, Hoan Kiem lake, Dong Xuan market. I prefer Hanoi over Saigon since it is less crowded with mopeds and it has an old charm with its ancient architecture instead of a modern metropolis. The water puppet show was very unique, the puppeteers stood in the water, waist-high, behind the curtain and use long bamboo sticks to control the puppets.

Then we went to Halong bay, another Vietnam world heritage site and took a tour boat along the islands. It is so peaceful and breathtaking. I've seen them on movies (Indochine, Vertical Ray of the Sun) but now I was right in the middle of it, enjoying its romantic beauty. There were small fishing villages where people live right in the middle of the bay, far away from the hectic city life.

Then we started to visit the Northwest section of Vietnam, which was my highlight for the trip. Although the drive was hard because of the road condition, the sceneries were so colorful with many different minority groups. We drove through Mai Chau, Son La, Sapa, Bac Ha during four days before heading back to Hanoi to take a flight to Saigon for a return to USA. It was a short trip since we visited so many places in such a short time. I would love to come back for another visit and spend more times to explore the cities, especially in the South.

I've been traveling quite a lot (France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, Brazil, Venezuela, etc..), but this trip was the best since I could mingle and talk with local people and see how they live. People there did not think I was Vietnamese, so they were surprised to hear me speaking the language. The people are so hospitable despite hardship in making a living. Most people make less than US $2 a day there. I had a chance to talk to some foreign tourists and asked them about their impression of Vietnam, and they all agreed that Vietnamese people are very friendly; there is always a smile.

The trip to Vietnam reinforces my identity: that I am a Vietnamese-American. My father sometimes says that I am "too Americanized" (compared with my siblings), but I know that I still have a deep Vietnamese root culture despite my American outlook. I love living here since I can have the best of both worlds. I love Vietnam, my native country where I was born and grew up, for having the 4000 years of historical culture that I could be proud of. I also love America, my adopted country, for opening her arms to welcome me and give me the opportunities to be what I am today.

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