Vietnam…A Trip of Memories and Emotions

My husband Bruce and I spent a week in touring Vietnam after my speaking engagement in the Philippines.

Viet Nam is a very beautiful country with very nice people.  However, the sadness and pain from the war is still well remembered.  Many of the war sites we visited were truly gut wrenching.  Unbelievable fighting conditions, living situations,…for the American troops as well as the Vietnamese.

Our trip was a testimony of the human spirit.  Sadness, pain, happiness, optimism, poverty, dedication, love- just a few words to describe our trip.

Here are some of the picture highlights of our trip:

60th Birthday celebration at Halong bay

(one of UNESCO top sites in the world)

Farming

I’m smiling but those water buckets are heavy!!  Watching the farmers in the rice fields, in 90+ degree temperatures with 80-90% humidity carrying these buckets, gave me a whole new appreciation of hard work.

Bike ride and private Vietnamese cooking lesson

10 mile bike ride through farm country, fishing villages to a vegetable/herb farm. Had a private Vietnamese cooking lesson with a wonderful chef!

Tunnels in Saigon

Bruce and I in the tunnels that the Viet Cong used in Saigon (now called Ho Chi Minh City).  Unbelievable story about how long they are, how they were built, included living quarters, kitchens, and hospitals.  You can see that I am not a fan of small, underground places – a little claustrophobia.  Where we stopped to take a picture was a wide rest stop.  You can see the size of the tunnel behind us.  It gets much narrower, and you have to crawl or squat low.

Rickshaw ride around Hanoi

Stay tuned for more about the Philippines part of our trip!

By Dr. Lynn Hellerstein, a Colorado Optometrist in Vision Therapy