Up until now, I've been very neglectful and haven't told you about our leader. His name is Bon, he is a 31 year old Vietnamese man from Hanoi. He was just married last week. They had 1000 people at the wedding, which lasted for one week. It was an arranged marriage, so needless to say, his wife doesn't mind that he's away from home so much. His two brothers work for the communist party.
As far as your guides go, he is the best I've ever had. Since this is his country, he is very invested in our having a good time while here. Further, since this is his country, he can give us greater insights about the culture than someone who didn't grow up here (of course they are also more likely to be filtered through the communist lens, but I think for the most part he is being honest as we've talked about and he's acknowledged the growing income inequalities in Vietnam and spoken openly about his wish for more than one political party in Vietnam). All of the little details are covered. For example, Lisa fried her converter our first night, so Bon bought her one (she has since fried that one as well......she's not having good luck with converters!). And he's always willing to go to dinner with us or frankly arrange anything we may be interested in doing! He also has a great sense of humor and we often tease each other. He also knows how to play the diplomat....for example, at the bar the other night, he was telling us what year we were all born in. He told Lisa that she was born in the year of the pig. When she asked what that meant, he smiled and said 'I don't know!' (apparently there are not good things associated with that year!).
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
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