Surreal Vietnam experience #332

So I've been spending a good amount of time resting, relaxing, oh, and drinking fruity drinks by the pool:



Ezra and I did, however, venture out into Danang for the Independence Day celebration. September 2, 1945 was the day that President Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence. To celebrate, the largest cities in Vietnam all provided a fireworks show. The fireworks were stunning, as I can remember only one time when I was a child in Lexington that I was this close to the display. It lasted for 15 minutes. Also, the restaurant we had just eaten at was in between the two major bridges in Danang, and there were simultaneous fireworks from each.


This is when it gets weird. My guess, although it is a completely uneducated one, is that 90% of the people in the city were on this one road, right by the river. After the show there was a huge traffic jam in every direction, and especially in the direction we needed to go to get back to our hotel. Have you ever been in a traffic jam comprised almost entirely of motorbikes? I have. Anything goes when it comes to motorbikes, 'cus riding ain't easy. What happens when the street gets jammed up? Ride on the sidewalk. Hah. Unfortunately, Ezra and I were at an extreme disadvantage since we were riding in a car.

Yesterday, after recovering from the stress of this traffic jam, we decided to go check out the My Son (pronounced Mee Son) ruins. These ruins are the leftovers from the Cham empire, and were pretty impressive. Equally impressive, and troubling, were the enormous bomb craters that were sometimes just 15 feet from historically religious structures.

Honestly, after Machu Picchu, I'm a little ruined out. The structures were impressive, indeed, and the experience has provided yet another subject on which I will have to purchase some historical reading material upon my return to the states. I found, however, that the trip on Highway One, the national highway connecting Danang to My Son, through the rice fields and small towns and villages was just as interesting. The Vietnamese are harvesting rice right now, and the national highway becomes the width of a one-way street as people dry the rice in the sun on the road. Crazy times.