Vietnam

Next Up on our tour of countries Allison picked, we're headed to Asia for Vietnam. 

Through the president's project, the boys had heard plenty about the Vietnam War, So we just did a quick refresher on that. Here's yours: North Vietnam and the Viet Cong fought against South Vietnam and the US. The war lasted from 1965 to 1973, and more than 2 million Vietnamese people died during the conflict. Our landmark paid homage to that, with the Cu Chi Tunnels. It's an immense network of connecting underground tunnels that were used by Viet Cong guerrillas as hiding spots during the war. They were the base operations for the Tet Offensive in 1968. Today, the tunnels are a popular tourist destination- and visitors are invited to crawl around in the safer parts of the tunnel. 

Vietnam's long complicated history kept it off of most travelers lists for years. But recently, Vietnam has become widely popular, with Hanoi (the capital, in the north) ranked among the top ten destinations by Trip Advisor. But Ho Chi Min in the south is also a popular destination. Travelers usually start in one of the two big cities, and then work their way to the other passing through green rice fields, the Mui Ne sand dunes, fishing villages, the Son Doong Cave, and beach towns. 

In the mega cities, you'll find people in a hurry to get from place to place. Many of those people are traveling by way of motorcycles or scooters (the most popular mode of transportation.) The back of the bikes are packed high with anything from live chickens and goats to refrigerators. It all gets balanced very carefully and tied down. 

The boys made their Vietnam postcards. 

Calib's featured the Vietnamese pot-bellied pig, or so he says (it's lacking a pig nose). 

Peyton win my vote, even though he spelled Vietnam wrong because he included a U.S. Navy ship in honor of his grandpa. (My dad was in the Navy during the Vietnam War). 

Hayden included the traditional puppet show done in Hanoi that features puppets dancing on water. 

For dinner I made Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls. Asa cooked the noodles and the shrimp for them, but wrapping foods like rolls and burritos are not his strong suit. (I'll never forget that time I went to the store during a taco bar Sunday, and when I arrived back Asa and Calib were like 'Thank God you're back, there was nobody to fold our burritos!) 

For our main dish, we had Bahn Mi. Bahn Mi actually translates to 'bread', and while in Vietnam they use a harder baguette, I went with a softer roll so Calib would have less trouble with his braces and all. Dinner was truly a tag team event. Asa also cooked the pork, marinated the carrot and radish mixture, and made the mayo spread, but I put the sandwiches together. We also had dragon fruit to go along with it. 

All put together the dinner looked slightly less impressive. 

But it earned FIVE spoons up. 

Everyone but Calib was a fan. He had trouble with the spring roll, and didn't like the mayo spread on the sandwich. 

Peyton had his minus the mayo and ate about half of it. Then he traded the second half of his sandwich for Hayden's Spring Roll, and they were both happy. 

I was just impressed that Asa and I pulled this one off. It seemed more complicated than it was, although, those little rolls took me a minute. I don't know how the women at the Buddhist Temple fold so many of them for the Sunday Market. 

Vietnam got a nice bright yellow color next to purple Cambodia and green China. 

103 down, 90 to go! 

Next Up: Ukraine