More Running Around

Did a Half Marathon last Sunday. YAY!! Was slower than when I did one in NY...but ...uh...I'll blame the humidity...

Got back from Vietnam on Friday and the run was on Sunday. So had to do a few runs in Hue and Hoi An.

NO ONE runs in Hue and Hoi An, I swear. People were totally staring - wondering who that crazy, sweaty tourist was.

Unlike in Hanoi, where I could do a few laps around the lake across from the Zephyr Hotel (and across from Bobby Chinn's from those who would find it easier to have a BAR as a landmark), I pretty much had to run along the main roads this time around. So, in Hoi An, I ran from the old quarter...past 18th century houses, padi fields, rickety shophouses, uniformed schoolkids on bikes...towards a bunch of newly-built resorts beside a beach.

Hue was very, VERY cool. I ran across a bridge to the ancient Citadel and Imperial Palace and ran around the palace. Something about running around a really, really old pile of stones.

So this year, I've run under the Sydney Harbour bridge, across from the Opera House in Sydney; I've run along the designer stores on Via Nationale to the Roman Forum and a lap around Circus Maximus; and around the Imperial Palace in Hue. Way cool.

And oh - Vietnam photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/geri.wanjun/HoiAnAndHueVietnam

Goooood Morning Vietnam

Went back to Vietnam again for a vacation with my NY friends Adam and Lauree. This time I went to Hue and Hoi An, in central Vietnam.We were walking by the river in Hue one night and saw this girl, reading, by herself, under a bridge. She looked like an Edward Hopper painting.

Hue's the old capital of Vietnam. The main draw's a citadel and a huge palace that's survived a number of wars. Walking into the palace was like walking into the set of a Chinese Kung Fu movie.

I was half expecting mandarins and swordfighters. Didn't see them, but did visit a temple in the palace that was a memorial to the emporers - thirteen of them including a couple who were exiled to French colonies in Africa by the French after Vietnam was colonised.