Geography 101

Some of the places we'll be visiting next month aren't on the typical tourist's itinerary. Actually, some of them aren't even on the maps. With that in mind I thought it might be helpful to provide a quick geographical snapshot. Some of this will be rudimentary for some folks; bear with me.

Vietnam is shaped like a big S. Trace the S from bottom to top, and you'll pretty much have our itinerary.

Ho Chi Minh City (which everyone still calls Saigon) is located at the bottom of the S. It has a population of about 7 million, all of whom, apparently, drive motorscooters. Crossing the street is a lot like the old video game Frogger, in which you dodge the vehicles and try not to go splat.

Hanoi is at the top of the S. It's smaller than Saigon - only about 3 million people - and is the capital city. I look forward to visiting temples, gardens, and the tiny, crowded shopping streets.

We'll be spending the majority of our time in the middle of the S, where you see the cluster of little black dots on the map. From Saigon we'll fly to Da Nang, then cross Hai Van Pass and spend the majority of our time working in Dong Ha. We'll also spend some time touring in Hue before we fly north to Hanoi. These areas were the northernmost provinces of South Vietnam, and many of the place names will be familiar to US veterans who served there.

For those of you who are data-junkies, you can get lots of factual details about Vietnam at http://www.atlapedia.com/online/countries/vietnam.htm. If you're more interested in a contemporary portrait of the country and its people, try the book Vietnam, Now by David Lamb. Or check back here from time to time, and I'll do my best to tell you all about it.