Geography lesson

I like the maps. I don't know if any of you are clicking on them, but including them makes me feel like I'm providing an educational service, so I'm going to add another one: off you go.  From Kunming I flew into Hanoi, Vietnam's capital (airplane at the top of the map), where I met up with my friend Valerie, who had come over from the US in search of Big Adventure. We were able to stay with some fantastic friends of mine (technically parents of a good friend from middle/high school, but really my second set of parents, considering how much time I logged in their basement), where we were fed incredible amounts of delicious food. Sadly, I was so busy eating that I forgot to take pictures.
 
Anyway, we left our luggage in Hanoi while we took a 2-night trip to Halong Bay (also marked on the map, east of Hanoi on the coast). We returned to do some more city sightseeing, and then hopped a plane down to Hue, along the coast in the center of the country. We hung around Hue, which was Vietnam's imperial capital through the 19th century and up to the war with the French, for a couple of days before taking the train down to Da Nang, which we saw for all of about five minutes from the taxi en route to the small town of Hoi An (the train doesn't go to Hoi An). A few more days in Hoi An, including a cooking class, and then it was back to Da Nang to hop a flight down to Ho Chi Minh City (airplane at bottom of map). And since it's on the map, we took a day tour that included a stop at the Cu Chi Tunnels (red star at which bottom plane is pointing). Then it was back to Shanghai for me, back to the US for Valerie, and end of the geography lesson for you. Tales to start soon.