Actually, only a few entries. The contents of the mass email I just aggravated everyone I know with follow:

hi.

i hope you're all doing well, and with any luck i'll see some of you
at one of the readings!
brian

[Not quite dead yet! The month of madness leading up to my departure from Japan left little time to wrap up the Vietnam Saga and (stealing from Cervantes) "other adventures that deserve to be recounted". So let's get the blogging on!]

When we last left our sexy heroes, they'd escaped the savage jungles of Bach Ma. According to The All-Knowing Tome of Thrifty Voyages, the next destination on their noble quest was the city of Hue, yet another cultural treasure trove whose significance would, in the humble opinion of your faithful narrator, surely be lost on them. And so, let us rejoin them at the moment of their first significant discovery...

For once, the lack of updates is due to genuine busyness, not laziness. Already got packing and moving out of the way, but a gauntlet of gift-buying, miscellaneous errands, and painful farewells remains to be run. I am leaving Japan in three days, and I feel like I've been punched hard in the gut.

[News Flash! For a much more concise pictorial account of our trip, see Tim's site. Also, Karl Rove hates America. That is all.]

Of the zillion motorbike owners in Vietnam, a healthy percentage spends all day loitering on street corners and offering budget taxi service to foreigners.

There they are. The most common pickup line: "You wan motobai?" We quickly learned to ignore the guys completely. But because our destination, Bach Ma National Park, was not on the tourist track, it was motobai or bust. Our chauffeurs were cool, and had enough English to negotiate the terms and schedule of a round trip. Handy!

Nha Trang is Vietnam's beach capital. I have proof.

See the thatched umbrellas? Indisputable evidence of beach capital-ness! The only things missing were drunk sexy teens, vapid MTV veejays, and some Girls Gone Wild cameramen laden with those beaded necklaces that girls show you their boobs in exchange for. Who knew crappy trinkets could be so powerful?

Once off the plane, we were promptly engulfed in crazy humidity. It never really let up, making for a non-stop sweatfest. I probably lost a few pounds in perspiration alone. Once out of the airport, we are promptly swarmed by the budding capitalists of Vietnam. Our first new friend is a taxi driver offering to take us to town for the low low price of $10 (though the Dong - pause for giggling - is Vietnam's official currency, the good ol' U.S. Dollar is also happily accepted and often preferred). We tell him the hotel we want to go to. He promptly informs us that there's lots of construction in that area and it's very difficult to get to, maybe we'd like to check out a great hotel he knows of?

I hate to say it, but this was a fitting welcome to the country.