Before departing for Vietnam I was lured by romantic images of the Mekong Delta’s muddy waters cluttered by boats brimming with fruits, vegetables, and rice hat wearing vendors.     In search of the true Vietnam, down in the agricultural heart of the country,...

  In an instant alleys and buildings, bridges and rivers, merged into a black canvas until the soft glow of candlelit lanterns began to illuminate their surroundings.     I made laps around Hoi An’s Old Town in search of a hotel for nearly an hour when every light was...

  Waves crash violently, drowning the hushed screams of children who play along the shore.     Hammocks sway under huts made of bamboo and woven palms that rustle in the gentle wind.     Reggae music and French chatter emanate from the beachfront bar where I sit...

  Men sought to shun her. But still she endures.     She lives in the forests, in the ocean, in the sky.     She exhales the winds, she cries the storms, she beams the sun, she burns the fire.     She brings happiness and bliss in this moment, in this life to those...

  Cat Ba town is downright hideous.     The obtrusive signage the assaulting neon the cheap construction the florescent mall lighting     all just pains me.     But quietly concealed behind the motos the tour desks and the monosodium glutamate     is an island more...

  The legend goes that the people of Vietnam were born from the union of the dragon and the fairy.     The dragon rose up from the sea and onto the Earth to unite with the fairy of the mountains. Together they created one hundred sons.   When the dragon returned to...