Before I settle back down into a "regular" life...just the sound makes my skin crawl...I've got one more trip left in me.

Next week I'm headed down to Havana to see what Cuba is like. The kind efforts of some relatives are allowing me to visit Cuba at a time when very few Americans can go there legally. I'm headed there totally legit and can't wait to see this unique country. How many Cuban cigars can I smoke in 7 days? I can't wait to find out.

Shanghai is a huge, bustling metropolis with gian skyscrapers and architecture - old and new - that beats most buildings we have in the US. McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks, designer clothing stores, hundreds of people crossing the street at the same time, and guys hustling fake Rolex's. Beijing is still my favorite city, but Shanghai is a close second. Oh yeah, it's 0 degrees with a brisk wind off the water!

In a small town in a remote part of Vietnam near the Chinese border - in one day I see two local men wearing UNC ball caps. Bizzare. Not as bizzare as the 90 year old ladies who keep offering me opium and hash, but pretty strange nonetheless.

...excellent stirfried with vegetables and cashews! This is how an interesting night in Hanoi began. It tasted like a tender potroast - what can I say. So after dinner Jacci went back to the room and I was free to cruise about Hanoi. Took a walk down the bootlegged clothing street with shop after shop of fake and factory stolen designer clothes. The evening was cool and I was tired of walking so I sat down at one of Hanoi's many sidewalk cafe's and joined backpackers and locals drinking big 12 cent glasses of Vietnamese beer. It tasted like 12 cent beer and a skinny man could drink 12 gallons of the stuff and not get anywhere close to a buzz. But it was the atmosphere that made it fun and I got a chance to watch locals out selling stuff on the streets - anything from fake zippo lighters from the Vietnam War to bras and socks carried in pushcarts baskets of wicker. Every so often, a parade of rich tourists from the Sofitel drove by in cyclos doing a night tour of the city. Most of them are French and the women clutched their purses tight and had looks of terror on their faces as dozens of motorbikes zipped by almost running right into their cyclos. I walked back to the hotel - which at $20 per night is a complete ripoff considering its condition - and off to bed. Another fun day in Vietnam. Tomorrows menu - horse! :)

As I fell into my childhood routine in China of belching at the table, putting my elbows on the table, and leaning into my food and slurping - I've found another childhood habit that is readily accepted here in Vietnam. Jacci has laid down the law that under no circumstances can I start this again. It's nosepicking.

The Vietnamese usually keep a long pinky nail used expressly for the purpose of exploring the inner portions of their bodily orifices - specifically the nose and ears. Regardless of sex, age, or social status - the Vietnamese are professional nosepickers. On the bus, at the table, on just hanging out, they are exploring their nasal cavity and after a close examination of their findings will flick the results out to the street. I wonder if someone once discovered gold in their sinuses starting the cultural craze!

The Vietnamese government has spared no effort in making sure that people in Vietnam know that the US didn't win the war. Our first day in Ho Chi Min City, we visited the Vietnam War Museum that was recently renamed from "The American and Chinese War Atrocities Museum." You can imagine how fair their explanation of the war was. Many of the war sites proudly display bombed US tanks and wreckage of US planes with descriptions of how horrible US troops were to the Vietnamese people, but no mention of how the VC treated POW's or locals for that matter.

During our visit to the palace in HCMC, we watched a 30 minute documentary about the war failure of the imperialistic United States and how the freedom fighters in North Vietnam united the country and sent the American devils back home.

Fortunately, the people of Vietnam are some of the friendliest people we have ever met. They are always happy to talk to us and very warm and kind. They seem to harbor no resentment to Americans even the people who we have met with severe scars or even who are disabled as a result of the war.

Cambodia and Vietnam must have had a fantastic weed harvest this year because I get offered pot at least 10 times a day from rickshaw drivers. The driver usually asks me where I need to go (even though I'm minding my own business) and then, when I tell him I don't want to go anywhere, he slides up next to me and whispers, "Want some weed?" Thanks, but no thanks. Yesterday, a couple of restaurant owners showed me their menu then showed me their weed selection. In Cambodia, smoking pot must be legal since people just sit on their front porch puffing away and no one blinks an eye. I now understand why Pringles and other munchies are sold on every street corner by blurry eyed vendors.

How hard is it to take a spoonful of instant coffee and mix it with hot water? Apparently it's really hard because I can't get anyone in Vietnam to make me a cup. The coffee here is served so strong that it's slightly thick and then they load it up with sugar so heavily that the top layer of enamel has been stripped off my teeth. One cool thing is the sidewalk coffee shops. On every block someone will set up a few small tables and chairs - the size for 3 or 4 year olds - and a burner for heating water and have a block of ice delivered. We see Vietnamese sitting enjoying iced coffee in the afternoon. We stopped by one this morning and got an iced coffee. At 6'3" it was no easy task sitting on a char that was 6" high, but the locals at the cafe at least got a good laugh out of it.