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From the article (which you probably didn't read):

You assume poorly. I read the article. I have also read MANY accounts of how the Vietnames have plied the tourist trade with FAKE war items. Have your read those? I have also talked to Vietnamese. Have You? I have been to Vietnam. Have you?

I'm glad you did read the article. My apologies then.

Yes.

No.

No.

Have a nice day.

Backpacking from the South to the Northwest Highlands of Lao Cai almost into China, provided a rare opportunity to experience the smiling faces of the Hill Tribes people of Sapa, their handmade hemp clothing, and the absolute beauty of as many shades of green the eye can possibly perceive, lining the tiered landscapes, which no photo could capture RELATED STORY: Paul's Trained Ants

When Paul Bunyan was short of help, he trained some enormous ants to do all kinds of logging work. They weighed over 2,000 pounds apiece and ate nothing but the finest imported Swedish snuff. The ants did the work of 50 ordinary men. In the winter, Paul had them fitted with warm mackinaws to keep them from hibernating

This story has a few plot holes in it.

Am I unclear, or does "backpacking" denote hiking? I took a cursory look at a map of Vietnam, and it is about 1400 miles from Saigon to Lao Cai on the Chinese border. If the author walked 4 miles an hour, it would have taken her 350 hours, or 35 days walking 10 hours a day just to get up there. That's 70 days round trip if she just walked every day - in dry weather. Add 20 days of torrential rain or site seeing, that's a three month getaway ... on a vacation that was originally planned as a two week stint with a stop in Thailand. Hell, she made better time than Patton's Third Army thundering on Bastogne!

I wonder if the Vietnamese guy she blew off immediately upon landing in Saigon had any flash of worry cross his mind when she wasn't back from her two week getaway after 2 1/2 months or so?

I laughed at the comment that she wasn't the type to talk to strangers, much less accept a ride from one. Backpacking alone through a rainy, densely jungled, Communist country she had never before visited and whose language she couldn't speak? Sure, but hopping on the back of a moped piloted by a quickly summoned woman ...

She also picked up an authentic Ted Williams rookie baseball card from that same guy in Hue. Surprisingly, Williams was wearing a Montreal Expos uniform! I never knew Teddy Baseball broke into the bigs with that club. Not to mention that Ted Williams was Asian.