Back in Hue

The break for Tet and New Years is still in full swing in Hue. We spent our New Years Eve at the Citadel in Hue. Honestly, it was one of the craziest, scariest, and most enjoyable experiences of my life. We walked about 1 mile from our hotel to get there along with thousands and thousands of other people and motorbikes. I have never been in such a large group of people and bikes before. It was touch and go for a bit as we tried to make our way through the crowd. It was like Times Square on New Year's Eve times 10! We survived, however and eventually made it back to our hotel around 11:30 pm in time to watch the fireworks from the balcony. Truly a once in a lifetime experience.

Our group traveled to Hoi An on Sunday because everything in Hue closed down. They even discharged all of the patients from the hospital except those in the ICU. Hoi An was about a 3 hour scenic and gorgeous bus ride from Hue. I saw the countryside, oceans, and moutains along the way. Once we arrived in Hoi An I knew I was in for a treat. It is an ancient town with small buildings, beautiful bridges crossing the river, small narrow roads, and it's even near the ocean. Oh....and there were a ton of tourists too. We spent our first morning (Monday) taking a bike ride along the river to the ocean. And by the way, the bikes had adorable little baskets on the front. Obviously. We then frolicked in the waves and enjoyed the warm sun. We biked back to the hotel mid-day and headed into town for some shopping and site seeing. If you ever come to Vietnam, Hoi An is the one city you MUST see!

On Tuesday we made our way back to Hue. We made a stop at a place called Marble Mountain. Not to be confused with candy mountain ;). It was a large moutain near the sea. We paid our entrance fee and then walked up about a billion steps to the top. What a view! 360 degrees all around on a sunny, clear, breezy day. The ocean in front of us and the mountains and rice fields behind. It was beautiful. I wish I could upload some pictures but I'm having technical difficulties here....sad day. Marble Mountain is also famous because of its many caves. Inside these giant caves there are alters and large carvings. It is a sacred site here in Vietnam and I'm so glad we got the chance to see it.

We are back to our normal routine now in Hue. A lot of places are still closed for the holiday, but we are making the most of it. We head back to the hospital soon and I cannot wait! After Tet, the hospital gets very busy with patients. Hopefully, I will have some great stories to tell. Hue is our home-front for the next week and a half. It already feels like home here even though I haven't been in Vietnam that long. The hospitality and friendly nature of the people here is unmatched. I cannot imagine future where I do not return to this amazing country.

I hope you are all doing well too! I am unable to check facebook or other email accounts while I am here. So feel free to email me at my gmail account or comment on the blog. I would love to hear from you. Here is a link to some more photos from our trip that Bob Catherman has been taking: http://picasaweb.google.com/medrix.robert/VillageMarket?authkey=Gv1sRgCIy5ieG81ayelQE#
Take a gander if you like.

Also: Quick shout-out to my wonderful roommate Melissa who is recently engaged to her boyfriend Jeff! Congrats to you both and I'm so thrilled for you. I cannot wait to get home and hear more about it! Another shout-out to my sister, Brooke because I found the Vietnamese Walmart yesterday. What a treasure. I know you love Walmart so much ;) That's all for now! Until next time....