Sounds of Vietnam

I wish I could do a montage of the sounds of Vietnam. It would include the Catholic nuns singing at Phat Diem; the Buddhist monks chanting at Thien Mu; the honking in Hanoi -- and the guy without a horn who was doing auditory honking; the Vietnamese pop music on the train; the cicadas at Hoa Lu, a former capital of Vietnam; the Carpenters' Christmas music at the hotel in Sapa; squealing pigs at our Sapa homestay; roosters and chickens everywhere; the clattering of bikes and carts hauling vegetables, vases, bird cages; and the music with traditional Vietnamese instruments during our royal dinner in Hue.

Now imagine all that along with sweat dripping into your eyes and the smell of meat and rice and Pho cooking on the sidewalk outside your hotel -- and you get a sense of Vietnam. But really, I think you have to be here.