For a sense of Vietnamese history from before the war, we spent a day visiting the Tombs near Hue, and another visiting the temples of My Son near Hoi An.  In Hue, we rented a dragon boat (a large canoe with an inboard diesel engine, which has a large dragon's head painted on the front) and toured up the Perfume River.  En Route we were treated to huge Castle resmbling places which had been built by rich and powerful men, who were attempting to create a place of habitation for the afterlife.  These buildings whish are recommended for U.N. conservation listing are built of local materials and are massive in size compared to everything else built around.  The Tombs usually contain an outer wall, a moat, and inner wall, and a staircase leading to the tomb itself, which is intrically decorated in gold and other colourful materials.  The My Son exhibit, is substantially older, and comparable to the temples from Cambodia.  One was obvious at My Son, however, was the amount of damage that had occurred during the war.  Several monuments were destroyed, but also the ones that remained were covered in bullet holes.

That night while discussing the temples over dinner, Mari suggested that I finish and she would just look around.  Okay I thought, and 10 minutes later I got up and paid.  When I walked around the corner, what I saw made me fall over from laughter.  In the middle of about 6 vietnamese ladies, stood Mari.  She was easily a foot taller, and was being catered to by all these ladies, trying to make a dress for her.  While she stood there, one lady was randomly taking measurements, another was pulling off the shelf every colour of silk that Mari ever glanced at, and another was trying to force her into a dress that was quite obviously too small for her ("your wife very tall, the ladies kept saying")  I was given a chair, and then ignored.  Mari laughed and allowed herself to be measured.  The next day, she picked up a dress of pure Vietnamese Silk, that when she put it on fit her like a glove.  The long flowing material was beautiful, and the dress itself was probably one of the most glamourous items I had ever seen.  She looked absolutely stunning, and this dress was dirt cheap.  I could barely believe it was tailor made, except that it fit so well. 

Continously heading North, we made our way via an overnight bus to the capital of Hanoi.  From here we applied for our Chinese Visas, and then had some time to kill around the city.  Hanoi is a beautiful town and it was easy to spend time exploring.  We drank delicous vietnamese coffee at several lake-side cafes and experienced the splendour of Water Puppets.  In Hanoi, a major theatre is set up specifically for water puppetry, and this amazing spectacle should not be missed.  A troupe behind a curtain, operates groups of fish, dragon, canoes, and people puppets - amazingly in a foot of water.  All the while, smoke and fireworks are used for effect.  While the dialouge is in vietnamese, it was still amazing (a translation was available in French, English and Chinese ).
From Hanoi, we headed into the Northern Mountainous region just below the border of China.  In this area, and the surrounding mountains, Hill-tribes of Hmong and Zoi people have villages easily accesible for adventuous hikers such as Mari and I (note: one day involved a 15 km hike, a crossing of a raging river on a very old bamboo bridge, and a ride through the mist on a russian motorcycle)
The Hill tribe people are very friendly and very colourfully dressed.  Mari and I spent a couple days enjoying the villages, and bargaining for traditional clothing at a local market.  We also had an opportunity to experience the very ecclectic sounds of traditional singing, at a Hmong concert in the town of Sapa.
It was during one of these concerts when a lady collapsed.   Mari and I rushed to help, and found her breathing, and she regained conciousness within a few seconds.  I stayed with this lady of 65 who spoke only  dutch, and talked to her through her daughter- in a smattering of broken english.  I discovered the the elderly lady had a history of stroke and was on blood pressure medicine.  It was enough to make one very nervous, but other than being a bit flushed, she seemed okay.  after a few moments (and a cool cloth), I helped her outside, where a doctor finally showed up.  Briefly, it appeared that she would loose conciousness again, but she didn't.  The doctor, unfortunately, spoke only vietnamese, and I had the interesting task of explaining to him what had happened, and then explaining to the daughter what was going to happen. 
An ambulance was called for, and I assisted the mother into it (actually it was a Russian Issue army jeep).  I tried to explain that the doctor was going with her and her daughter, and explained to the daughter that everything was okay, but to stay with her mother.  The mother held my hand, and looked into my eyes, but no word was spoken.  Afterwards, Mari bought me a beer.
The following day, we crossed a bridge into China.