We arrived in Hà Nội on Wednesday afternoon, 31 October, after traveling for about 22 hours (16 from Houston to Taipei via a route which took us north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska before heading south along the Japan Sea, followed by a layover and the final leg). After a shower and a brief rest, we headed out for an odd stage production which used local musicians, dancing, singing, and acrobatics to tell the story of local rice farmers; it was inter...