Sick as a dog..because I eat like a cat?

I picked up a book in Hanoi that had a list of 'dos' and 'don'ts' a couple of weeks ago.  It said that the Vietnamese people consider licking one's fingers after a good meal, or after eating a piece of fruit..or anytime really... bad form.  Its eating like a cat.  I laughed when I read this because I eat like a cat all the time.  I'm particularly feline when there is chocolate involved and it has melted.  The only logical way to eat melted chocolate is to lick it off of ones fingers.  Anyway, I believe I have learned the hard way why Vietnamese people don't do this. 
I'm not going to go into detail, but lets just say its a good thing you can buy a two week course of antibiotics (over the counter) for as little as five dollars. I'm on the mend finally, and Nathan has thus far avoided whatever I have. 

We are in Hue, a historically significant area of Vietnam for many reasons.  One of which is its proximity to the DMZ, about 70 km North.  We actually spent the day after our bus ride from hell in the DMZ area. 

That is Nathan's head you see at the bottom.  My sleeping area is empty above that.  People had to step on us to get to the bathroom.

The bus stopped in Dong Ha, a town that was moved during the Vietnam War to make room for the American military base.  We got off the bus there and found a tour guide that spoke English fairly well to take us to the DMZ.  He was 18 when the Vietnam War was coming to a close, and had enlisted for the South.  The driver, and boss of our guide was a soldier who fought for the North.  It proved to be a very interesting dynamic.  Our guide Hoa explained that he and his family were moved by the Americans to a village that had been constructed for the people displaced by the military base.   He said the conditions were good, and that they felt safe and protected.  He pointed out in the military museum just across the river in what was Viet Cong territory a picture that had a caption that read "Southern villagers were moved to concentration camps by American soldiers"  He rolled his eyes and whispered, "propaganda".  He went on to explain that both the North and South used huge megaphones to spread such propaganda from one side of the river to the other.

Hoa, our guide was actually screaming "Communism is Good!" in this picture.

We visited Vinh Moc, which was a village of 400 people who lived under ground for over five years.  They dug about 2 kilometers of tunnels in 18 months.  We were able to explore some of the tunnels and go as deep as 23 meters underground.  Over 90 families lived in the tunnels and the living space alloted to each family was hard to believe.  The motto of this town was 'To be or not to be' , and they chose to be..which meant tunnels to avoid the chaos of the DMZ.