We did see evidence of Christmas celebrations although it was not an official holiday. Children were in school and the work day proceeded as usual on Christmas. They celebrated much louder and longer after they won the Asian World Cup for soccer.
We took a cruise of Ha Long Bay on a boat like this. The bay is filled with hundreds of tall limestone karsts and is very picturesque.
They fed us lunch inside the boat as we cruised out into the bay.
The day we arrived in Hanoi, Karl had spent the night on a boat here in Ha Long Bay. He had warm weather and even dove off the boat to swim in the ocean. We huddled to keep warm!
Our boat stopped and let us explore two very extensive caves. We were impressed with how large they were.
One of our highlights in Hanoi was visiting a professor's home who Karl hosted three years ago here at UPS. He invited us to his home (the blue one) for lunch. Traditional Vietnamese homes are very narrow because they were taxed on the width of their homes and so they built up. His home is four stories, but the pink one is five!
This is the lunch his family served: fresh spring rolls made with chicken, beef, pork or egg; bamboo soup; warm sweet green bean paste soup and fruit. We ate in their living room around their coffee table. His daughter has excellent English.
It rained the first day in Hoi An. We know rain and we mean RAIN! We ended up buying these attractive rain ponchos to keep parts of us dry. Our feet were soaked and our pants were wet to our knees but it didn't keep us inside. Like the Communist billboard on the street corner?
OK, we had Northwest weather; but we played in the South China Sea anyway. And we brought home some sand which is not as dark as Phuket sand. But it looked dark to us when we were there.
We can't say enough good about the Hoi An breakfast buffet. We all went to bed anticipating breakfast. We are very glad the French taught the Vietnamese how to do baguettes and croissants! This is just the fruit buffet. We tried dragon fruit, passion fruit, custard apples and bananas that are nothing like the tasteless things we get here at home!
I had a silk jacket made for me in this shop. It has a Mandarin collar and I really like it. They measured me and it was ready 24 hours later. I highly recommend Bi Bo next time you are in Hoi An.
We spent a balmy 85 degree afternoon at this pool in Ho Chi Minh City. We even had a big thunder and lightening storm (we got out!) that was very exciting.
You can carry anything on a motorcycle. This man has about 12 (or more) packages of tile. We kept track of the number of people we saw on one motorcyle. The law allows for only two but we saw a family of five!
The Palms restaurant was next door to our apartment building. We could go down and order and they would deliver our meals upstairs (a mix of Western and Asian.) Most dishes cost about $1.50 - $2.5o in US dollars. I could live a long time with that kind of service!
This is what you feel like after taking a 1:00 AM flight out of Ho Chi Minh City to Seoul, sleeping for a few hours and then getting something to eat in the airport before boarding a ten-hour flight home when your body has no idea what time it is!
This is the lunch his family served: fresh spring rolls made with chicken, beef, pork or egg; bamboo soup; warm sweet green bean paste soup and fruit. We ate in their living room around their coffee table. His daughter has excellent English.
It rained the first day in Hoi An. We know rain and we mean RAIN! We ended up buying these attractive rain ponchos to keep parts of us dry. Our feet were soaked and our pants were wet to our knees but it didn't keep us inside. Like the Communist billboard on the street corner?
OK, we had Northwest weather; but we played in the South China Sea anyway. And we brought home some sand which is not as dark as Phuket sand. But it looked dark to us when we were there.
We can't say enough good about the Hoi An breakfast buffet. We all went to bed anticipating breakfast. We are very glad the French taught the Vietnamese how to do baguettes and croissants! This is just the fruit buffet. We tried dragon fruit, passion fruit, custard apples and bananas that are nothing like the tasteless things we get here at home!
I had a silk jacket made for me in this shop. It has a Mandarin collar and I really like it. They measured me and it was ready 24 hours later. I highly recommend Bi Bo next time you are in Hoi An.
We spent a balmy 85 degree afternoon at this pool in Ho Chi Minh City. We even had a big thunder and lightening storm (we got out!) that was very exciting.
You can carry anything on a motorcycle. This man has about 12 (or more) packages of tile. We kept track of the number of people we saw on one motorcyle. The law allows for only two but we saw a family of five!
The Palms restaurant was next door to our apartment building. We could go down and order and they would deliver our meals upstairs (a mix of Western and Asian.) Most dishes cost about $1.50 - $2.5o in US dollars. I could live a long time with that kind of service!
This is what you feel like after taking a 1:00 AM flight out of Ho Chi Minh City to Seoul, sleeping for a few hours and then getting something to eat in the airport before boarding a ten-hour flight home when your body has no idea what time it is!
1 comment:
this is spencer: in the pic of santa on a moped is when he is smoking ( bottom left )
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