Jan 29, 2020 - Nha Trang

NOTE: I am catching up here in Halong Bay, Vietnam. We will be here a second day, and there is good Internet access. That is the good news! We are here an extra day because we are skipping the tour day in Hong Kong due to the virus threat and the cruise line is being cautious. I was planning to visit Macau after the cruise, but they have seven cases, and they are cutting back the ferry service to get there, so that is off the table. At this point I will either stay the three days in Hong Kong, or see if I can change my flight. I'm thinking...

Jan 29, 2020 - Da Nang

Sunday, January 26 We arrived in Da Nang this morning. I headed out with a group for a morning tour of the city. It is a bit cloudy, and the temperature has moderated to the mid 70’s which is pleasant. I signed up for a morning excursion into the city. It is in the middle of Tet, the new years celebration. We got an explanation of the character of the rat who is honored this year. The rat is praised as being clever and successful. When the gods sent the animals to cross the river, the water buffalo was a powerful swimmer and was in the...

Jan 29, 2020 - Hoi An (Da Nang part 2)

Monday, January 27 This is our second day in Da Nang port. Today I joined an excursion to see the old city of Hoi An. I had signed up for a tour, but switched to a tour that took us there and turned us loose for a few hours to explore. It was a good choice, being able to do my own thing at my own pace, and not be following the leader. The old city of Hoi An is an UNESCO heritage site. Since the 17th century, Japanese and Chinese came here to trade with the Vietnamese at the river port. The area is filled with the old architecture...

Jan 29, 2020 - Halong Bay

Wednesday, January 29 This is our first day in Halong Bay and it is cloudy and cool (63 F). I didn’t think I would want my jacket before getting back to Seattle! I didn’t get up to view sunrise, and I don’t think I missed anything dramatic. We are at a real cruise port rather than a commercial port as we have been in on this trip. The port is not just for big ships, but there are a lot of small tour and cruise ports that sail around the islands. It is great to have the building here with wifi coverage and a couple of shops. This morning I...

Jan 23, 2020 - Vietnam countryside

Map location is for Ho Chi Minh City, but I visited the country area near where we docked at Phu My. The map can't seem to find that! Thursday, January 23 Today we are in Vietnam. We docked at the industrial port of Phu My. This is the access point for Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). I wasn’t that interested in another big city with a long drive, so I opted for a local tour to the area of Ba Ria. We first went to a residential temple. It has men, women, and some children there. There are some wealthy who are simplifying their life, and some who...

Oct 6, 2019 - Cu Chi tunnels (a bit graphic so reader beware)

Sunday 6th Oct The Cu Chi tunnels visit was one of three deeply disturbing visits to war sites, giving an insight into what happened during the “American” war. There is a lot of bias in these visits, much of it anti-American propaganda. By the time we left this tour, most of us felt quite sick to our stomachs. So be warned, and use your discretion reading this. It will be toned down a bit, it is difficult to accurately describe the warfare methods used without feeling ill, and parts will be hard to take in. As difficult as it was to see...

Oct 4, 2019 - Water puppets, river cruise dinner, Mekong Delta

Thursday 4th October Up early for a 6.30 am pick up. The restaurant is not open this early, so the hotel has organised a boxed breakfast – a tub of warm (now runny, haha) yoghurt, dry bread, half a small donut, a banana and some wafer biscuits. The bread gets ditched at the airport, but we eat everything else. The car to Da Nang airport takes about 45 minutes, our driver never said a word from the time we took bags to the car, until we got out at the airport. It is busy on the road, they get up early here, rising with the sun rather than...

Oct 2, 2019 - My Son Holy Land, Ba Na Hill

Tuesday 2nd October There is plenty to choose from at the buffet breakfast, we meet up with more “boat people”, and others also on a Halong Tour. It is supposed to be “winter”, yeah, right, 28 degrees at 9am, pfft. We are waiting in reception with six others, when a group of four get whisked off in a private car, they thought they were on a group tour. The rest of us are in a 20 seater bus, with more boat people. We are surprised at the number of people on the tour that draw the curtains and sleep until we get to My Son, pisses us off...

Oct 1, 2019 - Hoi An

Monday 1st Oct Hue - Hoi An Well the transport to Hoi An was not what we thought we were getting. We are picked up at 8am by a 20-seater mini bus for what we thought was a 3½ hour bus ride to Hoi An, about 140km away (we half expected this bus to take us to the bus station and transfer to a bigger bus). 7 hours later we arrive at our hotel. Turns out we were on a tour with lots of stops on the way. Bloody brilliant. Lewis and his partner, who were on our boat trip, are also on the bus. We are running into people we have met elsewhere in...

Sep 29, 2019 - Hue

Sunday 29th Sept Happy anniversary – 35 years married We are picked up from the Hotel to go to the airport for our 10am flight to Hue with Vietjet. We wait in the restaurant for the driver to arrive, we have been given a half hour time frame for them to turn up, so we figured we may as well stay for a munch and a coffee while we wait, besides we don’t know how punctual they will be. One of the hotel staff tells us the driver is waiting, but he is waiting down on the main street, and walk the short distance with our bags to the car. At the...

Sep 28, 2019 - Hanoi

Saturday 28th Sep We had a comfortable night last night, Tony is up around 5am to catch the sunrise, unfortunately not a spectacular one, but pretty all the same. He gets a few photos and heads back to bed for a bit more sleep. Cynthea is up early for a bit of Tai Chi on the top deck. Breakfast is at 7am, a bit early but that is how they do things here, governed more by the sunrise than by the clock. Since arriving we have noticed that people appear to be playing musical boats, some that were with us last night are no longer here, and there...

Sep 27, 2019 - Bay of Islands

Fri 27th Sep We slept well last night, despite sleeping on a rock. Up early to pack and check out. We leave our large bags at the hotel, and only take a couple of bits for overnight on the boat, we will be staying here again tomorrow night. We have been told to have a big breakfast because it is a long bus ride to Ha Long Bay, a good four hours. We are told we will stop on the way for cheap food and drink, as at Ha Long Bay everything is very expensive. There are a few from the hotel going on the tour with us, in all about thirty people on...