Weather: 25C and steady rain.
October 28th, 2011
Goodbye Uncle Ho!
Heading home.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
One More Beer Post
Hanoi, Vietnam
October 27th, our last full day
Weather: Rain in the morning then hot and steamy, we are just getting used to it.
We are out early exploring the French Quarter, with its wide tree lined boulevards and parks. It is a big change from the narrow streets, chaos and hustle and bustle of the Old Quarter. About 10:30 we feel like a coffee. Doug finds a likely looking place with a lovely courtyard in front, and we settle in and order two coffees. Our waiter says, "no coffee". We say okay two teas. Waiter says, "No tea, no coffee, just beer". It turns out to be a brew house.
October 27th, our last full day
Weather: Rain in the morning then hot and steamy, we are just getting used to it.
We are out early exploring the French Quarter, with its wide tree lined boulevards and parks. It is a big change from the narrow streets, chaos and hustle and bustle of the Old Quarter. About 10:30 we feel like a coffee. Doug finds a likely looking place with a lovely courtyard in front, and we settle in and order two coffees. Our waiter says, "no coffee". We say okay two teas. Waiter says, "No tea, no coffee, just beer". It turns out to be a brew house.
Doug drinking his 10:30am beer.
This is the last trip for the favorite shirt. A little later on a man on the street offered to
sew up the tears, or sell him his shirt!
An hour later I turn around and Doug has made new friends, and they buy him a beer.
This is so embarrassing!
In the evening we have a great dinner at a street cafe at 47 Ma Mai. Squashed in with the locals we had our own little stove and cast iron grill and a plate or raw beef, goat udder, onions, garlic, eggplant and tomato, which we grilled ourselves (Some risk involved!). You dip it into a small bowl of salt, lime and hot chili. You also get bread and put that on too until it is crispy. Our neighbors to the right helped explain how it all works. Washed down with a couple of big beers it cost less than $9!
Food on the grill.
We leave tomorrow evening and we are really going to miss all this.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
WOW!
Hanoi, Vietnam
Weather: Cooler. Low 80's. Cloudy
Just when we thought we were all wowed out, we found there was more wow! We just got back from four days way up in the mountains in the Ha Giang Province of northern Vietnam close to the Chinese boarder. Special permits required. This was a bit of a gamble again, as we didn't exactly know what we were getting ourselves into. Very much off the tourist trail. 14 different ethnic minorities live in this rugged and spectacular landscape and scrape out a meager living, farming rice and corn on these steep mountainsides. Everything is done by hand or animal and no machines. Clouds and mist made the mountains appear ghostly. On clear days it must have been spectacular, and the road even more hair raising. The towns were without electricity from 6:00am until 6:30pm by which time it was very dark. We needed flashlights and candles in our hotels. We slept on the hardest beds ever. Just a sheet on top of a few boards - We loved it all!
Weather: Cooler. Low 80's. Cloudy
Just when we thought we were all wowed out, we found there was more wow! We just got back from four days way up in the mountains in the Ha Giang Province of northern Vietnam close to the Chinese boarder. Special permits required. This was a bit of a gamble again, as we didn't exactly know what we were getting ourselves into. Very much off the tourist trail. 14 different ethnic minorities live in this rugged and spectacular landscape and scrape out a meager living, farming rice and corn on these steep mountainsides. Everything is done by hand or animal and no machines. Clouds and mist made the mountains appear ghostly. On clear days it must have been spectacular, and the road even more hair raising. The towns were without electricity from 6:00am until 6:30pm by which time it was very dark. We needed flashlights and candles in our hotels. We slept on the hardest beds ever. Just a sheet on top of a few boards - We loved it all!
Harvesting rice
Doug showing the Vietnamese how to separate the rice. Sinh, our guide, laughing.
Buffalo sees strangers!
Ha Giang mountain pass first day.
Ha Giang road
Ha Giang road and steep terraced rice paddies.
This little girl suddenly appeared over the ridge. She was about 7.
More mountain road
Goat on top of the market bus.
Foreigner at Meo Vac market
Colors in Meo Vac Market
Young Dao girl at the market
Purple or pink?
A Co Lao woman selling incense in Meo Vac market
Shopping for skirts
Tu, our driver, helping a Tay couple load a pig on their motorbike.
Breakfast for two at our hotel in Ha Giang.
Coffee
Mountain children - no TV.
In the Opium Lord's Palace. Ha Giang.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Porter the Cat
Dalian, China
Tuesday, October 18th.
Izaac and Leslie's cat, Porter, seems to have settled into his life in China. Here he is looking for an opportunity to nibble on Izaac's breakfast. It was nice to be around a cat again. Thanks again Izaac and Leslie and Porter!
Monday, October 17, 2011
Excellent Adventures in Dalian, China
Dalian, China
Weather: Sunny blue skies and chilly - great!
Monday October 17th.
I can hardly believe that we are really here in Dalian, China, with Izaac and Leslie. We have spent three days being shown the city and surroundings, seeing some of the places we have heard about over the two years they have been here, eating fabulous food (Russian, Korean and Chinese), and listening in awe as they both speak Chinese.
Dalian is a big busy city of seven million people, with wide streets, lots of large open squares and parks, huge stores and underground malls, and so much neon and LED lighting at night that it feels like Christmas. It is a colorful and fun city!
Weather: Sunny blue skies and chilly - great!
Monday October 17th.
I can hardly believe that we are really here in Dalian, China, with Izaac and Leslie. We have spent three days being shown the city and surroundings, seeing some of the places we have heard about over the two years they have been here, eating fabulous food (Russian, Korean and Chinese), and listening in awe as they both speak Chinese.
Dalian is a big busy city of seven million people, with wide streets, lots of large open squares and parks, huge stores and underground malls, and so much neon and LED lighting at night that it feels like Christmas. It is a colorful and fun city!
Dalian
Early morning exercising in the park. I and L's apartment is the tallest building on the right.
 |
| Writing poetry with water |
Tea tasting.
Blue sky and ocean, and two handsome guys.
Buying apples with Sun the driver.
Sounding the bell
Buddhist monastery near Dalian with 40ft high golden Buddha
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| Hot Pot |
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
Hue
Hue, Vietnam
RAIN!
RAIN!
Tuesday 10th. Hue, the Imperial City.
A late start as it was raining really hard when we woke up, but no problem as we were in a relaxed mood, and I got a table napkin folding lesson from the waiter at breakfast. I will share Simon! Later we spent several hours at the The Forbidden Purple City, which is inside the gigantic Hue Citadel. It was first built in the early 1800s, eunuchs and concubines etc. Parts of it were destroyed in various wars and there are ongoing reconstruction projects. Just to give you a feel for how large the area is, the outer city wall is 11km long. The colors were incredible in the rain, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves! The photos don't do it justice.
A little bit of detail
Doug loved these gargoyles. The roofs funnel the rain out of their mouths.
Wednesday 12th. Hue. DMZ.
We hired a guide to take us around the DMZ. Doug was stationed in this area in 1967. Doug says that after 43 years it should have been no surprise that the combat bases were long overtaken by lush forests, villages and small towns. The rock pile was the only recognizable feature and it was surrounded in mist and cloud. North of the 17th parallel, which divided North and South, we toured a three story tunnel complex built by the villagers as bomb shelters. Hundreds of people lived in these narrow tunnels, and it was really claustrophobic. The deepest level was 23 meters underground. There were lots of bomb craters (awful) around the tunnel area, but the tunnels had stayed intact. Our guide, Minh, was from the south and was in the Southern army in 1972. A good history lesson for me. We also saw tapioca plants and coffee beans.
American tank
And this was theVietnamese artillery.
The Rock Pile
Tapioca root and plants behind.
Coffee Beans
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