Hue

Acknowledging someone, whether by a slight nod of the head or a little smile can make all the difference to someone. I'm trying to do this while in Vietnam.

As we head out this morning we decide we'll rent motorbikes for the day. The cost is $5 each. What in the heck am I thinking .... I saw how people drive here. I saw Stacy's road rash from her crash when she was here. Well, you only live once, right? As we head out I feel exhilarated as I have control of this machine and I'm zipping along with the rest of the Vietnamese. (Laura, it's not the same as Pacific). 

We want to go to a few of the attractions here and we pull over to look at our map ... Pat uses CityMaps2go which doesn't need wifi or 3G. A gentleman pulls up next to us and asks us if we're from the states. His name is Nguyen Dung, he is so excited to meet us and wants to show us around so he can practice his English. Pat says "sure, we'll follow you, wherever you're going". I'm a little more skeptical. We head out into the back country of Vietnam .... Yep, back country. We stop somewhere and Pat leans over and whispers "squeal like a pig". I remember the movie and swallow hard. We head up a driveway and low and behold there are two elephants ... We feed them sugar cane. They are 80 and 87 years old. They use the elephants to haul logs out of the jungle/forest area. 

We head back out and I'm starting to believe this guy won't kill us. We then go to his house, out in the middle of nowhere. He lives in the middle of these medicine trees and it's really beautiful. We find out he was in the South Vietnamese army working with the Marines. He faked his age to get in. He shows us two mines he brought back from Hamburger Hill. 

He brings to the table a tea pot and cups. I just read how when in VIetnam you should always try what is offered. The cups are stained from use but otherwise clean. The pot, on the other hand, has old tea leaves in it but I'll drink it as he's so excited we are visiting. He serves the tea, green, and I take a sip. Both Pat and I agree that it tastes like spinach water, bitter and very bad. He keeps filling our cups after every sip. Uggggg. After a while we decide we need to get back on the road but before we leave he brings out 3 shot glasses and pours us some whiskey. Welllll, I really don't want to drink this but I have to. We clink our glasses and I drink it fast .... It tastes so much better than the spinach water! 

On the way back, Dung takes us on a scenic drive, right through a cemetery filled with close to 500,000 graves. These are partially from the Vietnam War. So sad ..... The graves have a wall around them about 2-3 feet high and they are filled with gravel the headstones are ornate and beautiful and they are for miles and miles. 

We decide to head back into town. We're ready for a late lunch and some more adventure through town. We find a place that a local said to try, they only serve three things. 

I loved it ... Pat not so much. The salad noodle dish is similar to what I've gotten at Sam City in Albany but the cost for all of this was only $3.50.  At Sam City it would be $25.  Score!

A very good day .... The words I spoke to Pat years ago came back to haunt me though. I told him if he crashed his motorcycle again and couldn't feel his arms or legs to just roll on out into traffic. Pat enjoyed reminding me of this today! 

Halong Bay

Rain .... Not really what we were expecting but oh well. We left Hanoi about 9am and arrived in Halong Bay about 1pm. Our hotel isn't in the downtown area so when we walk we're walking thru some rougher areas. Our view from the 10th floor is of a dirt bus parking lot. :)

We decide to go see a movie, The Hobbit. We loved it and it was in English with Vietnamese subtitles. The popcorn was good as well ... They mixed sweet with the salty.

The next morning we head out for out boat tour of Halong Bay. The bay is filled with over a thousand  limestone islets. They are absolutely stunning, the problem is it's overcast and you can't see very well plus it's cold ... Something else we weren't expecting plus the rain.

We meet two young ladies from Hong Kong who speak good English and we become fast friends. They work for the government (secret agents we think ;) and are in Vietnam for 4 days. We go on our excursion from the bay to a cave .... It's one of the big attractions for the bay. It has lights inside that show off all the stalagmites and tites.

We then get on a bamboo raft and go inside one of the islets. Here's a short video of what it looked like.
 

Lunch is next, not everyone ordered it and Pats a little leary of a seafood lunch. We first get a sour soup with clams .... Very good. Next comes plate after plate of veggies, veggies and squid, chicken and onions, a whole grouper, and rice. We get fresh pineapple for dessert. For all my germ-a-phobe friends, there were only little bowls for us to use and everyone ate off the plates with chop sticks. Everything was so yummy.

We headed out for our last excursion, some paid to kayak so they went to do that. Next we walked to the top of a hill, close to 500 steps. Such a beautiful view.

A good day all in all .... 

Hanoi

Both HCMC and Hanoi are the busiest places I've ever been. I told Pat that I don't think I could live here. The constant beeping from the hoards of scooters that go everywhere is obnoxious. Of course, pedestrians don't have the right of way and you would lose the gamble of crossing a busy intersection. We did venture out once we got to our hotel because why come if you're not going to see the city. 

On our way to the hotel we both were hungry since we only had coffee since morning. We saw many little "shops" if that's what you would call them along the streets. Our motto when trying to find a restaurant is "pick the one with the most locals and eat there"! The problem is ... Picture small Asian people, around five foot, sitting on little plastics chairs that are 8 inches high. Now picture Pat and I siting on them. Pat put 3 on top of one another because he was so worried they would hold him. Our chicken and rice with hot soup and some sliced veggies hit the spot and cost us only $5. 

Our hotel is right in the heart of Hanoi, so busy and filled with chaos. Most everyone wears masks while riding their scooters and it's due to all the exhaust. My throat was sore after walking around all day.

Here's a few photos for your viewing pleasure?

This is the old gate in Hanoi where the Vietnamese faught off the Chinese for hundreds of years ..... That's a lie, but it sounds good.  ;)

A pagoda, Turtle Tower, in the middle of a lake in the middle of downtown. It's lite at night .... See below.

For those who wonder about the weather here, it's a little chilly tonight but today was perfect. We're headed to Ha Long Bay tomorrow by bus. 

Happy Christmas Eve everyone .... Wish you all were here!

Ho Chi Minh City

We left for HCMC yesterday, our flight left Chiang Mai at 12:40 p.m. and we arrived in HCMC at 5:40 p.m. We didn't get to our hotel until 8p.m. This was due to waiting to get our visa's. It's such a long process. Get in the visa line, turn in your pass ports with all your letters saying you're coming into the country. Wait. ..... Wait some more. .... Get tired of waiting but continue to wait. 

  

Finally, we left for our hotel, The White Hotel. Needless to say, there are 3 White Hotels. We were dropped off at #1, walked to #2 which we thought was ours but we're told we needed to be at #3. :) 

We waited for our friend Chit, who Pat had met the previous year when he and Zac came to Vietnam. She took us to dinner at a place called Wrap and Roll. We had spring rolls and hot pot beef. It was good and fresh with lettuce, basil, mint, cucumber, and jack fruit. 

Chit then took us to a roof top bar to listen to some acoustic music. The gentleman who hosted the music was from Minnesota. It was an open mic night so several people came up to sing who were quite good. 

Time to go to bed .... Up early to leave for Hanoi.

We're up early and ready to leave by 7, downstairs they have breakfast but we have no time BUT we need coffee, Cafe Sui Dom .... It's the best coffee ever. 

The Fall, Jet Lag, & The Trots ...

Just so you know ... there won't be any photo's to this post. So those of you who only like the pics, go ahead and leave. :)

I got about 3 hours sleep after we got into our place. Awake at 4:30 a.m. and just couldn't go back to sleep. I climbed out of bed at 6:30, took a quick shower. Because it's usually hot here they have no reason to use much hot water so their water heater is quite small. It was so cold my first night here I wanted a hot shower ... I got a warm shower. I will master the shower taking so I'll have a hot short shower. 

Pat has to report to work at 8 so we headed to the cafeteria for breakfast. I will post pictures of this as soon as I can, when we get back, the cafe is closed now for the holiday. I had a two egg omelet with onions, peppers, and tomatoes. BUT NO COFFEE!!! What the heck!! Pat said they don't drink it much here. In Chiang Mai there are coffee shops everywhere. Pat found me a "tube coffee", think instant coffee with creamer and sugar in a crystal light type tube. Not real coffee but it helped. We headed to meet all of his co-workers, everyone was so friendly and knew who I was before I had a chance to introduce myself. We headed upstairs to see if the headmaster was in and to meet the school principal and the other support staff. Again, everyone was friendly and welcoming. We brought Abbey along as well as we wanted her to get used to everyone. Of course, they thought she was the cutest ... and she is!

The Fall

We headed down the two flights of stairs, one flight then a landing, second flight ... and my foot slipped on the edge. I yelled something like, Ohhhhhh noooooo (Mr. Bill style). I had Abbey in my arms and slide down about 9 steps. Picture in your mind my large rump hitting everyone of those steps. All these lovely SMALL asian women came to my rescue. Poor Pat tried to catch me but it went so fast there was nothing he could do. He asked if I was okay and I was, for the most part. My pride was dinged and the large bruise on my bum will be quite large. No photo will follow! I should replace some of these football players who can't hold onto a ball because Abbey was safe when we got to the bottom. :)

The Trots

By the afternoon we were exhausted. Pat had gotten the use of a couples car so we could do some minimal shopping. We left about 7. We were like zombies walking through the mall. Yes, their mall is similar to ours except they will have all electronic stores on one floor. So competition is right next door. We got the few things we needed and headed back up the mountain (that's what they call where we live). Pat started feeling rough. The owner of the car has been sick for about 3 days with the trots and hurling. I think when he went to get the keys, he lingered too long in the germ infested house. Pat was up all night with the trots. No picture here either. 

He was up all night again last night. He was miserable. Needless to say we didn't make our flight this morning. We have rescheduled to leave on Tuesday, which is probably best so he can get to feeling much better. 

Later

We Made It!

This was such a long flight and if you couple it with not be able to take anything to relax, it made it even longer.
We left Seattle on Tuesday the 16th at 12:40p.m. Abbey and I woke up at 6 ... because that's what we do. We got to the airport at 9:30a.m., I was worried it would take awhile because of taking Abbey with me. We were done within 20 minutes of arrival. Nice. :) I was also worried they wouldn't accept my bags as all four weighed over the 50 lb limit. Scored again!
Whatever didn't fit in my four large suitcases made it's way into my duffle, I think it weighed nearly 60 lbs. I couldn't pick it up and put it on my back so I drug it to the gate.

Our first flight was 12 hours then we had an hour layover in Seoul which wasn't enough. Here I am waiting in a long line with about 200 people, some in the same situation. I had 15 minutes to get through and to my gate. If it wasn't for the help of a nice young man I wouldn't have made my flight. He asked one of the cart drivers to take me to my gate. I ran down the gateway to the plane with the stewardesses telling me to hurry. One came and helped me carry the bag. On to Chiang Mai.

This flight was 5 hours. Abbey was very anxious during this flight so I went to the bathroom and just held her for an hour. They wouldn't let me bring her out so this was the next best thing.

When we got to Chiang Mai, another long wait to have the Thai check our visa's and passports. We finally made it back to our new home and crawled into bed about 1:30 a.m.

HOME SWEET HOME

This is our new home for the next two years. It's bigger than we need.

This is the kitchen area. We do have a fridge and stove but I didn't take photo's of them yet but I will.  All our meals are included so I won't do much cooking. :)

Here's what you've been waiting to see ... the lovely bed that was calling my name. I pulled out the quilt the quilters made for me/us and put it on the bed. Don't mind the other things and Abbey who is scratching herself.

That's it for now. I only slept maybe 3 hours our first night here so pray I can settle into the time change and Abbey can as well.