Seems there are wealthy televangilists in Laos, too

Thinking of going pro with the photography

Michelin star should arrive any day

$1US = 8,000Kip

Sunset Luang Prabang

Darn Dyslexia. Did I tell Michael 130+ steps?
Oops. Actually 310+ steps.

Nirvana - not the band, the frame of mind

After an enjoyable day yesterday, woke up again at 5AM for the taxi to the airport.


The flight numbers on the board never showed us a check-in area for our Laos Airline flight - waited patiently for instructions and then with only 1-1/2 hours to take off, decided to find someone to ask. Only Vietnam Airlines personnel around…apparently because only Vietnam Airlines flies all of these other routes. In this case, the booking was with Laos Airlines, the Flight was code share with Vietnam Airlines and the plane was Cambodia Angkor Air. So nice when people can get along.

Flying into Laos it was obvious from the air that we were going to like this place. Typical Asian mountains and lots of green that we could actually see through clear skies – not the ‘fog’ that sits over the cities in Vietnam. Landed in small airport in Luang Prabang (but don’t pronounce the g’s and say it like you have marbles in your mouth…that’s probably pretty close). Had reserved exactly $62 US for on-site Visa. Price apparently went up to $72US. Brief moment of panic. But Michael was allowed to leave the Immigration area to go out and use the ATM machine (in this itty bitty place) to get 700,000Kip (approx. $80US) so we could enter the country.

Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.

Let me repeat.

Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.

Within one hour we knew we would have to come back to Laos. Watch for future plans but for now we are thrilled to have four days here.

This town is adorable. There are restaurants at every step. There are amazing shops selling silver and silks and I don’t even like to shop….but watch me here!

Had a huge lunch. $13 including drinks and a shared dessert.

Saw some wats (temples), some monks amonkst us (he he he I crack me up), and have had just a lovely afternoon.

Getting ready to climb the 130+ steps up to the top of Phu Si to watch the setting sun light up the temples.

So photos later.

We were sailing along on Halong Bay

Now that you've been blasted by photos from Michael, I'll just wind up quickly about our day today.
Compared to yesterday's crazy, frenetic pace this was a real sleeper...except for the not sleeping part.
We were picked up this morning by our driver and our guide....Hoang (or "Tim", his easier tourist name though Hoang seems perfectly do-able to us) from Hai Phong. He was so intent on us understanding his English and would constantly ask if we understood and if not he would stick with it until we comprehended every subtle nuance of his stories. Admirable, for sure. But it was giving me a headace at 6AM.
Meanwhile, the ride to Halong Bay was longer than anticipated...almost 4 hours. Luckily we had our Kindle's with us so we could read during the drive.
Once there, the boat was, in fact, just what 'Manager' said it would be and just the two of us on it. It was a beautiful day out on the water, clearing to sunny but with a nice breeze. Walks through two caves and just motoring around the bay looking at island after island after island of the 1986 that exist in the bay.
Lunch on the boat was quite a spread....chicken wings, fresh shrimp, whole fish, squid, salads, veggies, rice, etc etc etc.
And then about 3 hours back. (Funny thing. Anybody who's ever taken a horse out for a ride knows that they move a lot faster once you turn back towards the barn. Well, same is true of Halong Bay boats and Hanoi drivers.)
Gotta go search for dinner now.
Tomorrow Goodbye Vietnam! Hello Laos!

Islands in Halong Bay

Water puppets in Hanoi

Never complain about laundry again!

Gardening along the river

They really do have pagodas here

Too tired to be witty

Sorry about that. But I am exhausted - again. In fact, it's tomorrow (my tomorrow not yours) now because I fell asleep with my fingers poised over the keyboard and this program shut down. Luckily Google somehow realized what had happened (aren't computers amazing? Hal, thanks for helping.) and saved the draft.
Anyway, starting to really look forward to eating french pastries and meditating with the monks in Laos in a couple of days, but first there was much to be done.
Caught our flight to Hanoi. The woman gave us exit row seats which was only marginally disturbing because in other foreign countries you have to be able to speak the language to sit in the exit row (so you can understand instructions if given in a crisis - makes sense) but nobody seems to care about that here. Good news, bad news.
Anyway, got to Hanoi. Caught a cab. Into town (about 35 KM). Pulled up at the Sunshine Palace Hotel and some guy jumps in our cab with us and explains that he is the manager of the hotel, that they have 5 hotels and filled up 'our' hotel with a big group so he was moving us to one of their other hotels for a comparable room. Cab driver tried to double our fare by asking us to pay for some permit/ticket he got at the airport so we had to tell him to get lost.  Then our manager guy shows us our room and then checks us in and then offers to book us our trip to Halong Bay. We are going to Halong Bay, of course, since when you see photos of Halong Bay it is what you think of when you think of Vietnam - big, vertical, pointed rocks sticking out of the bay - well, it's what you see in your mind's eye when you are not thinking of the impressive pine forests!
But our used-car-salesman like manager is running at a mile a minute....no we don't want a group tour that leaves at 8AM on a bus and gets to Halong Bay at nearly noon to have lunch on the water, kayak, and come back. My guide book said, if you can, to rent a private boat so you can go where you want (not just the crowded, standard places). So we asked about that....started at $335pp for 'deluxe', then $250pp for "Superior' and finally, when I suggested we think about it to $185pp for 'standard' with presumably the only difference being the size of the boat. Of course he had a picture of one boat and kept saying the next one down is 'the same just smaller' so there could still be some interesting turns in this saga. But given that the cab ride (based on the actual meter from the airport and the distance to Halong Bay) would be about $80 US each way we can live with that since this way we can leave at 6A and get there faster and stay as long as we like. ('The boat will be yours. You do what you want.' said the man.) So good.
After checking in and finding out where the heck we are (since we were not expecting to be in this location), we set off for: the market (3 stories high) so with real floors instead of dirt which was a nice touch; the merchant streets surrounding the market area and the lake. Basically navigated blocks and blocks and blocks of stuff. We talk about conspicuous consumption in the United States but this is just a different kind of conspicuous consumption. We have fancy cars and Nordstrom. But here they have one billion little stalls packed to the absolute gills with absolutely anything and everything FOR MILES. It's all crap, but there is a TON of it. I mean use one of the candy scales and weigh it all. I am sure I will be proven right.
Got to the lake. Walked to the end of it to see the 'beautiful examples of French Colonial architecture' at the Sofitel hotel and the Opera House. Returned to the north end of the lake right on time to buy our tickets for the Water Puppet Theatre Show at 3:30P and then went to have a beer.
Since we had time, we walked to the 'musical instrument' section of the massive shopping area. Nothing. Walked on to the knife maker section to find a guy who was actually featured in the on board airrline magazine for his craftsmanship.....nothing. Crap. Just rough hewn kitchen knives....no facas artisinale, that's for sure.
By then, we had to kick ass back to the puppet theatre in time for the show. We knew not to expect much. The puppets are pretty simple without a lot of articulation but they skim the water while being controlled by the puppeteers standing hip deep in water back behind the curtain. They do some interesting maneuvers given that they have to keep from tangling up the rods or whatever they use to control the puppets, jump through some fire rings that sort of thing and the music was very pretty. But it's like opera. Can't understand anything they are saying. Can't sing along to the tunes. And I was beat from running around town so I may have dozed off during some of the key parts but I think I got the gist.
By this point...having lived only on a beer and the candy we bought in the candy merchant section of town we were getting weak and dizzy so we headed back to the hotel more than a little concerned that we were not seeing restaurants. In all of our walking thus far the only one we saw was the place where we had our beer. Trudging all the way back we still never saw one. Got to the hotel. Still nothing. Asked at the desk and the woman said there was a nice place further down the road (yeah! further!) so we kept walking. Still nothing. Seeing nothing. Just more little shops. And then literally at the corner before the street number for the restaurant the world changed. Not hugely. We weren't all of a sudden in Manhattan or anything. By perceptively. Bam. There were actual stores...with store fronts and windows and real clothes. And a restaurant. A real restaurant. Actually fancier than anyplace we've eaten so far. We felt like we had reached the oasis in the desert. I think I even heard angels singing.
So in the end, we were not left to starve on the streets of Hanoi. We did find sustenance. Very good food, in fact. I even splurged on a glass of wine. The menu said it was Cabernet/Merlot and it was white wine that was awful but only $3US/glass so I had two. I mean at some point you just count your blessings and enjoy the moment.

The Worldwide Web

Isn't exactly worldwide. I just tried to go to facebook and I cannot connect to the site. The browser will not take me to the page saying connection problem. But it will take me anywhere else I have cared to go. So apparently folks who have 287 faux-friends are not welcome here.
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Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore" -Poe

My bird-watching brother may have been breathing a sigh of relief that I
haven't posted any bird pictures for identification so far on this trip, but
there's an intriguing reason for that. There are none. No, seriously. A few
sparrows pecking at the ground in Ho Chi Minh City but it dawned on me this
morning when we were eating breakfast outside at the hotel where normally
there'd be well-trained birds not-so-patiently waiting for crumbs that there
are no birds. Where the heck are they? In Hue, we are not far from the coast
and on top of a river....no water birds even? Not a duck? Not a seagull? Not
a pigeon. Freakish really.

So on our river cruise today I was purposely scanning for them. ONE white
crane flew across the river in front of us. ONE. The whole time. And once at
another emperor's tomb I heard something chirping. It might have been a bird
but that is pure speculation. But that was it. Very peculiar............

Meanwhile, the river cruise was nice. A lot of dredging of the river whereby
these little local boats suck up the bottom with big hoses, force the spray
through a screen and collect the sand/silt into the hull of the boat to take
it to the side of the river to off load it all and do it again. Only a few
boats actually fishing. Of course for all I know there aren't a whole lot
more fish than there are birds.

Saw more tombs, more temples, more pagodas and some water buffalo. I thought
at first they just looked like unhappy cows, but that's because they were
water buffalo. And just like any place touristy, it always makes me laugh
when you are walking to an 'attraction' and there is a line of stalls or
kiosks and everybody is trying to sell you the EXACT same things. Bananas?
Candy? Coca Cola? Bananas? Candy? Coca Cola? Over and over again. How come
nobody ever throws in a Cookies? Margaritas? Nope. Whatever it is in the
area (Chicklets in Mexico or Finger puppets in Cuzco, Peru) that's it. No
exceptions.

In addition, I realize that I've only seen a wee tiny little bit of Vietnam,
but I clearly had some incorrect, preconceived notions of the area. I was
expecting one of two things: jungle or Bali. So far I'm wrong on both
counts. Obviously no jungle in the cities. But we are also in the midst of
pine covered forests. Totally unexpected. Gotta go back and check my
latitude.

On the food front, had another great lunch today. Grilled shrimp and grilled
pork that you wrap in rice paper along with some greens (tiny cilantro, tiny
mint, tiny celery leaves and lettuce) with a light peanut sauce. Yum. Yum.
And Michael tried the banana blossom and shrimp soup that he liked so much
he wants to go back to have more for dinner. Really nice.

Afterwards we did a little strolling around and window shopping. We've
really gotten quite adept at crossing the street amidst all of the cars,
motorcycles, scooters and bikes. Have decided that the key is NEVER flinch
and for heaven's sake NEVER STOP. Pick your path, stick to it, and maintain
a steady and predictable speed so everybody else can avoid you. Works like a
charm. Walking 'along' the street is actually the tricky part. You have
moving vehicles on the streets, but you have parked vehicles all along the
sidewalks - such as they are. So you are either up and down off the curbs to
take advantage of the short stretches of unobstructed sidewalk that exist
before stepping down into the street again or you just stay in the street.
Michael was getting a little uncomfortable walking in the street and
demanded that we get back up on the sidewalk. Not two strides later a
bicycle comes out of a space between two houses, turns right while looking
left and comes within a hair's breadth of hitting us. So after being
perfectly safe crossing the streets, we nearly get hit on the sidewalk!

Finally, we stepped into one little shop and my head whips around. What is
that? What is that sound? Birds? Are there birds here finally? Yup, 6 of
them in 6 cages hanging from the ceiling. And then I remembered the other
place I saw birds....at the market....in cages. That's where the birds are.

I scream for ice cream

Lovely evening last night. The lights on the nearest bridge across the Perfume River has color changing lights on it. You don’t see that every day.

Staunchly avoided the tourist restaurant across the street, conveniently called The Touristy Restaurant, with its western food, pool tables and American music and went to a local place nearby for beef noodles and chicken fried rice. Then New Zealand ice cream. Michael had coconut and durian (I do NOT know why he likes that stuff) while I tried raspberry and sugar-dried tamarind (which it turns out tastes very much like carmelized ginger).

Slept like a baby last night – finally. And woke up this morning with the realization that we have only actually been here for less than 48 hours. Wow.

Off to breakfast.

Puff the Magic Dragon

Dragons, dragons everywhere. On roofs of temples, on columns of tombs, on walls.
Everywhere here in Hue.
Things went well at the airport this morning. We even ate Pho (noodle soup) for breakfast.
Here in Hue we walked over to the market and then the Citadel, Imperial City. Then we dragged our weary asses back to have lunch (three different Vietnamese appetizers, two beers and a Coke Light for $10....and the drinks were the more expensive things.) This afternoon off to see the tombs of two Nguyen Emperors. That was a lot of walking for a couple of old folks who spent the previous couple of days sitting around eating and drinking. So now we've hit the wall and crashed a little bit.
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving back at home. Save us a piece of pumpkin pie.

Not sure if these are good guys or bad guys

Turtles are symbols of luck in Viet Nam...unless you are a turtle...

Good Morning, Vietnam! - Robin Williams

OK, so anyone who is a betting man knew that we’d have to use that one. Cheap shot, I know.

Meanwhile, it isn’t really morning yet. But with jet lag and time zone changes, I have been awake off and on since midnight. Need to be up at 4A to catch our flight to Hue so 3:30A seems as good a time as any to blog as we eat our complimentary dragon fruit (very cool, like sweet jicama with teeny black seeds), green bananas and green oranges.

Just wanted to catch up on yesterday. It’s a bit of a fog but here are the highpoints to finish the day.

Walked around. Sweated like pigs. Marveled at the teeny tiny tables and stools that everyone sits on at the local eateries. Really like little step stools or pre-school furniture. If Michael even attempted to sit on one, well, he’d never get up again and we’d just have to use him as a planter. He’d look disproportionally immense rather like Will Ferrell in the movie, Elf.

Huge wedding going on here last night. Why on a Thursday?, I wonder. But the reception was set up on the courtyard right under our supposedly quiet, away-from-the-street standard room. So we complained (what with our 4AM wake-up call) and got a bigger room on the other side. The wedding party was in bright yellow with red trims…the guys’ suits were reminiscent of the Beatles and made of shiny silk material. And more than one woman other than the bride was wearing a long, formal white dress. Hmmmmm?

Unfortunately, it was raining cats and dogs so we ate on the sidewalk outside the hotel to watch traffic go by (plastic poncho clad vespa drivers all over the place) and saw some unlucky guests who arrived that way entering the hotel with the sides and legs of their fancy attire all wet. Boo hoo.

Slept well when we slept and really looking forward to getting on with the trip.

Do you know the way to San Jose?

So we're in line going back through security in transit in Hong Kong. An Indian family of four is just ahead of us in line and I notice the the father is toting a cloth briefcase provided by the drug company, Bayer, at some AVMA Conference or another. So Michael asks him if he's a veterinarian (After all, I am carrying a very nice Hill's Pet Food sponsored backpack that I 'won' at an AVMA booth a couple of years ago.) No he's not, he explains in his Indian accent, a friend of his gave it to him. He lives in Davis....California...OK. What are those odds?
Then after we took our showers and had our coffee, we were in line to board our final flight and start chatting with the guy behind us who would appear to be from Southeast Asia. Michael asks if he lives in Hong Kong. Nope, traveling on business. He lives in Orange Country, CALIFORNIA....breeds and trains police dogs....was just in Germany buying some new dogs! OK.
And then, we get to Ho Chi Minh City. We go through Immigration and are on the escalator coming down into Baggage Claim and the woman behind us, clearly Vietnamese, speaking with a Vietnamese accent, asks if we are here on business or holiday. Holiday. Where do you live? We live in the Caribbean but used to live in California. Really? She has a house in NEWPORT BEACH, CA.
So, who's gonna do that statistical calculation? What are the odds that three randomly chosen people in Hong Kong and Ho Chi Minh City all live in California?
Anyway, here and exhausted. Got to the Continental Hotel which was the location for a book clled the Quiet American (that I would be reading right now except it's not on Kindle). Pretty dated place but in the middle of the 'touristy' part of the city. Went to the Jade Emperor Pagoda (Michael will post some photos later) and then walked a circuit of the buildings to see in this area. Now fighting to stay awake (Michael gave up a little while ago) because if we both fall asleep there's no telling when we manage to wake up againnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Back to the Future

35 hours down 3.5 to go.
That International Date Line crossing is always a little bit weird. There you are traveling backwards and backwards and backwards with the time getting earlier and earlier and earlier and then WHAM! you shoot forward into tomorrow. So now it's Thanksgiving here but not yet where people actually celebrate Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, sitting here in the Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge in Hong Kong. Have about 30 minutes before our final leg to Ho Chi Minh City so took a quick shower....bless these lounges (how many times do I say that every trip?), a cup of coffee and then we'll be off.
For future reference I may need to start taking drugs to sleep. Slept only fitfully and probably less than 3 hours straight from JFK to Vancouver and then only an hour at a stretch for maybe 4 hours total spaced out during the 14 hours to Hong Kong. Michael reminded me that the last time we flew to Hong Kong was from LAX 10 years ago on our way to China and that was coach and he was the age I am now so he's thinking we should start preserving our frequent flier miles and start flying coach again. HA! We'll see how he feels once the rummy-ness wears off.
But it was lovely (after hours or what seemed like days of darkness) to see the sun rise from the other side of the Pacific Ocean as we came into Hong Kong this morning. Stunning.

Sometimes you have to wonder

Why did we ever declare our independence?
We landed in JFK at terminal 8 and bopped in to the Admirals Club Lounge to find out where to go for our Cathay Pacific One World Alliance flight to Hong Kong. Terminal 7. But Michael had some emails on his laptop he needed to send so we stayed where we were to use the internet not knowing what we'd find in T7. Drank some iced tea. Passed on the carrot sticks. Recharged some batteries and then headed over.
Now we are in the British Airways (also One World partners) Terraces Lounge (note not EVEN the First Class Lounge) with the full, self-serve bar, the drinks, the sandwiches, the cookies and candies, and the cushy chairs. What were we thinking? Oh, and the water fountain in the middle. The British know how to do it right!
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'To infinity...and beyond!' - Buzz Lightyear

Well, the pool is clean, the laundry is in the process, the fridge is cleaned out and apparently the ferries are running to St Martin (there was some concern about high seas shutting down the ports). Sonya and Bob are on their way to take care of the poor kitties who always think they want in the luggage when we are packing but really did not inherit their parents penchant for travel.
We'll head to SXM this afternoon to spend the night in anticipation of our first (of five flights) starting at 9AM tomorrow morning followed by about 28 hours on planes and 9 hours in airports.
Everybody keeps saying how small the world has become, but you are not going to be able to prove it by me!
We'll catch you later from the other side of the world.

Sometimes we forget

We travel so much and marvel at the foreign and the exotic
and then we forget to look out our own windows.
Sunrise in Anguilla today.