Hanoi, Vietnam:
They carry anything and everything on their bikes.
Almost no Vietnamese own cars. It was illegal until very recently.
Just bikes and scooters.
And they cook outside all the time;
on the sidewalks mainly, but this lady was right on the street!
When the meal is ready, they pull up a tiny plastic stool and eat right there on the sidewalk.
After a VERY long bus trip with a 'mad driver' passing every living thing in front of him,
we finally made it to Halong Bay. Spectacular!
(You know a cruise will be great when they greet you with refreshments)
We spent a short, but luxurious 2 day cruise
in this majestic World Heritage Site.
Below is the boat we cruised aboard.
This was an actual fishing village where the families live on house boats. (Ha Long Vung Vieng)
There are less than 100 people living in this small bay area.
All the children takes small boats to school each week day!
The funniest thing was seeing satellites on the roofs, electrical generators, and TV's on inside!
So bizarre!
Every sunset and sunrise was magnificent!
(This is sunset)
Morning Tai Chi class on the upper deck.
(While watching the sun rise).
Sunrise.
Our instructor.
Class ended with a group massage!
Ahhh...
Exploring some local caves....
Wayne and Suzie were fascinated by these very low lying freighters
that often had waves rolling right over the top of the hulls!
that often had waves rolling right over the top of the hulls!
Halong Bay is a beautiful spot to kayak.
We had lots of fun!
And back to Hanoi- the craziest streets we have ever seen.
These streets are loaded with scooters day and night!
And there are NO traffic laws at all.
Just crossing the road was trecherous!
All sidewalks could potentially be an outdoor cafe;
just put out 6 inch plastic stools and serve food!
This was everywhere; we didn't think the Vietnamese had kitchens
in their tiny apartments. Everyone ate outside.
ANYTHING can be transported on a bike in Asia.
Just trust us on that one (or look at Noah's book).
Time to fly south to Saigon
(now called Ho Chi Min City)
How nice that our most luxurious hotel after 13 months of travel was right at the end of our trip!
This suite was all marble, hard wood, brass, and crystal!
We loved it. Great way to finish the year.
Some very modern buildings in Ho Chi Min City,
but the majority was still old and quaint.
The Vietnamese people are trying very hard to modernize
and join the 20th century, but the war set them back terribly!
The original, old Post Office.
The kids are very glad they don't have to work in the rice fields!
(I can't imagine in this heat).
The main market.
A great dinner at an "American Style" restaurant (for the kids).
Then off to the theatre!
Amazing performance of dancers with giant
woven rice bowls (used like trampolines), chop sticks bigger than the men (used to catapult themselves), and Circ de Soleil style acrobatics...
woven rice bowls (used like trampolines), chop sticks bigger than the men (used to catapult themselves), and Circ de Soleil style acrobatics...
It was a perfect treat for our family as began our final, final pack up to come home!
After we packed and repacked our baggage, and by some miracle, evenly distributed the weight perfectly between the 8 bags.... we then flew from Vietnam to Seoul, South Korea. There we all napped on the airport benches for hours and awaited our final flight to Detroit.
Despite having planned out our sleep schedule for the 36 hour journey home (to minimize Jet Lag), we threw our plans 'out the window' and watched movie after movie for 16 hours straight!!!
It was awesome! Ellise barely slept 2 or 3 hours, and Noah, Wayne and Suzie had a marathon of movies like we hadn't just watched anything coming from Vietnam the night before!! What fun!
Then suddenly, we were home. A snow storm the day before had settled down and luckily allowed our parents to come to Detroit Metro Airport easily on the 23rd day of January, 2015, to welcome us home; exactly 13 months after departing!
