HCMC for New Years 2015

Had lunch with the missionaries at the Ben Thanh Market.  They aren't allowed to wear their name tags, but I could spot them a mile away:  those white shirts and ties are a dead giveaway.  They just got permission from the Govt to teach in peoples homes.  Up until 2 days ago the lessons were all at the church.  It was 2012 when the missionaries were allowed in the country at all.  However, you must have Vietnamese bloodlines to be allowed in.  

These two cute girls were our tour guides one night.  The tourist district is #1 and they took us to District #8,7,4,2...it was great to see other parts of Saigon.  In district #7 is the expat area.  More cars than cycles!  You have a 300%import tax on cars.  You have to be rich!  Sadly there is very little middle class in Vietnam:  most poor and other mega rich.  The girls would start up a conversation with us and later I learned that Tom and I both had the same thoughts:  "Don't talk!  Keep your mind on your driving!"  The girls buy their own bikes, have to speak English fluently, and have a great personality, and be over 18 and under 30.  And in the next picture, they did confirm that you are allowed to drive on the sidewalks.  Look at that traffic, and we were part of it for an evening!

We couldn't figure out why you have sidewalks at all if you are allowed to drive on them!  

Beef cooked on a red tile slate over hot coals.  Then you add your greens and noodles and roll it up in a rice paper, like a spring roll.

Celebrating 40 years since the reunification of Vietnam as well as the New Year

Traffic 

Small pool on the 6th floor of our Rex Hotel.  The fireworks were shot from the  helicopter pad of the tower in the background.  We also spent our last night here on the deck enjoying the city lights, the warm weather, and rather basking in the fabulous trip we had just experienced.

Post Office.  We mailed a letter to my Mom on New Years Day with a special New Years Day stamp.

Beer and Coffee are specialties of Vietnam, and very cheap.  We stuck with Cap Tam however.  This drink is a mixture of all sorts of goodies which actually look disgusting but taste yummy.

Jade Pagoda.  It is a Taoist temple and people truly do worship here.  But it's a dive.  It got two pages in the tour book but it shouldn't have had more than a mention.

Yeah, my feeling exactly.   It was 30 degrees Celsius and way too hot.

For future Vietnam visitors.  Next time if the weather is right we will see Sapa in the North and spend a few days in the Mekong in the South.  Oh, and I wish we would have fit in Ankor Wat.  It's so close.  A shame not to add that.
Well, that concludes the trip to Vietnam.  It was a great trip never to be forgotten.  Thanks for listenin'
And now a great drought in photos.....Probably till March when we meet up with the Dan Herway family in Monterey!

Pagodas and Royal Tombs on the Perfume River (and happy anniversary to us!)

I just have to say that Dad thinks he deserves a throne like this....

The girls say that 'V' stands for Vietnam!

We weren't sure how we were going to execute this day.  It turned out fabulous.  After a nice breakfast, we walked to the harbor and arranged for a boat for the day.  For $50 we had a boat and a driver for 7 hours.  He took us down the Perfume River to see Thien Mu Pagoda and 3 tombs:  Tu  Duc Tomb, Khai Dinh Tomb, and Minh Mang Tomb.  All very different but our favorites were the last two.  Our boat driver had his mom on board to assist and she made us lunch.  Fantastic, much better than in the restaurant.  How she pulled it off right there in the boat is a miracle.  After the pagoda we were on land and traveled via chauffeured motorcycles to see two tombs.  That was a thrill.  At the end of the day we were walking back to the hotel and were stopped by two university students who had an assignment to talk to foreigners and practice English.  They have been studying English for 3 months:  "How old are you?"  "Where do you work" etc.  They are so tiny!  We stopped at a coffee shop and got blueberry smoothies to finish off the day.

Just want to shout out that today is our 38th anniversary!  We are still having fun, and Tom is still the one!

Imperial City Hue

Hue is one of the significant historical and cultural centers of Vietnam.  The Imperial City has undergone extensive restoration work and a glimmer of its former glory shines through.  Sadly a lot of it was damaged in the wars.  We enjoyed wandering around the complex for about 3 hours and felt we got a good feel for what it might have been like in 1805.  It was designated a World Heritage Site in 1993.

a snippet of our teenager! Happy Birthday today!

Found this little snippet of our newest teenager to get your stomach rolling....go Daph!  And Happy 13th Birthday!  XOXO

2015

It's 12:47am on Jan 1st, 2015 in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) Vietnam.  Fun to be the first of our family to bring in a new year!  Hope it will be a grand new year for everyone!

The Real Vietnam Countryside Bike Tour

IF you ever think your life is too hard, spend a day with the Vietnamese in their pursuits.

Barefoot.  Keeping the troughs free of mud.  Collecting the small crabs that are there.  I am sure they bite!

Sweet potato farming.  Again barefoot.

The biking group taking a 'selfie'.  The tour guides are in the orange top (Tringh) and behind her in the orange cap (Lily).

Fishing.  Yep, fishing.

Our biking trails were awesome.  Okay, pretty mucky, but fun!

This was before we biked across.  Feeling pretty confident.  

The bridge is the only way across the water.  Several families go together to build it and then they take turns collecting a toll from those who cross.  It is literally made of bamboo poles latched together with a strong netting material.  Really fun to bike across.  About 1/2 kilometer long.

One of the kids had a bike wreck so we had to make an unexpected stop to patch him up.  The villagers all came out to witness the production.  I loved it b/c the kid wasn't really hurt at all and it gave me a chance to take more pictures without holding up the group!

Sights of a fishing village

Oh, the zoom on my camera broke so all of the pictures were just what the camera eye could see.  Made it difficult, however I was proud of myself for getting what shots I could.

Another idea of one of our bike paths.

Time to cross to the next island.  We loaded up all of our bikes on this small boat.  Plus 11 people!  The boatman just dug his pole into the mud to anchor the boat.  The plank of wood loads in bikes and people.

This time we had a proper dock to unload onto.  Of course made of bamboo.  The man is Anton from Melbourne Australia.  He is a basketball player so he and Dad had fun talking sports.  

We biked from island to island, and from village to village

They invented these saucer type boats to avoid tax, since they are baskets and not boats.

The boats are not easy to navigate since you have to paddle differently than you would in a canoe or kayak.  If you paddle on the sides you will only spin.  Dad and a lady collided like bumper cars.