Wednesday September 16, 2009 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Siem Reap, Cambodia

Day 19 of 36

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Siem Reap, Cambodia
Flight 10 of 18
263 miles of 22,121 total miles to travel

We awoke at 7 am and had our usual morning ritual ending with a large breakfast in the Executive Lounge. I updated my blog and email and then we took a walk out in HCMC. We went into the Park Hyatt Hotel - beautiful but we like our hotel better.

We walked to a large park with a concrete structure over a pond. The tower looked like a lotus flower with small fountains and walkways out over the pond. We rested there - it was hot - and then headed back to the hotel. We stopped in a modern shopping centre - we could have been at the Galleria. But it was cool inside. They had a huge Korean Ginseng display - this stuff is expensive. Tim got a cold diet coke and then we headed back to the hotel to finish packing and check email, etc one last time.


We went to the Executive Lounge and had a cold drink and looked at the city sights one last time. Tim checked us out with the concierge, we retrieved our bags and went to the lobby to get our hotel car (a Mercedes of course) to go to the airport. Traffic wasn't that bad and we made it there in about 20 minutes. Amazing considering the minibikes zipping around.

The chauffeur dropped us off and we checked in with Vietnam Airlines. Then to immigration, security and customs. An easy process. They didn't even find the bottle of water that was in my backpack!


We checked out the duty free shops - they were expensive - looked for wine (too expensive and not much choice) and then went upstairs and had a small sandwich and diet coke since we hadn't had lunch. We then headed to our gate but Tim was nervous "Why isn't our flight posted?", "This isn't the right gate!", "This isn't right", etc, etc, etc. I asked the attendant and she told me this was where we should be but he still didn't believe it. It was right. The flight was late coming in so they were late loading, but we got on the bus and went out to the plane. We left right on time with cloudy, hazy skies over HCMC. Goodbye, Vietnam.

The flight was bumpy - they gave us a snack (small ham sandwich and a small container of water) and lots of papers to fill out for our arrival in Cambodia. We had gotten eVisas so this was going to expedite the process for us. We hoped to see some of the ruins from the air but no such luck.

We landed at the new Siem Reap airport. And because we had our eVisas we were the first through the immigration counters. But the agents took forever. Especially with Tim. Lots of stamping, looking at us, checking the computer, etc. While he was finishing, I retrieved our bags since they were among the first ones out and waited for him. Tim exchanged some USD into Cambodia real.

Our driver from the hotel was waiting right at the exit for us. Nice guy and friendly. While he loaded up our luggage, I went to an ATM at the front of the hotel. I was so surprised when I got USD out instead of CVR! I had to laugh - come halfway around the world and the ATM is giving me US currency!!! Amazing. We wondered how much of the US currency is outside of the US?

Short drive to La Residence d'Angkor. LOTS of new hotels being built on the way from the airport to the city. We love the location of where we are - right on the river with a lanai overlooking the river - beautiful grounds - just lovely. We checked in and made some dinner reservations for tonight and tomorrow night (show dinner at the hotel). We were led to our room which is lovely - large room with separate tub/shower, and the lanai over looking the river. Tim was excited and loves it.

We went to the lobby bar for drinks - it is happy hour. We learned from our experience in Hanoi and asked what "happy hour" meant. Buy 2 drinks and get 1 free (for each person). OK - so that's what we did. It was attitude adjustment hour. The concierge made a reservation for us at a restaurant right around the corner - Viroth's. It had started raining - hard at times - but the hotel had lots of umbrellas that we could use. It was a short walk around the corner. And Viroth's exceeded our expectations for our first meal in Cambodia. We had a bottle of South African Chenin Blanc. Tim had Khmer fish sour soup and Larry had pumpkin soup with sesame seeds. Delicious. For main course, Tim had akoc fish and Larry had Khmer chicken with morning-glory wine steamed. We both had steamed rice. It was delicious. For dessert we shared bananas flambed in rum. We are stuffed and very satisfied with the Cambodia food after one meal. We look forward with anticipation to trying more things.

We made the short walk back to the hotel, updated our blog and emails, and headed off to bed. We have to get up early to meet our tour guide to begin exploring one of the greatest ruins on earth - Angkor Wat.

There is a mosquito net over our bed and we are tempted to use it but the concierge told me that this is for "atmosphere" only. We wonder. Tim swears that there is a big mosquito in our room!!! (:-)

Off to bed - we are excited to be in Cambodia for the final leg of our adventure in Southeast Asia.

Tuesday September 15, 2009 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Day 18 of 36

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

We got up about 7 am and went to the Executive Lounge for our breakfast and strong coffee. Today we are headed to the outskirts of HCMC to Cu Chi Tunnels where the Viet Cong lived underground. This was a maze of very small tunnels - 250 km of them - over 160 miles - where over 10,000 VC lived.

We got in our hotel supplied Mercedes with our driver and headed through the streets of HCMC in heavy traffic. The traffic still amazes me after almost 2 weeks in Vietnam. I don't know how it works but it does without everyone getting hit. We were about an hour out of the city and the police stopped our driver - we don't know why. We think the Mercedes was an easy target. I noticed the drive putting a large Dong bill in his papers, he got out of the car and went to talk to the police and then returned. I guess if you have money in your papers, things get handled more quickly?

We drove through all kinds of back roads to get to Cu Chi. We commented that tourists would never be able to find this on their own. No English signs, and few signs of any kind. Our driver bought our tickets and we went through a new tunnel under the road to meet our guide - a thin Vietnamese young man who made it clear that he aligned with the Viet Cong. He did a good tour with good explanations and understandable English.

The first tunnel he showed us was camouflaged with leaves on the top of the small cap. One of the Vietnamese lowered himself into the tunnel. A couple of the tourists tried - one man couldn't get his shoulders past the opening it was so small. Most of the tunnels are this size but one was doubled in size to allow tourists inside.

We saw bomb craters and other displays. A cook hole with the smoke exhaust vented through a tunnel 25-30 feet away so the smoke would not show where the kitchen tunnel was directly. There was a shooting range where you could shoot real guns with real bullets but we didn't do that. They used no ear protection. They had lots of bottles of snake wine here - the guide told me "this will make your wife very happy" as he raised his arm and tightened his fist. He smiled.

They showed us a hut where they were making rice papers - used to roll up food for spring rolls. They had them drying in the sun on bamboo racks.

We got to the tunnel that we were to visit. They had widened the opening considerably but you had to sort of jump down into the tunnel and boy was it tight. And they widened the tunnel too! You had to crouch over and move along with your head and shoulders bumping the sides. It was dark, small, and HOT. Tim went to the second exit but Larry headed out at the first exit. Enough of an adventuresome experience. I'm glad I did it but it was a bit claustrophobic for me.

Our Vietnamese guide explained to us that his father fought for the Viet Cong and he was sympathetic to the Communists. His father was injured in the war and the guide hates the American GI for what they did to his countrymen and country. He asked where I was from and when I told him "America", he made a face and pretended to strike my arm (all in jest). But he was obviously serious.

He showed us how they made "Ho Chi Minh shoes" from old tire treads. The Viet Cong would wear these backward to confuse the US GI's - we would think they were going in one direction when they were really going in the opposite direction. This was a way that we were not ready for - they outwitted us in every regard. Hopefully, we'll learn from history.

We skipped the narrated movie as Tim needed to get back to the hotel for some work items. So we found our driver in the parking lot. We obviously got back early as he came running across the parking lot without his hotel uniform on - just a tee shirt. He gave us ice cold towels and that felt so good as it was so hot and steamy. This location is right on the Saigon River and the guide had told us that the tunnels ran down to the river.

The drive back into HCMC took about 1 1/2 hours. He dropped us at the hotel front door, we freshened up and then headed out for a "Pho" (pronounced "fuh") lunch - noodles with various things in it. I had beef pho, Tim had chicken pho with spring rolls. I had hot tea that was good but the crumbled tea leaves were just floating in the water and not strained. I had creme brulee for dessert and that was good. After lunch, Tim headed back to the hotel to work and I headed off to explore and wander.

First I went to the Saigon River. Passed Maxim's restaurant that specializes in Vietnamese food. Not much to see on the river and it was impossible to cross the street here due to the wide street packed with traffic. So I kept walking. Got to a large bridge but there was no pedestrian walk and there was no way I was going to walk over with that traffic. So I headed a different direction getting somewhat lost - that was fun. Found another street market full of shoes - all shoes of every kind. Passed several sidewalks with motorbike parking. The sidewalk was roped off and they used it to park their minibikes - so I had to walk in the street! Found my way back to the big Tranh Market where we were yesterday. The traffic circle here is reputedly the busiest in HCMC so I stood and watched the traffic going every which a way - amazing.

I crossed over to the market and roamed through again. Lot of people pulling on me - "What you like?", "What you looking for, mister?", "How much you spend?", "Look here, mister", "Where you from?", etc. Many of the young girls pull on you to get you into their shop. Anything to start up a conversation. I found a quieter tee shirt stall and bargained with the lady for 2 tee shirts - a red one and green one with the gold Vietnamese star. She wanted $6 each but I got them for $3 each. It was fun bargaining. Tim was happy with his green one since I don't wear green! It sprinkled a couple of times while I was out and I was a ways from the hotel and the skies were getting darker by the minute so I headed back to the Caravelle. Actually just in time as it started raining shortly after my return.

I got back and updated my blog and email and took a nap while it rained cats and dogs with blustery winds. Tim worked.

About 6 we went to the Executive Lounge for our red wine. This time we sat at the far end of the lounge from the food so we wouldn't eat. We have reservations at a very special restaurant tonight at 8 - Au Manoir de Khai. French food at its finest. We enjoyed the night lights over HCMC while we had our wine. HCMC is much more developed with neon signs and high rises - unlike the other Vietnamese cities we have visited. I thought it was interesting that HCMC had developed this way first. Tim commented that we had been so afraid of the spread of communism but this couldn't be any more of a capitalist society. Money - Money - Money.

We left about 7:40 to get a taxi to the restaurant. It was located in a large old mansion with gardens. We were taken to the second floor up a large split stairway. Only 4 tables occupied so it was quiet. Au Manoir de Khai had a classic French menu. We received an "amuse bouche" that was a small slice of fois gras. Delicious. I had a seafood bisque and Tim had grantinee of scallops - both delicious. We had a cleansing of the pallet with a block of ice with a hole into which was put some sorbet with Cointreau. Main course was Tournedos with fois gras and black truffles for Larry (yummy!) and lamb tenderloin. We had preordered Grand Marnier souffles for dessert and they arrived a bit later and were spectacular. We had splurged with a fabulous bottle of 2003 Margaux - it was delicious with our meals. The service was over the top with 3 tuxedoed waiters attending to our every need. They didn't hover but were very attentive. A delicious, delicious French meal for our last night in Vietnam. Cost about $220. The taxi ride there and back was less than $2 each way. Taxis are a real deal - reminded us of China.

We returned to the hotel. Tim did some more work and Larry finished his Julia Child book "My Life in France". Then to sleep for our last night in Vietnam.

We agreed that we have had a marvelous time - but neither of us felt a desire at this point to return to Vietnam - there are too many other places to visit. We are glad we came but on to new adventures. We sleep with great anticipation of our visit tomorrow to Cambodia.

Monday September 14, 2009 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Day 17 of 36

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC)

We slept until 7 with the curtains blocking the light. A good night's sleep and not as many weird dreams. Showered, dressed and headed to the Concierge Lounge for the breakfast that is included with our room. It was a filling and yummy breakfast. Strong coffee too.

We picked out several sites to check out first as we began our explorations of HCMC. We left the hotel and went directly across the street to the HCMC Opera House first. Directly behind that is the Park Hyatt Hotel, another recommended place to stay. We walked a bit further to the Central Post Office across the street from the HCMC Notre Dame Cathedral. Then up the large Le Duan Street directly to the Reunification Palace, formerly the Norodom Palace built in 1873. This was a large complex that was the head of government for the President of South Vietnam. It was here that tanks broke through the gates in 1975 forcing the President to surrender. It was then that Vietnam was finally unified.

We saw the state dining room, large conference rooms, communications rooms in the basement and the President's Mercedes Benz that he used to be driven in. We watched a 35 minute video in English that gave us a lot of the history. When we emerged from the Reunification Palace, it was starting to rain, and shortly a down-pour ensued. As Yveline would say, "It was raining frogs!". So we headed back to the hotel for a while. The museums are closed at midday until 1:30 anyway. Neither of us were hungry so we rested and headed back out a little after 1 - this time with umbrellas. It is monsoon season and the hotel staff told us to expect rain every day. It doesn't seem to phase the locals at all and the minibikes continue to run everywhere.

We headed back out and went past the large Peoples' Committee Headquarters - named after Ho Chi Minh of course. We went across the large Street Le Duan to the War Remnants Museum. We spent a good bit of time here and looked at the pictures and commentary. It was disturbing to say the least. Even though it was written from the perspective of our enemy, the Vietnam War (or the American Way from their perspective) was an awful thing that escalated unnecessarily and so many lives were lost. Lots of war memorabilia.

After the museum, we headed to the Ben Thanh Market - a large indoor market with everything - jewelry, clothes, toys, linens, fabric, food, etc. I bargained with a woman and bought a stack of linen napkins that I really liked. I paid $21 and I'm sure that I overpaid for them. She wanted $2 each and she was a hard bargainer.

Right at the market is a large traffic circle. It was incredible with traffic zooming everywhere. This is supposed to be the busiest circle in HCMC. We then headed back to Le Duan and walked to the consulate area. We passed the French consulate and reached the US consulate. After the evacuation of Saigon by the US when relations were reestablished, the US torn down the old consulate. "Too many bad memories!". I took a picture from across the street and the soldiers about had a hissy-fit. They whistled and waved at me. Whoops! But I got the picture, but it wasn't impressive. There was lots of locals standing across the street from the consulate but we don't know why.

We headed through some side streets back to the Caravelle and entered a large hospital complex. It was huge with lots of buildings - mostly open air. Out through the other side of the hospital and back to the hotel to shower and dress for "cocktail time". We are both "getting kind of nervous!".

The wine and extensive hors d'oeuvres are all complementary with our room so this was a good deal for us.

Tim wants to go to a Pho restaurant and there is one just down the street from our hotel but tonight we are going to do French Vietnamese food at Au Manoir de Khai, a highly rated French restaurant that is supposed to have a beautiful garden and good ambience. It is owned by the same corporation (Khai Silk) that owns the restaurant where we ate last night so we are sure it will be good. It ends up that Tim needs to work tonight so we stayed in - heavy hors d'oeuvres and red wine for dinner - he worked and I read "My Life in France" by Julia Child - wonderful.

Then to bed early. Off to the tunnels tomorrow.

Sunday September 13, 2009 Hue to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Day 16 of 36

Hue to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Flight 9 of 18
392 miles of 22,121

We awoke about 7 am. Hot and a little overcast today. We showered, dressed, and had our continental breakfast at the hotel. We were supposed to have massages and facials today but they couldn't take us until 11. We requested a late check-out to 1 pm so we could shower and change after the massage. But the front desk refused our request twice! So Tim cancelled the spa appointments! (Revenge?)

So we took a "cyclo ride" through Hue. It was great fun. Each of us had a seat on the front of a bike and the driver pedaled us through the traffic. Easier than crossing the streets on foot! It was hard work. I traded places with my driver at one point and he was in the seat. It was hard - I'm glad he was doing the work.

They took us to the Citadel and we paid to enter again and went to the left to a side that was much more restored than what we had seen previously. Beautiful temples, colorful facades, and lots of bonsai plants - many of them small ficus trees. We walked for about 30 or 40 minutes and headed back to our cyclo drivers. They headed off around the entire citadel for our tour. It was great fun with the other bikes, minibikes, trucks, cars, busses and people zipping all around us. Through some of the back street to a large pond where they fish. There were nets in the pond to catch the small fish too. The driver wanted to continue on but I told him we had to catch a flight so we headed back to the hotel. The ride was $5 for 1 hour but I gave him $20 for both of us since we were out longer and since it was such hard work. They were both sweating from their labors.

We refreshed in our room, finished packing, checked out, had a cold drink in the lobby bar and then headed in a taxi to the airport. We got to the airport too early and it was HOT - no A/C. So I had an ice cream cone (yum) that cost $ .40 and we found a fan that would at least circulate the air for a while. We only had to wait about 30 minutes and then we were able to check in for the flight - go through security - and to the air conditioned Vietnam Airlines waiting lounge. Much better. We loaded up on our Airbus early and left 10 minutes early with the plane full.

It was cloudy all of the way to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) so there was no scenery. Ominous clouds were out in the distance as we landed and shortly after landing the heavens opened up with pouring rain. We saw the US Military airplane hangers at the HCMC airport. HCMC was the former Saigon (they called it Sai Gon). We retrieved our bags that came out quickly, and bought a taxi voucher for $13 to take us directly to our hotel, The Caravelle, supposedly the best hotel in HCMC. Centrallly located and modern.

HCMC is the most Western city we have seen in Vietnam. Much more so than Hanoi. There are hi-rise buildings and lots of modern shops of all kinds. Clean and wide streets. The traffic, however, is just like the others - maddening.

We upgraded our room to the concierge floor so went to the lounge for hors d'oeuvres and drinks - a great selection. We met Bill there who was on vacation from Saudi Arabia. He leads a lonely existence there. We went to the concierge and booked a tour on Tuesday to the Chu Chi Tunnels outside of HCMC - a 1/2 day tour.

We walked in the rain with umbrellas 2 blocks to Nam Kha Restaurant - a beautiful room with pool, fountain. We laughed at the sign at the front "Not responsible for things falling into the pool!". They presented us with a price fixe menu but neither of us was that hungry. Tim inquired about a la carte dining and a huge menu appeared with all sorts of selections. We got a bottle of Australian white wine and enjoyed the assorted appetizer tray and our dinners - all for about $76. It was really good. I had the glass noodles with crab and shrimp.

We took a stroll around the city but it was still sprinking and there were lots of puddles in the streets so we headed back to the hotel and retired shortly after.

We look forward to our 2 1/2 days in HCMC and the venues it offers.

Saturday September 12, 2009 Hue, Vietnam

Day 15 of 36

Hue, Vietnam

We slept "late" today - until 7:20. It is going to be another very hot and humid day. I think it is the humidity that is getting to us and zapping us so.

We showered, dressed, and went again to the hotel breakfast buffet. Good. Tim did Vietnamese noodles in soup. I can do Vietnamese once a day but that's about it. he relished the Vietnamese food and eats it all with great gusto!

We didn't want to do an organized tour today and wanted to venture out on our own. We were the ONLY Western people we saw all in the city. We left the hotel on foot accosted by cycle drivers who are constantly wanting to give us a ride - $5 for 1 hour? We walked to the "water puppetry theatre and decided not to do that. We walked across the large bridge and were amazed again by the bikes with large chests the men were pedalling. We are getting better at crossing the streets but some intersections are definitely a challenge.

There is a "trade show" on and we walked through it - interesting to watch - definitely for locals. We walked on the large street trying to stay in the shade as even at 9:30 in the morning it was HOT and STEAMY! We found a HUGE local market and wandered all through it. Many of the locals approached us to buy things. Everyon wanted us to look. There were specialized stalls - toiletries crammed in to some, a huge area with vegetables and foods, hair things, paper goods, tissue paper, fresh chicken sitting out in the open air (nothing was refrigerated) . . . just about anything you can imagine.

We left the market and sat on the curb in the shade to catch our breath. The next challenge was how to get across the street since 5 streets converged at this point. There was a cross walk but we weren't sure that would help. Finally a woman appeared wanting to cross the street too - Tim yelled "Follow Her!" and we did. We let her lead the way through the mixture of traffic all of the way across the street. We roamed around the outskirts of the citadel city - specialized small shops - audio components, flower shops, furniture, motorbike stenciling, jewelry, etc. Again, just about everything in very small shops. We went into the old city following a really old woman (here we go again). This was really a small space with bikes and cars and busses and us! But she led us through safely. Lesson to self: Follow the locals!

We stopped for ice cream for Larry (yummy and only $ .50) and walked through a grocery store - not many of these around. I bought 2 bottles of cold water for $ .12 each! We set off to head back to the hotel - hot and sweaty. We had a good lunch at the hotel in the air conditioning and then headed to the pool for a relaxing afternoon of reading and snoozing. It was delightful. We tried a Sangria that was really bad, I mean really bad! Let's save the Sangria for Spain!

We headed back to our room to enjoy our bottle of red Vietnamese wine - Dalat - that we bought in the market in Hoi An yesterday for $4.50. Tim said - It's been sitting in that hot stall for weeks and is probably really awful - but it was good. What a bargain! We watched the sun set over the Perfume River and commented that it had cleared up considerably since the rains had stopped before we arrived. We also commented that there was incredibly little river traffic on the river.

We showered, dressed and headed into Hue City to the Temple Restaurant for dinner. An unforgettable experience. We both had a fixed price Vietnamese dinner - it had 4 courses instead of the typical 7 or 8. The soup with the tiny noodles and crab was the best. Rice was cold! We walked down the main street to see the Cau Truing Tien Bridge - it is all lit up and changes colors from section to section - blue, yellow, red, pink, white. It was cool. We walked back to the restaurant district and found a taxi and headed back to the hotel La Residence.

A little CNN and then to sleep. A relaxing day in Hue.

Friday September 11, 2009 Hue, DaNang, My Son, Hoi An, and China Beach, Vietnam

Day 14 of 36

Hue, Vietnam to DaNang, My Son, Hoi An and China Beach

Today we visit DaNang and Hoi An via car. We awoke at 6:30, showered, dressed, and had a big breakfast at the hotel buffet. Tim was disappointed that there was no "Fa" on the buffet. He had eggs instead and I had a good omelet. We also had some more dragon fruit - really good.

We met Tung at 8 in the lobby and headed south with our driver, Sun. He was a really good driver, really young. The drive down was uneventful and we talked with Tung about Vietnamese culture. We stopped at a local resort on the South China Sea for a bathroom breaBk and watched the people on the beach. No one would go in the water - they stood there in groups with water only up to their ankles. It was amusing.

We headed south to Hai Van Pass - a windy road through the mountains with a good view of the sea and mountains. Beautiful scenery along the way.

As we approached DaNang along the beach (South China Sea), we started seeing the road blocked with women drying their rice on the hot street pavement. As we got further into DaNang and then headed to My Son, the road got narrower and narrower - at some places just enough space for 1 car to pass. Sometimes, a car, or truck, or motorbike would drive on the drying rice - Tung told us that was okay. A couple of times it was scary as it was so close to get by.

We went to My Son (pronounced mee-sahn) which was the center of the Cham Dynasty (2nd - 17th century). We walked through the grounds for about 1 1/2 hours and it was fascinating. All of the buildings were made of red bricks but Tung said they don't know what the mortar is made of. They brought in all of the materials - most likely from Cambodia. Can you imagine hauling this heavy material so many miles over 1900 years ago? There were temples that had "the woman's sex organ" and "the man's sex organ" to promote fertility. Tung gave us a lot of this history. This is a UNESCO site (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) and well worth the visit to this remote site.

By this time is was after 1 pm and we headed via our car and driver to Hoi An for lunch which was included in the tour. We passed a lot more streets covered with drying rice and we also saw drying corn - really orange corn. This was fascinating to us that they would use the public streets this way and the drivers would be so considerate.

We got to Hoi An and walked through the old city - really quaint but really developed for the tourists. It is right on the river and Tung told us the river floods the city 2-3 times per year. This must be a mess as they have to move everything upstairs to protect it, but it has to take a toll on the structures.

Our restaurant was clean and we had a 7 course lunch - not as much food as yesterday thankfully. We had tomato soup, pancake that we cut and rolled in rice paper, fish in hotpot, chicken, stuffed squid (that was yummy) and cream brulee for dessert. We skipped any alcohol at lunch today since it threw us for a loop in the heat yesterday.

After the delicious lunch we walked to the Japanese Bridge that was built to separate the Japanese and Chinese neighborhoods years ago. Hoi An was a major trading city many years ago, but tourism is now the big thing here. Tung took us to a factory that employed over 400 young people - and I mean really young - like children - they were sewing, painting, weaving, rug making, carving and making clothes. Looked like child labor to us. But they had some fascinating crafts. We enjoyed walking through the shops but declined buying anything. Tung also took us to an historical house where a man and his family lived. They tried to sell tablecloths and napkins to us here ($25 each!) but again we didn't buy.

During our walk we passed a school and listened to children learning the Vietnamese alphabet. Their version of ABCDEFG . . . On the way back, I shook hands with the children (they loved that) then we did high 5's and then high 10's. They all wanted their turn. Great fun.

Tung took us to a museum like building with old porcelain but this was so hot and not very interesting. Then to 2 places of worship - not Buddha - but the Princess who watched over the sailors. Interesting tales about how these places were used. The gardeners were severely trimming the trees as typhon season is coming and this will protect the trees.

On the way back to the car, I had a banana pancake - banana strips dipped in batter and fried - this is supposedly a specialty in Hoi An and it was good. Enjoyed that. We met the car and drove along the Hoi An beaches - this is where all of the large, expensive beach resorts are and they are building more. When we got back to DaNang, we drove by the bunkers used by the US at China Beach. The new resorts had fences up so we really couldn't see much of the beach. It was late by this time and the Cham Museum was closed (oh, darn!) so we continued on back to Hue. We took the new tunnel this time under the Hai Van Pass - a 7 kilometer tunnel that took us over 10 minutes to get through.

The sun was setting and Tim slept in the car and Larry watched the sites and traffic - still amazed that we could get from A to B without being killed. But the driver was very skilled. There is no road rage here even though everyone is hurrying around. If someone gets in front it is okay. There is a yin and yang at work and the traffic just "flows". Somehow it works - thank goodness.

We arrived back at La Residence Hotel about 7 pm - we have been on the go for over 11 hours - and we were beat. And dirty and smelly. It was SO HOT again today and we sweated profusely walking around. But it was a great day.

We stopped for cocktails in the lobby bar. Then showered and dressed in fresh clothes and took a taxi into Hue. We walked around and were accosted several times for bike rides, cycle rides, pretty women, or "bang bang"! We just kept repeating "No" to all propositions. We found a restaurant that was on the hotels recommended list - Le Carambole - owned by a Frenchman. It was good. Neither of us was very hungry so Tim had a pizza and Larry had grilled pork with mushrooms. We enjoyed a bottle of wine - a Chilean cabernet savignon. And we had dessert - crepes with bananas and homemade vanilla ice cream (that was so yummy!). Dinner was $28 for everything!

We walked after dinner but were approached with more propositions so since it was 10 pm we hailed a taxi and headed back to the hotel. This was the most cautious driver we have had on this trip. The minibikes were passing us but yet he honked his horn constantly. I think they must feel that they don't fit in unless they honk their horn.

Exhausting but interesting and educational day. We are loving this trip. And we saved the Cham Museum for the next trip - always have to save something for next time.

Off to bed in anticipation of some exploring around Hue on foot tomorrow. We had an option to take another tour to the Vietnamese DMZ but we just couldn't stand the thoughts on driving for 2-3 hours again tomorrow. We'll see some war stuff and the tunnels in Ho Chi Minh City so we don't feel we are missing much by not going.

Off to bed. Pick up tomorrow.

Thursday September 10, 2009 Hue, Vietnam

Day 13 of 36

Hue, Vietnam

I awoke at 6. It gets light here very early since Vietnam does not go on daylight savings time. We showered, dressed, and went to the continental buffet that is included with our hotel room at La Residence. Another beautiful, but very hot, day.

We met our guide, Tung, in the lobby at 8 and headed down to the river to catch our private boat for our cruise on the Perfume River. The driver of the boat lives on the boat with his wife and 4 children. Amazing. They sleep on the floor as most Vietnamese do - no mattresses. His wife put out things for us to buy. Tim haggled for a pair of white silk pants with a drawstring. I got 3 small prints. Later I went up to stand with the captain and we talked for a while. He steers the boat with his foot. That was fun. He was 44 and couldn't believe I was 62. He said "You old man!" (Gee - thanks!).

When his wife found out I had 2 children and 2 grandchildren she talked me into looking at silk outfits for Lauren and Lillian. We looked and looked and I haggled and haggled - she was a tough negotiator, but I got 2 outfits that they can sleep in.

On the boat ride we saw them getting gravel from the bottom of the river. Hard work. Fishermen were out. Water buffaloe and cows. Women washing clothes in the river. We passed some temples. Our first stop was at Thien Mu Pagoda. Interesting stop - still used as a monastery by the Buddhist monks. The car that took the monk to Saigon who self immoliated himself in 1963 was on display and a tourist attraction. The monks raised orchids - lots of them.

We got back on the boat and went much further down the river to Lang Minh Mang - the burial place of the 2nd emperor of the Nguyen dynasty. We bade our captain and his wife farewell and walked a short distance to the site. Tung took us all around and explained the layout and sites. Hot but very educational and interesting. Not too many people. We walked all of the way to the back of the grounds to the area where the emperor is buried. No one knows exactly where he is as this was kept a secret. The park where he is buried is open only one day a year.

We walked a short distance out of the grounds and were met by a car and driver - the air conditioning felt so good. We drove a short distance to Lang Khai Dinh. Here the 12th emperor (next to last) is buried. Interesting blend of architecture - you can see the French influence. He had only 1 child who became the 13th emperor and the last. He abdicated the throne (he was a weak ruler) and went to France to live and died there. There were 13 emperors but only 7 Nguyen tombs. This one was much more elaborate.

After this tomb our driver took us to lunch at a nice restaurant in the countryside Biet Phan Thao Ubi Garden Restaurant. We sat upstairs and had an 8 course meal. We were stuffed. We had 2 Festival beers (Vietnamese) and bottled water. It was good. Dessert was grapefruit but the "pods" were in a touch skin that the server pealed off for us.

After a long lunch we were tired but headed for the last Nguyen tomb - Lang Tu Duc - he was the 4th emperor of the Nguyen dynasty. The buildings were in dire need of repair. All 7 of the Nguyen tombs, the Pagoda and the Citadel are now UNESCO sites. Hue used to be the capital of the united Vietnam until the end of the dynasty.

After Lang Tu Duc our driver and Tung took us back to the hotel where we enjoyed the air conditioning and went for a swim in the large beautiful pool at the hotel looking over the Perfume River.