Will be off to Vietnam on Sept 27 for 19-days

Back at My Son.





Back at Hoi An.


NHA TRANG:
Baskets. This village is in the Dien Phu District.

Weavers.


Lunch at the basket weaver's home.


Our visit to a village school sponsored by the Grand Circle Foundation.


Handwritten by a fifth grader.


Participating in the excercise.


Poster promoting two children families. Vietnam has one of the highest abortion rates in the world.

On Oct 9th, we traveled by coach to our next destination, Dalat. Dalat is located 5000 feet above sea level, and the climate is kinder in terms of a temperate climate. The winding mountain roads up to Dalat reminded me a little of my trip to Bhutan last year where some sections are narrow, but at least here in Vietnam, they have mirrors around corners to show oncoming traffic.

We past this Catholic church on our way to Dalat.

One of the waitress at our lunch stop.

Another waitress primping her hair.

A monkey on the restaurant grounds.

We drove past this dam.

We stopped at this Buddhist temple for a visit.





We also rode in cable cars, but I didn't have my camera with me.

Dalat was the site of the last Emperor Bao Dai's summer residence. It was founded by a French bacteriologist, Yersin (protege of Louis Pasteur), who selected this area for a resort in the 1890s. The first hotel was built in 1907. Many of the architecture is influenced by French colonial design. Our hotel, the Novotel Dalat, is no exception with a French-style elevator.

Dalat was also part of the Tet Offensive battles between the South Vietnamese and Viet Cong.

Larry Hillblom, a co-founder of DHL (in San Francisco), has made investments in Dalat in hotels and Larry's Bar where our group enjoyed drinks.

Our host's for dinner in Dalat. The wife teaches and the husband is an architect who helped design the Buddhist Temple we visited.


Replica of Eiffel Tower.


Restaurant across the street from our hotel where we ate breakfast. I also had lunch here when our group traveled out of town.


The Sofitel Hotel across the street from our hotel. This is the hotel's back yard.


Example of silk embroidered picture. For anybody contemplating a visit to Vietnam. You can get pictures framed with thick matting for about $5 each. Prices on embroidered pictures are great bargains.


Steps at town's center.


Produce.


Market.


Motorbikes everywhere.


We visited Dalat University where a professor told us about the history of this school. They have 25,000 students at the public university. This is their library.


This young lady was my escort to show me around the school for the hour.
Her name is Nguyen Thi Nguyen, and her major is English language.

DALAT:
There are 30 distinct hill tribes in Dalat with their own language and dress. We were given the opportunity to visit one, the K'ho people, where we were treated to music and dance. Our group also participated in some of them.



On October 11, we headed to the airport for our 25 minute flight to Ho Chi Minh City, also known as Saigon, for our last three nights in Vietnam. Saigon was the French colony of Cochinchina This is the country's largest city with a population of over 7 million, and was named Ho Chi Minh City in 1975.

Upon arrival into Saigon, we were given a bus tour of the downtown area with a visit to the Notre Dame Cathedral (1880) and the Post Office and communication center across the street from the church. There were several weddings going on in the area. For lunch, we went to a Pho restaurant for the very first time on this trip. * Pho is street, and "pha" is noodles.

SAIGON:
Our plane.

Ho Chi Minh airport.

The streets are wider and the buildings more contemporary - especially in the downtown area.
A few of us went to the Q bar to have a drink after dinner.



War Remnants Museum.

This picture looks familiar.




One of many pictures of deformed people affected from agent orange.
The US is also guilty of human atrocities.





Notre Dame Cathedral.

Post Office/Communication Center.


Old map of Saigon.

Opera House.

Bazaar.



Dragon fruit.

City Hall.

We stopped here for ice cream.

They do deliveries. Notice motorbikes inside the restaurant.

Another wedding.


One evening, we all went to the Rex Hotel bar for drinks, famous for reporters from around the world during the Vietnam War where they received information. We then went to an Argentine restaurant, the Amigo, for a steak dinner. * Not as good as in Argentina.

Our Tour Director, Quang, and his family came to meet us at dinner time.

They performed for us.

and his two daughters sang and danced for us.


When our group went to the Cuchi Tunnels, I stayed in town to walk around, because I saw the tunnels on my previous trip to Vietnam.
This is the owner of the Txas BBQ and steakhouse restaurant. I saw him sitting at the front table of his restaurant, so I asked if I could join him. He said okay. He's from Texas, and most of his regular customers are expats from the US. He owns two restaurants in Vietnam.

My pictures got cut off in my last post, but it seems it's caused by the ISP, and not a2k. Can you see all the pictures?

Yes, last photo is of the guy from Texas.

Wonderfully written stories and beautiful photos. Thanks.

That day when I met Wayne of Texas, our group went on the optional tour to Cu Chi Tunnels, a maze of multi-level network where the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong built and hid during the Vietnam War. It's a network of 125-mile long network with mess halls, factories, munition stores, and even a movie hall. What I saw during my visit on my first visit to Vietnam several years ago was one short segment of the tunnel where we had to squeeze through some very narrow and low tunnels which was included as part of our tour, but our group was charged $60 on this trip.

On October 13, we departed by coach to the Mekong Delta where we boarded a motorized boat to transfer to one of the islands and to smaller boats with lady paddlers. We walked a short distance to a small orchard and apiary to sample some tropical fruits, nuts, and coconut, and with honeyed tea. We took another short walk to a family owned coconut candy factory where we saw them wrapping coconut candy in rice paper and a paper wrapping. Some of us purchased the special $5 deal with different flavored coconut candy.

Our lunch was very special. They served fish with noodle wrapped in rice paper for our first dish that a woman prepared for us at the table, and that was followed by some spring rolls. They also served a chicken with veggie dish and some steamed rice.

We were back in Ho Chi Minh City by 4PM, and some in our group were dropped off in the downtown area for some shopping before we met at 6:45PM for our farewell dinner at a local restaurant.

The dock at Mekong Delta.

Motorized boat.

Scenes on the delta.



Snack time.

Nancy with snake.

A lady at the snack place.

Coconut candy factory machinery.

The ladies wrapping the candy. They get paid by piece wrapped.

The fish for the wrap.

Our server.

Our farewell dinner restaurant.



Since our departure to Bangkok the following morning was a late morning flight, we were able to sleep in late. The flight to Bangkok is less than two hours, so we had plenty of time to check into our hotel in Chinatown, and roam around a bit before going out for dinner. The Chinese couple from MN and I roamed around Chinatown for a bit, then stopped at several restaurants before finding one where they understood English. We had a crab, shrimp, and veggie with mushroom dish with rice for dinner.

It seems the Thai-Chinese love gold, and there are many shops trading in 24k gold. I think our local guide told us that 16.2 grams (about .57oz) were selling for a little over US$500 when we first arrived in Bangkok 16 days before, and it was now over US$600.

I'll post some pictures of Bangkok a little later.

It was more a parking lot than a street on our way to the airport in Ho Chi Minh City.

I knew we were back in Bangkok.

Main gate to Chinatown.

View from my room 2204 at the Grand China Hotel.

Vendor in Chinatown.

One of many gold shops in Chinatown.

The others in our group had dinner on the 25th floor revolving restaurant at our hotel.


The cocktail I had is called "tuk tuk."

The airplane.

Finally; this is the sushi restaurant at Narita airport where I had sushi when I passed through here last November, but didn't have time this time around because I had only 1.05 to catch my next plane.


Our plane was delayed two hours because of hydraulic problems, but arrived in San Francisco only one hour late.

Hope you enjoyed this "trip." I did.

No wonder, wait!!, it was wonderful!

Here are more pictures of Vietnam some of you might enjoy seeing.









More coming.

This isn't Belgium.

Nha Trang.


At My Son.



This lady dropped her load, so our Tour Director helped her pick up.

A child taking care of a child at the orphanage.

Hue.

At the museum.

Our Tour Director bought some of these rice crackers with sesame seeds.
They were good!
Vietnam is a communist country, but the US has normalized relations with them. Many countries have investments in Vietnam, and their economy continues to grow.


I finally received the (DVD) Quite American in the mail today, and watched the movie. It was very well made. The Opera House in Saigon still looks the same today, but there are more new buildings surrounding the area.