The Big-Mouthed Vietnamese – Part 2

Ok, so it’s not just me that has been the target of the big mouthed Vietnamese.  Yesterday, on two separate occasions, people called Dad “happy Buddha;” once at the market, when they were bargaining for something (not only did this lady called him happy Buddha, she also took one of the baguettes we had bought), [...]

The Burning Question, or The Big-Mouthed Vietnamese

Compared to Laos (the most bombed country in the world) and Cambodia (land of the “Killing Fields”), the Vietnamese have done quite well “forgetting the past, so that they can focus on the future,” as our guide mentioned.
I’ve been quite impressed with how modern and prosperous (relative to other SE Asian countries) Vietnam  is, and [...]

The Guilt Factor

Now that Tim’s parents are here, we’ve pretty much have been living the the rich and famous.  Well, not really, but we are staying at a 4-star hotel by the river ($50/night) and just got back from a wonderful dinner at a very nice restaurants ($5 per person).  And even when we were “roughing” it, [...]

The People’s Choice

The people have spoken.  And the poll results are in:
NO BEARD!

By a LANDSLIDE, the consensus is NO BEARD!  I had to throw away the vote from Mr. Beardsareawesome  and also not count Chris C’s comment, because I couldn’t quite figure out if his vote was a “yay” or “nay.”
Diesel was a bit offended by the [...]

Dalat – Nha Trang

My mother slept for over 12 hours but when you awoke, she felt much better, though still not good enough to try her hand at walking 9 holes. So, she stayed around the hotel in the morning as we went to a few “sites” in Dalat which include a “crazy” hotel, botanical gardens complete with [...]

Dalat

It has been a busy day. We got up this morning, ate breakfast and checked out of our Saigon hotel. We met our new guide and then headed off to Dalat.
Dalat is in the central highlands of Vietnam and one of the contributions of the French who realized it was a great place to relax [...]

Poll

Diesel has been strutting around and telling people (me and his parents) that he looks beautiful with his beard.  He also threatened to leave me for any Asian he finds here who will have him.  Usually, I would retort with “Nobody wants you anyway!  Only me!  Only meee!”  I know it’s a bit mean, but [...]

Our Route So Far

Just in case you’re wondering what our route has looked like so far, here’s a map. Red is bus rides, green is boat ride, blue circles are places we spent some time. Sorry it looks bad but Im working on a tiny screen and I’ve only got MS Paint and a touchpad…

Saigon

Part 2. My parents arrived with all the goodies. We ate maybe a pound of cheese yesterday, finished most of the homemade choc chip cookies and Kelly has put a good dent into the Goldfish. I don’t really touch those after they were WAY too freely available from my employer for several yars.
Anyway, the Vietnamese [...]

All I Got is Two 5s…

So about a month ago Kelly and I crossed the Thai border into Laos yada yada yada and ended up having to wait a few hours before boarding the slow boat.
I thought,”What a great time to break open that deck of cards my fatjer gave me before leaving and play some solitaire.”
I pulled the cards [...]