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Dressing like a local
Ok - a totally touristy thing to do, but still funI went to Hanoi for 3 days last week with my friends April, Shanda, and Ivanka. This was my first time to Vietnam and also my first trip without my family since coming to Thailand. Hanoi was absolutely wonderful -it is a charming city. So beautiful with a lovely lake in the center, French colonial architecture, amazing food, and fantastic shopping (though this was helped by the fact that the Vietnamese currency is tied to the U.S. dollar, so it's one of the few countries left where the dollar can still purchase a lot). In fact, I enjoyed shopping in Hanoi even more than shopping in Bangkok because many of the stores in Hanoi are small independent boutiques featuring local designers and artists with high quality goods for reasonable prices. As an example, I bought an amazing oil painting of an Asian still-life by an up-and-coming Vietnamese female artist for $75. Sure, you can also pay over $1000 for a well-known painter in a big gallery, but there are still bargains to be had for lovely art. I also bought the twins beautiful royal blue satin and velvet jackets in the quilted Vietnamese style for $12 each. In addition, at the
Hanoi lake
Me and April store Ipanima (and its sister store Tina Sparkle), you can buy exquisite purses and handbags, finely made, for under $100 (though some are over $100 too) and have something in common with Madonna and other celebrities who have also made purchases here.
Did we four ladies do anything other than shop, you might ask. Well, we did visit the infamous Hanoi Hilton, where Senator John McCain was imprisoned, though we only saw the outside because the inside was closed when we arrived. However, visiting local markets, enjoying Hanoi's architecture and parks, and eating amazing Vietnamese food for every meal was cultural enough on this trip for us! Yes, I would have loved to go out of the city and see so much more that Vietnam has to offer, but we were so pressed for time on such a short trip. This visit demonstrated to me, however, that I would love to get back to Vietnam. Jim will be going to Ho Chi Minh City for fun in a few weeks and I will get loads of culture in about 2 weeks when I go to Siem Reap in Cambodia for a few days with my friend, April, to see
Our meal
Just to give you an idea of what we were eating in Hanoi Angkor Wat and many other temples.
Otherwise, everything else is going well. Max was cleared for swimming a day or two after I posted my last blog, so he has been enjoying that again and his reading and writing are coming along. School gets out for him in mid-June and then he will be doing a summer sports camp for a few weeks at his school with some friends. Levi is now pulling up to standing and Bram has started crawling backwards on the floor and loves to talk. The babies will be one on July 2nd, which is coming up fast. Jim just got back from a business trip to Hawaii. As for me, supposedly I have a little piece on what $100 buys in Bangkok that will be published in the upcoming June edition of Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine, though I won't believe it for sure until I actually see it in print since nothing is 100% certain with these things. I post some recent photos of the family as well.
We cannot believe that we are winding up our stay here with only a little over 2 months left - we are scheduled to
Lovely Hanoi cafe
Many buildings had these pretty courtyards. return to the U.S. at the end of July. We're off to our favorite beach resort in Hua Hin this weekend and it's sad to think that this will be our last time there.
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Greg-Greg
non-member comment
Hi Jim, Maddy, Max-Max, Levi, and Bram, As always, I loved reading your most recent blog. I can't believe that you'll be coming back, state-side, in less than 2 months. Where does the time go? It seems just like yesterday that Max-Max was saying good-bye to me in my classroom. All of the kids that were in Max's class are now prepping for kindergarten and Rolfie comes back later this summer as well. I'll look forward to any blogs that you may post before you come back; but, I am certainly going to miss the whole entire blog thing as it has been an integral part of the last three years. Hope that you are having a great week-end. Love, Greg-Greg