YEAR IN REVIEW: Since August 2, 2009 when we embarked on our journey to China until we arrive back in Portland, OR on July 6, 2010 we have flown on 29 flights, traveled to 9 new countries and visited countless new cities. We have grown and changed in so many ways individually, as a couple and in ways we probably don’t even realize. Living in an entirely new culture changes a person and hopefully most of the changes are for the best. Most Memorable Moments while living abroad for 11 months and 4 days: -teaching our first class of 55 plus students -being a celebrity in China for being white -Elyse eating dog unknowingly -getting engaged in Hong Kong -seeing Elyse’s parents in Australia after not seeing anyone we knew for over 5 ½ months -Pete ... read more

Wednesday, June 30th The bus ride to Saigon started around 8:45am and we picked up people at many hotels along the way to the next town, as the resorts line about 5km of the road. Every seat on the bus was filled, Pete was in a normal seat and I was in the very back seat above the engine so it was quite hot. I won’t complain though as two Dutch men next to me were about 6 foot 5 inches or taller in the same seat as me. Lets just say I had a lot more leg room than them. The journey lasted about five and a half hours with only two stops for 10-15 minutes. That is more our style just enough time to get some snacks and use the restroom or smoke 2 ... read more

Saturday, June 26th We ate our egg and tomato baguette sandwiches that we had bought from the lady who parked her cart across the street from our hotel. It was actually better than all the other breakfast foods which are served in the nearby restaurants, and for a third of the price. The woman’s husband held a cigarette in his lips and continued to puff on it without using his hands while he coked our eggs. I had witnessed him doing this yesterday and had a few reservation about the cleanliness of the operation, yet he never once had ash fall into the frying pan. I thought it actually to be better to witness this in lieu of god knows what was going on in the kitchens in the neighboring sit down joints. I had also ... read more

Monday, June 21st It is strange how we went from sleeping in the majority of our time in Shenzhen to being up before 7am everyday while on vacation in Vietnam . Today, was no different we needed to be at Sinh Tourist shop by 7:45am to get a bus to Hoi An with the departure at 8am; cost 100,000VND for 2 tickets=$5.26 on a comfortable AC bus. Not too shabby for a 3.5 hr drive. We knew it was about a 4 hour ride so we had breakfast at our hotel before we left. The Waterfront Hotel was a new hotel as it was 4 months old. The service was great as they waited on you hand and foot. Downside to the hotel was the lack of a generator to keep the hotel cool while the ... read more

We woke up to no power; this is becoming very normal in Vietnam as we have been told most of the power comes from hydropower plants and the rivers are low since it is the start of rainy season here. Be thankful for living in the USA and only losing power when a big thunderstorm knocks it out. After breakfast we walked 15 minutes from our hotel to the Citadel and were sweated wet at 9am. WOW I can’t even explain the heat here, Florida in August times 10 is the only thing that comes to mind. The Citadel is one of the major tourist attractions in Hue and was built in 1804 by the Emperor Gia Long. The Citadel was also bombed during the American War, as it is called here in Vietnam. Strange since ... read more