http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/fancyandjoe/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from fancyandjoe en-us Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:40:03 +0000 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:40:03 +0000 Joe and I wanted to send everyone a quick note of cheer and warm wishes for the holiday season. Itrsquos somewhat of a bittersweet Christmas for us as we miss our friends family and holiday traditions. At the same time itrsquos fascinating to see how an Asian country incorporates Christmas and New Years into its culture and quite touching to celebrate handinhand with our new Vietnamese http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-462578.html As Irsquom sure yoursquove figured out by now Joe and I have been pretty busy with our new lives as EFL teachers in Hanoi. Good teachers make it look easy but wersquove found EFL to be full of hard work endless hours of lesson preparation screaming children running amok in the classroom and teenagers who alternate between bored and bitter. We desperately want to be polished effecti http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-446674.html We thought it was about time to catch you up on a few side trips we took when we first hit Hanoi way back in July. Wow that seems like a lifetime ago Our first excursion out of the city was a 4day jaunt by overnight train to Sapa in northwestern Vietnam. Not knowing any better we purchased a finely organized but overpriced tour from our hotel. Our journey started at the train station a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-421994.html Wellhellip after numerous sleepless nights several really bad lessons a few tears here and there one stomach flu a ldquogazillionrdquo laughs and about two dozen smiling warm loving and most importantly forgiving Vietnamese students JOE AND I PASSED OUR CELTA COURSE We now hold a ldquoCertificate in English Language Teaching for Adultsrdquo and are free to befuddle and per http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-433793.html Joe and I are happy to report that Phase I of the Rehumanization tour was a resounding success. In just under two months we traveled the length of Vietnam from Ho Chi Minh City the Mekong Delta and Phu Quoc Island in the south to Hanoi Sapa and Halong Bay in the north see forthcoming blogs for stories and pictures from Sapa and Halong Bay. In between we pedaled across the rolling hills http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-428117.html As many of you know Joe and I are genuine foodies. Our love of travel has as much to do with all the wonderful food we get to sample as it does with seeing the world and learning about people in different cultures. Vietnam has not disappointed us in our quest to ldquoeat our way around the world.rdquo All of the food here has been exceptional everything from the gently flavored Vietnames http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/blog-417690.html Xin Chao friends I got a little behind on our blogging so itrsquos stretching my memory just a bit to tell you about the ancient city of Hoi An in central Vietnam. Irsquoll try my best. We were very excited to go to Hoi An because we heard from so many people that it was a very unique and beautiful city. We had a bit of a hellish ride 7 hours in another cramped and airless minivan si http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-417602.html As we continued our journey north we visited two coastal areas in the central portion of Vietnam first the very popular beachparty city of Nha Trang and then the much quieter less touristy town of Quy Nhon. We only stayed in Nha Trang for one day enough time to try the microbrews at the New Zealandowned ldquoLouisiane Brew Houserdquo the first microbrewery wersquove seen in Vietna http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Qui-Nhon/blog-414114.html It is referred to as ldquoLe Petit Parisrdquo although we thought it looked much more like Switzerland. Regardless Dalat is a little slice of Vietnamese Nirvana at 4425 feet above sea level in the Central Highlands region of the country. It is refreshingly cool and dry with average summer temperatures hovering around 7080 degrees Fahrenheit. When we arrived in Dalat we had an overwhelm http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Central-Highlands/Da-Lat/blog-412201.html Note We've had a little trouble getting our blog to everyone we wanted it to go to. Sorry if this is the first time you are receiving notification about our blog. We have two previous ones that can be viewed from this website. Our four day visit to Saigon included a visit to the Reunification Palace which was the home of the South Vietnamese president until April 30 1975 when Saigon fell to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Mekong-River-Delta/Phu-Quoc-Island/blog-408437.html During our stay in Ho Chi Minh City Joe and I visited the Cao Dai pronounced ldquocow dyerdquo Great Temple in the city of Tay Ninh located about 2 hours northwest of HCMC on the Cambodian border. The temple was an extraordinary experience of architecture sculpture color sound and spirit. Our small tour bus arrived at the Cao Dai Holy See the complex which houses the temple adminis http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Mekong-River-Delta/Can-Tho/blog-408070.html Welcome to Joe and Nancyrsquos Southeast Asia blog. We're calling our little adventure ldquoThe Rehumanization Tour.rdquo Thanks to the graciousness and generosity of our good friends Sandy Sands and Constance Wise our trip got off to a fine start at 330 am on Wednesday May 27 Joersquos birthday. After about 24 hours of travel we arrived in the very cosmopolitan and technological http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-404924.html Visited Countries Map http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Colorado/Denver/blog-400038.html