Our first day in Hanoi was a bit more challenging than HCMC. We are just here for one night before heading out onto Hao Long bay and after we got downtown to the hotel we tried to go find some lunch. Turns out that all maps are not created equal; and the ones we had (especially where the hotel was located) ere not so good making navigation a bit of a challenge. IN the old quarter of Hanoi the street names change every block as well and we found ourselves at a quarter with 5 streets of which only 3 appeared on the map, and on the map they did not intersect. The waitress where we stopped for lunch didn't help much when she placed us about 2 blocks away from where we really were. Eventually ... read more

Having a quite day today as we set the stage for the next segment of our trip. We have delayed the departure to the Mekong until tomorrow so that we could plan ahead for a change. Right now the kids are finishing up a homework session (about 90+ min of work each) while Carolyn just went out to talk to a travel agent. Once the kids are done, they and I will probably head over to the war museum (aka Museum of American War Crimes) and maybe take in the reunification palace. Carolyn's attendance will depend on what gets booked at the agency. After the Mekong, the main options are; 1. Boat to Pnom Penh and then on to Siam Reap to visit Angkhor Wat again 2. Plane to Hanoi and then overnight on a Junk ... read more

Today we took an excursion out of town to the cao dai temple and then to the cu chi tunnels from the American war. The temple was intersting. Cao Dai is a religon that started here in the 1920's or 30's and tries to blend Christianity, Budhism, Confuscionism, Islam, ancestor worship and a few other sects. We saw their great catheral and the beginning of a service at a site very close to the Cambodian border. On the way back to HCMC we stopped at the Cu Chi tunnels. This was the end point of the Ho Chi Minh trail during the Vietnam war and had a tunnel complex with 10s fo thousands of people living underground and tunnels that led from the border with Cambodia all the way into Saigon (120 km)... read more

Hi again, looks like the blog will be less pretty than we hoped. Can't upload pics from the phone (on wifi) and the internet cafe doesn't let you plug anything in either (fear of viruses). Hopefully we'll get some pictures in at later sites. We arrived last night at the hotel around midnight (~2pm Boston time IIRC) and surprisingly everyone did manage to get to sleep pretty quickly. This morning we scouted out the local area we are in which is the main backpacker tourist district. We found a new hotel for tomorrow night (same price but much nicer one block over) and then walked down to the Ben Tranh market for a bit of window shopping. After that we spent a bit of time trying to organize the next few days. After that we walked ... read more

Almost there now. Looks like we'll be ready to go after the short prep for the trip. We have all the med (anti-malarial), cameras, passports, visas and summer clothes laid out. Just need to put them into the bags. Not really looking forward to 27 hours on a plane ride but that's the price of the exotic destinations... ... read more