Heading Home
The Têt New Year is right around the corner on the 22nd of January. It will be the year of the cat for Vietnamese and the year of the rabbit for the Chinese.…
Back to Hanoi
We slept in this morning and then had a walk around the hotel grounds. Gardeners were everywhere working on planting and trimming. This island was man made and they have boats to take…
Ha Long Bay
Today is a long travel day, about 3 1/2 hours by bus. Traffic in Saigon and Hanoi looks like motorcycle ants swarming around cars and buses. Yesterday we were starting to load our…
Hanoi
Staying at the Lotte hotel is an elevating experience. To get to breakfast it is up to 63 from 44. Then to get out for the day it’s down to 44, pick up…
Golf and Moving Day
Up at dawn to play 9 holes at Phokeethra Golf Course or in English the dragon course. We both had a caddie and it was a beautiful place. After our first charter flight…
Angkor & Back to School
Angkor Thom means “big city”. It is not a temple, but where people lived. Bayon Temple inside the gate had 54 towers with only 39 left. It only took 5 years to build…
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat was built from 1113 – 1150 as a Hindu temple. It was only later that it became Buddhist. It is the largest religious site in the world. It is the size…
Moving Day to Siem Reap
Once we made it to the hotel we had a relaxing afternoon and evening at the beautiful pool.
Kampong Cham
Just outside of Kampong Cham is a little impoverished village. We were able to walk all over the village and look into their homes. Some were cleaning fish and others were preparing sugar…
Farewell to Phnom Penh
This morning our boat pulled out of Phnom Penh. We traveled about an hour upstream to an island in the middle of the river. This island, about 1 3/4 miles wide and 3…
Phnom Penh, Udon Monastery, Silversmith
There are more than 5,000 Buddhist temples in Cambodia. Udon Temple is newer, built in 1996. Boys can begin the process to become a monk at 12 years old. Monks must follow 110…
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
The capital of Cambodia is known as the “Pearl of Asia”. Both Khmer (Cambodians) and french influence can be seen together in Phnom Penh. It can be seen through the architecture and education…
Tân Châu, Vietnam
This town is on the border between Vietnam and Cambodia. It is known for producing high quality silks. They produce a special black silk called “Heavenly Beauty” which is dyed with locally grown…
Cái Bè and Sa Déc
Life is so fascinatingly different along the Mekong. The markets, ferries, fishing boats and Sampan boats are normal sights. We took a Sampan boat from the ship to take our tour today. The…
Moving Day to the Ship
Today we went from the big city to the countryside. Even the outlying areas are very busy. Lots of cars, trucks and motorcycles still. The French had introduced many things to the country:…
Sights of Vietnam
First stop today was the President’s Palace or Reunification Palace. This is where the Viet Cong drove two tanks through the gates in 1975 to declare themselves victorious and force the South Vietnamese…
So Long Siam, Good Morning Vietnam
We will miss the morning breakfasts in Bangkok. The best mangos! We took a flight to Vietnam this morning. It is just an hour and 20 minutes. Nothing much to do today, so…
Ready. Set. Go…2023
We knew it was coming, but the deafening explosion of the first fireworks shook the windows and threw us out of bed. There were 5 barges in the river shooting off the best…
New Year’s Eve Day
We both popped up at 7:00, feeling pretty good on a short night’s sleep. The suitcase fairy did not come while we were sleeping, but Japan Air did call to say they were…
Travel Day
Well we didn’t quite miss the snow in Denver, but they do keep their highways clear. And we were ever so happy that we didn’t have to stand in the lengthy line at…
Denver
Woke up early this morning to a fresh snow and the first leg of our journey. It has been a long year waiting for this trip to come to fruition.
Bangkok
Flight time to Bangkok is about 22 hours and it is 13 hours ahead of Texas time. We jump from Amarillo to Denver, Denver to LosAngeles, LosAngeles to Tokyo and Tokyo to Bangkok.…
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