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Question for the Day

Who says humans didn't exist with dinosaurs? How would the carvers of Angkor Wat have known about the Stegosaurus?

Home: What Day Is This?

Our schedule since yesterday (?):
1 hour flight to Danang then 40 minute car ride to Hoi An
24 hours in Hoi An
2 hour flight to Ho Chi Minh City
9 hour layover in HCM City
3 hour flight to Hong Kong
12 hour flight to San Francisco
Run to catch:
6 hour flight to Washington
30 minute ride Home!!!

To Saigon

Kim says "Whew!" The trip is almost over.

Hoi An Victoria Resort

Hoi An, an ancient port city once called Faifo, is a 40 minute drive from the Danang Airport. The resort sits right on the South China Sea -turquoise water, beautiful beach, and perfect weather.

Hoi An

We took a shuttle bus from the resort to old town Hoi An, little dark streets buzzing with, what else, motor scooters. As I was thinking to myself “we don’t have to worry about the locals running us over, we have to watch out for the foreigners renting the scooters,” one of them just starting out lost control and knocked over a whole row of scooters.

Hanoi -3

How To Cross a Hanoi Street

There are millions (I am not exaggerating) of motor scooters -20 or 30 lanes wide, a few cars and buses, and bicycle rickshaws called “cyclos” whizzing up and down the small streets of Hanoi. There are traffic lights but only the cars and buses stop for them. The motor scooters keep on going and when you try to cross the street with the light the strategy, believe it or not, is to ignore the motor scooters coming at you- look straight ahead and walk at a steady slow, predictable pace. If you do this the motor scooters should successfully wend their way around you. With any luck, you'll make it to the other side in one piece. Just don’t try this if a bus is coming -they don’t have to stop for you. Above you’ll see Jim taking a ride with a friend he met.

Hanoi -2

Uncle Ho (under glass) is kept here inside this Soviet-looking mausoleum. Jim and Kim went to see him; I couldn’t bear it. Around the Square are tree-lined boulevards with these beautiful amber stucco government buildings designed by French architects. Ho couldn’t bring himself to live in the lavish Presidential Palace below and instead stayed in a modest little house behind the mausoleum (which, of course, hadn’t been built yet).

The Metropole Hotel
Loved it, loved it. They knew our name by the end, especially “Miss Kim” and even had her iced cappuccino waiting for her in the morning. The antique cars out front are available for rides around town (look out for the scooters, though).



Shopping in Hanoi
Our hotel was near the Old Quarter so once we mastered crossing the street we were able to explore (read that -shop). And shop we did -the shoe street (see below), the toy street (ditto), purses, posters, and more. We found these faux-TinTin covers in one of the souvenir shops.

Hanoi

We flew from Siem Reap, Cambodia to Hanoi via Luang Prabang which looked like we were in the middle of nowhere. We had to get off the plane and then back on again.

First impression of Hanoi: people, motor scooters, and more people. Everything is on top of each other. Amusing and very different from anything I have seen before are these “tube houses” -tall, skinny, and French-ified.

Leaving Siem Reap, Cambodia

This is the attractive Siemreap Airport. Although the town is small, I have never seen so many gargantuan hotels in one city. Angkor Wat attracts a lot of tourists including the "Around the World" group which stayed at our hotel - the Raffles Grand Hotel which has been restored to its '20's grandeur (see below).


Kim especially liked the elevator.

Angkor Wat is a short distance away-

Jim Thompson House

Cooking School at the Oriental Hotel

Today we took cooking lessons at the Oriental. We made Pad Thai, Yellow Curry, Rice Pudding Cakes, and Fried Veggie Pouches. To get to the cooking school we had to cross the river on the Oriental's own houseboat. Our classroom was in an old traditional Thai house around which the Oriental has built a restaurant and their spa. Kim and I were the only students so we got lots of attention (and food). Our teacher, Naraine, had 5 assistants - he showed us the ingredients, and then made the dish while we watched. We were then given the ingredients and replicated what he had done. His recipe for Pad Thai is definitely the best I have ever had.

We made these!

Our Trip to SE Asia

Friday
We left at noon for Bangkok via Tokyo. Fourteen hours later (!!!) we arrived on time at Narita planning for a 2 hour layover. Forget that. Our connection was postponed and the 2 hours turned into 16. United Airlines sent us to the Narita Hilton and we were able to stretch out on a bed. Unfortunately, the next morning Kim got stomach sick so for the flight to Bangkok Jim relinquished his nice business class seat to her and took her seat in the "back of the bus".

I believed Jim when he told me it was just a "short flight" to Bangkok (should have looked at a map!) -turns out a "short flight" to him is 7 hours. We made it though, this time on time, got picked up by our driver and office head, and whisked off to what I still think is the nicest hotel in the world - the Oriental.

You have not been to a Hotel until you’ve been to the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok. All other hotels are put to shame. They know you and greet you with good luck flowers when you arrive. The hotel sits on the Chao Phraya River so all the rooms have an exotic view. This time we had adjoining rooms rather than the sumptuous suite we had last time. (Remember the ice cream, Zed?) We still haven’t had tea in the Author’s Lounge so I do have a reason to go back. Kim and I spent a lot of time exploring and eating at all of the restaurants (and at the cooking school); the one drawback is that the hotel is not near a walkable (try to cross one of these streets!) shopping area (other than lots of antiques and tschotke I don’t want).