Travel Tales

2011-02-26T20:28:00.000-08:00

We checked out of our hotel and signed the paperwork for the van, which were both located in Cathedral Junction. Our plan was to spend the night a couple of blocks away at the campground attached to Glouchester hostel. Len wanted to get our shopping done first so we drove about 4 blocks to south city mall and were in the grocery store when the earthquake hit.

First there was a loud noise like a jet and then the most violent shaking up down and sideways, lasting about 15 sec. The store was chaos , screaming, sirens, and bottles popping on the floor. As soon as it stopped we headed out and withing a minute the parking lot looked like a geyser bsin with water and sewer bubbling thru the pavement. We had no idea where to go but figured away from the city there was less to fall on us so we joined the massive traffic jam and headed west finally stopping at Springfield to camp. It felt good to have nothing but a camper over our heads. There were several aftershocks that we felt in the van. We were so fortunate, it is heartbreaking the loss of life and a beautiful city in ruins.

2011-02-26T20:21:00.001-08:00

Christchurch is a beautiful city, more English and England. Beautiful manicured gardens and acres of flowers. We rode the trolley past a school and all the students were dressed like Harry Potter.

2011-02-26T20:12:00.000-08:00

Cairns is beautiful, warm with palm trees and the beautiful coral sea. We rode the train up to a village of Karunda and saw the Barron falls on the way. The trip down was by two long cable cars over the top of the rainforest.

The second day we took the Ocean Freedom out to the reef. It is a small boat with a crew of 6 and only 30 tourists. We snorkeled at two different locations, it is fabulous. We saw lots of colored coral, fish and turtles.

Cairns has no beach so they have built a boardwalk about 2 miles long on the waterfront. Our hotel looked right over the water.

2011-02-19T15:19:00.000-08:00

Alice Springs is nice, it is surrounded by bluffs, and was very green which was unusual. They usually have 5in of rain annuallly and have had 50 in the last year. We drove west to see Stanley Chasm which is the bottom photo.

2011-02-19T15:16:00.000-08:00

What to say abour Ayers rock, except to quote 10 year old Mike from Nova Scotia, " Jeez it is just a rock, we came all this way to see a rock?"

It is 350 miles from Alice Springs through desert, the temps exceed 100 and the air buzzing with black flies.

2011-02-19T15:10:00.000-08:00

we drove the great ocean road along the coast sw of Melbourne. after cape otway it faces west and catches the full brunt of the souther ocean. it is the wildest surf I;ve ever seen. it is called the shipwreck coast because over 80 sailing ships crashed there.

2011-02-19T15:05:00.000-08:00

the dates on these posts are wrong, we are in the cairns airport and this is the first good wireless connection we have had since leaving melbourne. our b & b the georgian courn was in east melbourne a district of houses build during the gold rush boom times of the late 1800 s and most are on the historic register.

2011-02-06T00:36:00.000-08:00

Photos top to bottom:

Federation Square, a central gathering spot across the street from Flinders St station.

The spire on top of the National Arts Center

Stained glass roof inside of the Victoria Art Museum

Flinders Street Station

After a week of temps near 100 and high humidity in Sydney we thought we would never be cool again, and here we find ourselves in Melbourne looking for the sunny side of the street. It is an interesting city, lots of nice neighborhoods and rows of cute little houses one and two story with metal filigree railings just like New Orleans.

There is a free trolley running around the perimeter of the central city. It stopped in front of the Princess theatre, a beautifully restored 1860's building. Hairspray was on and since neither of us had seen it we decided to go, and had a great time. The singing was very good.

2011-02-03T02:40:00.000-08:00

2011-02-03T02:31:00.000-08:00

The coastal walk goes along the cliffs from Bondi to Cloverly. We got out early before the
haze burned off to avoid the worst of the heat. Another day in the hi 90's. The pool is salt water
.One photo is Waverley cemetary with a million dollar view.

2011-01-31T20:38:00.000-08:00

We toured the Opera house. It has a large symphony hall , an opera theatre and several small theatres. The history of the construction is interestings. started in 1959 and completed in 1973. Once the design was chosen the engineers couldn't figure out how to build it.

There is a category 4 cyclone headed straight at Cairns hitting tomorrow morning. We will be there in 2 weeks, by then they will be cleaning up the mess and fighting about how to pay for it. All there is on the news is the fight about the flood tax to clean up the Brisbane mess.

We took the bus to Bondi the famous surfer beach, we walked along the beach and in the waves for a bit. It is a beautiful spot.

2011-01-30T23:04:00.000-08:00

I have no internal compass here, the sun shines out of the north :) Sydney is built around the harbor and stretches for miles, it is all connected by an extensive ferry system. We got a 7 day travel pass and have been riding a ferry in the afternoon to cool off and see different areas. The cell phone problem turned out to be the crap phone purchased from Fryes. We found a shop that helped us out and purchased a new unlocked phone for $39.

The food is different than expected, I thought it would be lots of fried burgers, and greasy food. There are lots of healthy options. Every shop has "gluten free" posted, it must be the current disease.

It has been hot here but we are getting used to it.

2011-01-29T22:45:00.000-08:00

I scrolled down and the old posting from Mexico is run together with Australia. I would fix it if I knew how. Sydney harbor is beautiful, about as long as the Seattle part of Puget Sound and the water is a clear aquamarine. We took the ferry to Manley a beach town on the north end of the harbor , walked on the beach and had lunch. It is a perfect sunny day. Out B&B is right in the Rocks area where all the expensive hotels are, Shangrila is next door at over 4oo a nite. We have an ok room and the breakfast was great. We haven't found the Australian hotels so far to be real up on cleaning:) I still don't have cell phone service but have figured out it is the phone I bought at Fryes and not the Sim card. We will get a prepay phone tomorrow and let you know the number.

2011-01-28T12:20:00.000-08:00

Gavotts leap west of Katoomba and the blue lake just below the Jenolan caves. Sounds like they named the overlook after someone

who jumped, but it is after some governor. We have noticed most Australians are slim, could it be something to do with ice cream costing $5 a scoop and soda $3.50 for a 12oz bottle and that is at a supermarket. We are up early there is a rooster just outside crowing since 5am.

2011-01-28T01:13:00.000-08:00

We took the train west to the Blue Mts and are staying in Katoomba in a cute B&B. the first photo is the 3 sisters a famous formation, and the second is me on the stairwell down to the rock formation. Today we took a bus tour to the Jenolan limestone caves 76 km west through country that looks a lot like Northern California. We had cheese fondue for dinner.

2011-01-28T00:58:00.000-08:00

We arrived on Australia Day and there were mobs of people everywhere. We walked down to the harbor and listened to the bands and people watched until it started to get dark. Our hotel is in Chinatown close to the train station.

2009-02-18T16:05:00.000-08:00

The best place to snorkel along the coast is Puerto Morales about 20km north of Playa del Carmen. The coral reef comes about 1/2 mile from shore and is 100 feet wide. The area is a protected marine reserve and you need go out with a guide. We took a taxi up there, he even waited for us and we went out with the local cooperataive. There were 5 of us on the boat with 2 guides. It is one of the most amazing things I have ever done. The water is crystal clear and we saw every type and color of plant imaginable. We also saw a Barracuda, little one, a lobster, a ray, a live conch and tropical fish in every color of the rainbow. You swim along in another world like 20,000 leagues under the sea and then pop up to see where everyone else is and it is a shock, it is just life jackets and snorkels floating on the surface. They don´t allow diving and everyone is required to wear a life jacket to keep from touching the reef. It does make it easier to snorkel when you don´t have to blow out the tube. We came back to town and had lunch at a place called 1847 good fresh strawberry margueritas and of course Mexican food. In the evening we walked along 5th street and listened to Marichi bands.

Wed Feb 18
Today we took the ADO bus up to Cancun, (they run every 10 minutes) just to see what it was like and hoped to go to the bullfight. We both agree that Cancun has absolutely no redeeming features, and the bullfight wasn´t on this week. The hotel zone is several miles from downtown and we didn´t go out there. We were back in Playa by early afternoon so after dealing with the hotel move went down to the beach and went for a little swim. Our new hotel is actually much nicer than the first one. It is at 22nd and 10th. Hotel Paradise.

2009-02-16T19:17:00.000-08:00

Monday Feb 16, 2009

Today we took a tour to Chichen Itza, it was 3 hours each was in a 12 passenger van with a driver who was on and off the gas like he had a rubber band in his foot.

The site is amazing. Standing at the base of the famous pyramid that is featured all the photos just takes your breath away. It is made of white limestone and stands out against the blue sky. It is the most important building, but the site is huge and there are many structures partially restored. The ball court there is about the length of a football field, and there is an observatory that is is pretty good shape. It was very hot, much hotter than here on the coast.

We stopped next at a Cenote which is a pool that is connected to the underground river system that runs throughout the Yucatan. There are many cenotes, this one had been developed for tourists. Then we went to a resturant for buffet lunch, where they had music and dancers. The dancers were kids and teenagers and they did a tap dance with a full beer bottle on their head. That may be a skill they will use someday on spring break.

We weren´t home until 730 and left at 8am, it was a long day.

2009-02-15T16:43:00.000-08:00

Feb 14, 2009

We took a tour to Tulum today, it is a Mayan ruin that sits right on the cliff overlooking the Carribean. Such a beautiful site, the ruin in quite small with a few buildings but the location is spectacular.

Most of the people on the tour were going on to Coba, so we paid a little extra and added it on. We were glad we did. There was a stop at a Mayan village to let us see how they lived, and buy some crafts from them. Out front of their stick lean to house was a flower garden, some planted in the ground and other is buckets. The girls in traditional dress who I suppose were there to talk to tourists were very busy flirting with the van driver.

The ruins at Coba are more similar to Angkor Wat in that they are in fairly dense jungle and spaced farther apart. The ball court has been restored. We took a bicycle taxi to the furthest ruin which is the second largest Mayan pyramid, or what is left of it. Len climbed to the top.

One of the most interesting things at Coba were the Mayan roads. It is the crossroads for all the ancient toll roads that went from Tulum to the inland cities, and you can see them, they are raised by about a foot and packed with limestone. Our guide was a funny guy named Freddy.

It was a long day we got back around 7.

Sunday, Today we took the ferry to Cozumel and walked around a bit. The water is so beautiful, shades of blue depending on the depth, ranging from ultramarine to cerelean. There was very good live music on the ferry and we sat up on top on the return.

2009-02-13T16:02:00.000-08:00

Our last night in Oaxaca was amazing. We walked down to the main square , it was warm and all the trees were lit up with tiny white lights. There was a band playing and hundreds of people were dancing. It was a smooth elegant dance with all the movement from the hips down. I asked what it was and was told it is an old Oaxacan dance derived from the Cha Cha.

Yesterday Fri the 13th must have come early, there is a black hole in every trip and this was ours. It started with a 530 am wake up for an early flight, long delays with Mexico City fogged in, missed connection, waiting in 6 long lines to get another flight, rude taxi driver who couldn´t find out hotel in Playa, being ignored by a hotel clerk on the phone for 10 min, messed up room reservation. By then it was 7pm and hadn´t had a decent thing to eat all day, so we decided the only way to avoid a double meltdown was to eat and go to bed.

Today we had fun, a whole new attitude. Playa is 40mi south of Cancun on a busy 4 lane highway with huge resorts all the way on the ocean side. Our hotel is at the north end of the walking mall, so is close to things but not noisy. We just walked around all day and looked at things, then in late afternoon went down to the beach for while. Tomorrow we have a tour to Tulum, courtesy of the hotel for the messed up reservation.

2009-02-11T14:58:00.000-08:00

I first saw Oaxacan folk art in the Smithsonian magazine in the 1990's and have been fascinated with it every since. Aurora, the owner of our B&B, knew which artist was featured in the magazine and she lent us a book with directions to their studio. It is a small village San Martain about 25km south of here. She suggested we hire a taxi to take us and wait, they only charge $10/hour. When we turned off the highway it was abut one km to the village which consisted of a chuch with a small plaza, a school and the rest of it is dirt, no road, no sidewalk and no visible houses, just high adobe and bamboo walls with an occasional small sign. He found our place at the far side of the village and a man working outside opened the gate. We drove into the most amazing place, a large compound with grass, flowers, bushes and tile. Three sides were open veranda with rooms behind and the entire workshop is on the covered patios. Maria one of the owners demonstrated the entire process from carving to drying and painting. They use copal wood and make most of the paints from plants. Their work is really beautiful. We ordered a small piece which hopefully will be done in June. They don't have much in their sales area as mostly they try to keep gallerys full. Here is a link to their web site, they have work in Milagros gallery on Post alley in Seattle. http://www.tilcajete.org/collectors.htm

After coming back to town we went to the square and had lunch and watched people. The only downside is you are pestered by vendors while you eat. I had a different mole, it was red and also very good. Before I have only tried the black.

We spent all aftenoon wandering through the markets and walking around. Tonight we plan to go back down at 6:30 for the nightly concert.

2009-02-10T18:57:00.000-08:00

Tues Feb 10

The food here is so good, we haven't eaten anywhere yet that we didn't like. I actually ate a grasshopper, it is considered a delicacy here Chapulina, they are deep fried rolled in pepper and salt. It was in my tortilla soup and I ate the first half before I realized what it was and it was okay so I ate the rest. There are vendors on the street selling them as snacks. Big piles of them on a tray, we wonder where they catch so many grasshoppers, maybe they scrape the bumpers of cars.

Today we took another tour with the same company and same guide. We went to the village of El Tule a very nice village with what they claim is the largest tree in the world. It is 2000 years old, and the trunk is so massive it is hard to capture all of it in a photo. I'm not sure what kind of tree it is, I'll have to look that up. They call it a Tule tree but I think that is just a name the use.

From there we went to a weaving cooperative. It is run by one family, there are 25 members who live and work at the compound. They gave a talk on all of the natural plants that are used in the dyes, and their 800 recipes that are a guarded family secret. They start learning to weave at 6 yrs old, and the young man giving the demo was about 20 and was making an intricate pattern from memory. They use the same designs that are found on the ruins at Mitla. They are all Zapotec, and most spoke good English which they learn on their own to deal with tourists.

Our next stop was the village and ruins at Mitla. It is much different from Monte Alban as the ruins are right in the middle of the village and were used for various purposes up until 1960 when they were made a protected site. Parts of the walls with stone patterns are very well preserved, and there were numerous mounds that are pyramids that haven't been excavated. It was very hot there, the guide said it will get up to 40 degrees C next month.

All of the country we drove through looks just like the area around Helena and on to Bozeman at the end of a long hot summer except for the plants which were mostly scrub pines, sagebrush, Agave and another multi branched cactus I didn't recognize. As we went higher into the mountains there were lots of palm trees. We drove about 45 km south very high into the mountains ending up at about 7000 ft at an interesting site called Huerve El Agua. It is a mineral spring that slowly seeps out of the mountainside and over hundreds of years has formed a mineral deposit that looks like a huge waterfall. At the top are two mineral pools, some people went swimming, we just soaked our feet. The road was paved except for the last few miles, and then it turned into a dirt path, rock path and ruts. We were in a Suburban so it wasn't too bad.

On the way home we stopped at a little factory where they make Mescal, which is a big industry here. There is a big factory owned by CocaCola. This was a little family run business and after showing the processing steps they gave us samples. Most of it could be used for paint remover, but some of the longer aged stuff was a little better.

It was a long day, we got back around 7 and ate a light meal at the resturant downstair.

2009-02-09T18:32:00.000-08:00

Fri Feb 6

Today we left the hotel early to get out before the heat and walked to Benito Juarez park and the churro district above it, the site of the first settlement of the city, as legend goes where the Dominican friars dog found water. The park is large and well maintained, and there was a flower show going on. Blocks of vendors selling all kinds of flowers and plants. We found out later it only goes on once a year in early Feb.

From there we walked all over the city, it is small enough to walk most of the historic area, the blocks are somewhat square to it is easy to navigate. We visited several churches, the main Cathedral on the square is very ornate, there is no surface not covered in gold leaf. We ate lunch down in the market at a little booth, the best tacos. After several hours of walking we spent time just sitting in the square watching people, and had dinner at a roof top resturant near the hotel.

FEb 7th

The hotel arranged for a car to take us to Queratero to the airport and the driver thought we should leave at 7am, it was a 1 hour drive for a 10:30 flight, so I think there was some communication problem. It was very cold and foggy, and our flight was delayed an hour, we nearly froze to death waiting in that tiny airport. Our flight was on AeroMar into Mexico City and the Mexicana to Oaxaca, changing from terminal 2 to 1. We had plenty of time but our bags didn't make the trip with us. They were finally delivered to our B&B Sunday afternoon. We called Cameron from the airport, it is the first birthday we haven't spent with him. (:

Our B&B here is very nice Casa de las Bugambilias. When I booked it online I thought it was a strange name, and at the flower show we saw Bougenvilla (not sure how to spell it) and realized what the name meant. The courtyard is full of flowers and vines all in bloom. We had dinner at La Olla a resturant that is attached to the front of the B&B and it was very good. I had black mole tamale, it is not like any mole I have tasted before, very delicate with many layers of flavor.

Sun Feb 8

Our first day in Oaxaca and we spent it walking for miles it felt like. There is one main street that is closed to traffic that leads from the Dominiga church down to the Zocola the main square and it is lined with shops and resturants. We are located near the Dominiga church so we went there first and to the museum next door. It was origionally the convent and until about 15 years ago had gone to ruin, but was restored with the effort and money of Francisco Toledo a local artist and now contains many artifacts from Monte Alban and other items up until the time of Maxmillian. A very funny story I read about Francisco Toledo, he owned a large back tax bill to the Mexican government and after much negotiation they agreed to take payment in artwork, but left it up to him what it would be. He made a series of notebooks full of elaborate and detailed drawings of shit. Every creature known to man and some he imagined all in the process of defecating.

This town is very Mexican, there are a number of tourists, but the majority of people walking around are Mexican. The population is about 400,000 and half are native Zapato and Mixtec. They are very short and very dark. Many women are no taller than Kate. We walked up north a way and saw the remnants of the old aquaducts, went to Benito Juarez home, and had dinner in a resturant down town. Our waiter spoke very good English and he was so pleased when I commented on it. He learned by himself out of a book, and then he taught us some Spanish words. We had three times as much food as we could eat, and one of the ladies asked us something we didn't understand so we nodded and smiled and shortly she came out with the left overs wrapped up. We gave them to one of the beggars on the street who thanked us, I hope we didn't insult her.

Monday Feb 9

We took a tour with a company recommended by the front desk. Our first stop was Monte Alban which sits on the flat top of a mountain about 500M above Oaxaca, It dates from thousands of years BC and has been about 85% excavated. Our guide spoke English and was full of stories. He showed us the tree that makes copal and also the citronella tree and a thistle plant which as a very strong yellow dye as sap. The area has many temples surrounding a central plaza and secret tunnels under the plaza. You can see the tunnel openings but can't go in them. One interesting thing was the acoustics if you clap it echos very loud. We climbed all over and really enjoyed it. The day was overcast so it didn't get too hot.

From there we took a winding dusty dirt road down the mountain and through a tunnel of bamboo. Our driver called it the "Indiana Jones Road" to the village of San Antonio Arrazola where the local craft is "alebrijes' or as Kate & Cam would say , "Nana's toys". They are carved from copal wood and sanded and painted by hand, the workshop was mostly outside with a large area of items for sale. I got a few. Then we drove to the site of Culapan de guerrero an unfinished church and the remains of the finished part that survived the 1985 earthquake.

On our tour was a young woman from Russia now living in Vienna who went to college in the US and traveling alone. Also a couple and their 4 year old from Guadalajara. He is American and she is Mexican, he works for an electronic company here, and is fluent in Spanish. He made the trip fun for us because he could translate the conversation from the others in the bus. There was also a man from Ontario traveling alone, looking for a retirement place.

We stopped at a buffet for lunch, which was very good. They make the best green salsa here, I could eat it with a spoon.

Our next stop was Coyotepec, the village that makes the shiny black pottery. As we watched he threw a large pot, on a pottery wheel that consists of two saucers with rounded bottoms one upside down and the other on top. An older woman decorated a pot using a knife and the plastic top of a pop bottle. The kiln is a large pit fed by wood fire and they fire the clay for 20 days since the temperature is so low.

Tonight we walked around downtown checking out some shops and ended up at the Zocala where there was a live band and people were dancing. There is a crowd and live music nearly every night of the year. We asked her at the hotel what was the festival the first night and he said, no festival it is like that every night. There were also some farmers protesting in the square, we are told it is a national pastime.

2009-02-09T06:31:00.000-08:00

Thurs Feb 5.

When I post a bunch of days at the same time, they don't come up in the correct order. On the 5th we took a bus to San Miguel Allende, the taxi driver couldn't understand where we were going when we said bus, the correct pronunciaton is booooos. The ride was about an hour. When you first come into any town here the drive from the airport or bus station kind of makes on wonder what kind of a town you are in. the industrial and edges of every town are shabby with lots of grafitti on the buildings, but once you are into the historic districts it is much nicer. When we went into the lobby of our hotel Posada Carmina in San Miguel the courtyard was full of people having lunch at tables with umbrellas. They were a bunch of old grey haired ladies, looked like a convention of the Republican Ladies club. thankfully we didn't see them again. The courtyard is beautiful with blooming vines and orange trees. Our room is on the second floor with a veranda around the courtyard.

This is a beautiful well preseved city from the 1500-1600 build with silver mining money but not a mining town. Our hotel is 1/2 block from the central plaza and the large cathedral. The crowd here is mostly North American retirees seeking winter sun. There are the ususal vendors and beggars around the square in costume. When we started walking around the further from the nice hotels the fewer white faces. The first afternoon we took a trolly tour of the area with a guide that spoke English. We went up to the large park and to an overlook.

2009-02-08T15:32:00.000-08:00

Sunday Feb 1

Another beautiful sunny day, we took the metro to Coyacan, and old village that has become part of Mexico City. We walked along Fancisco Sosa along old cobbled streets and sidewalks. There are beautiful homes all behind walls and gates, we looked into every open one and the courtyards are full of flowers. Nothing is visible here, it is all behind the walls. Bouganvilla is hanging over every stone wall. When we reached the plaza there were merchants setting up all manner of stalls, but we went on to the Frida Kahlo museum. It is in the house where she was born and lived with Diego Rivera. The most interesting thing was showing how he painted the huge murals. Paper cartoons were made and transferred to the wall by apprentices, then he painted it sitting on a chair on scaffolds. He was a huge fat man, they must have built it strong.

Our next stop was the Trotsky museum, which was the compound where he lived while in exile in Mexico, and where he was eventually murdered by a Stalinist. A lot of history that we were only vaguely aware of, it would be interesting to read his book about Stalin (maybe the Cliff notes). One of the women we met at The Red Tree House is from Wash DC, daughter of Russian immigrants and knows Trotsky's great granddaughter.

We walked back to the market and wandered around and stopped at a food stall and had lunch, chili rellenos, taco and quesodila. It was delicious, the food stalls are so clean, you can see everything, and most likely cleaner than the back room of resturants. A family with a little 7 yr old boy sat next to us and he practiced his English, when they left he said, "Goodby two Americans". There are not very many people here who speak English.

After Coyacan we went down to the University to see a soccer game, but Len had the directions wrong and we couldn't find the stadium, so we went home. By the time we got back to the neighborhood we were so hot and thirsty we stopped for a lemonade and had it half down before it dawned on us that the ice and water may be bad...

Mon Feb 2

Today we took the Metro to the north bus station and caught a local bus to Teothiucan, the pyramids. It was nearly a "chicken bus", stopped everywhere and vendors got on and off, but we eventually bounced our way the 30 miles out there. The outskirts of Mexico City are miles of slums, some look like reasonable shelter, and others are a lean to in ankle deep dust. We have been wondering who would risk crossing the border, since everyone in the city appears to be comfortably middle class or rich, but once we were out of the city proper the poverty is everywhere.

The pyramid complex is huge, it has a center walking road that stretches 2.5 miles from the main entry to the pyramid of the moon on the far end. The pyramid to the sun is on the side halfway up, with all kinds of other ruins along the way. We climbed nearly to the top of the pyramid to the sun, but stopped when the hand rails ran out. The area is very dry and well preserved.

After returning we walked to Primos for tapas which was very good. This evening there were several new people and we sat and visited with Craig and met a couple from Melbourne Australia. I crashed at 9pm but Len was up late chatting. They moved us to the penthouse suite tonight since we are leaving tomorrow and they had booked other people for 4-5 days. Talk about luxurious, two bedrooms, a private patio, lr, dr, kitchen and bath, all for $85/night. the regular rate is only $150. They have really spoiled us , nothing else will measure up.

Tuesday Feb 3

We took cab to the north bus station and caught Primera Plus to Guanajuato. It was about a 5 hr ride on a nice luxurious bus. All of Mexico is served by luxury busses, run by about 10 different lines. Mostly they specialize in one area, but there is some overlap. The countryside along the ride looks a lot like Montana around Helena.

Guanajuato is a UNESCO world heritage site, and well preserved old colonial town built during the silver mining days. It is squished into a narrow valley and all the roads on the surface lead one way and there is an extensive tunnel system of roads going the other way. It would be a nightmare trying to drive there. Our hotel is the Posada Sante Fe, right on the main city square. A nice hotel, but our room was noisy with the window over an alley leading to a hostel. First evening we walked around and ate dinner across the square. There was music and dancing later.

Wed Feb 4

This morning we took a city tour, it was all in Spanish, but gave us a great overview of the sights. The first stop was a mummy museum, where they have places bodies that were buried around 200 years ago and are preserved by the clay and limestone soil. It was pretty weird. Then we stopped at a mining museum and walked into the hillside in an old shaft. Huge fortunes were made in the silver mines, that built the many elaborate churches in the town. Then we went to Valencia, above the town by about 3miles and visited the cathedral and the "Purgatory museum" where they have preserved all the torture tools from the inquisition. Boy that will make you an athiest in a hurry. There was a family of Spanish speaking Americans on the tour that helped out with some translations.

We have been eating breakfast at a bagel cafe next to one of the churches. Everywhere has fresh squeezed orange juice that is just delicious.

We stopped to look into one of the churches and 5 people were havin a prayer meeting, they would pray out loud and then sing at the top of their lungs soooo off key, it reminded me of Donny Egan.

Late afternoon we had dinner in the alley behind the hotel which was very good. I had tortill soup. The meals are huge , we always have too much food.

2009-01-31T14:02:00.000-08:00

Jan29,2009

We left home at 3:30 for our 6:00 flight and were through security by 4:10... this has to be my all time early to the airport!!! The flight was smooth and we arrived here on time. It is very easy to get a taxi from the approved station, and we had printed directions to our B&B. We are at the Red Tree House in Condesa, #6 Culican, it is the cutest place. The neighborhood is residential, mostly apt bldgs, with parking garages on street level. Our B&B doesn't even have a sign, just a tree out front with red holiday lights. It is a converted house and done in exquisite taste, all modern with a Mexican touch. Our room is across the back courtyard and upstairs. With a little sitting room, bedroom and bath.

The owners are Craig, from Beech SD and retired from teaching theatre lighting in Oregon, and Jorge a United Airlines flight attendant origionaly from Oaxaca. Every evening they have wine in the living room for all the guests to meet each other, as well as the occasional friend who may stop by. The first evening we went to dinner at Rojo Bistro and had "little cow", the waiter was doing the translation for us. It was very good.

Friday Jan 30th.

Today we went with Deanna and Jim a couple from Port Ludlow and took the city circuit tour bus. It was a little difficult to find the stop in our neighborhood, but it is a great way to get an overview of the city. Downtown is very nice, large wide avenues with trees, lots of banks, hotels etc. all very clean. The traffic was a snarl due to several protests going on, the women wanting more welfare money and farmers wanting better crop prices. Apparently there are a few designated days when any group can sign up and stage their protest. There were police and federales everywhere, the American Embassy looked like a fortress. We observed it all from the top deck of a tour bus.

We got off at the National Anthropoligy Museum, it was very interesting with artifacts from all of the ancient Mexican civilizations. My favorite was the Aztec calendar in stone a circle about 12 feet across and hanging on the wall. At least it didn't all go to the British Museum. After the museum we took the subway home, clean and efficient, but very crowded, at rush hour.

We went for tacos in the eve at Califa close to here, and had the best tacos ever, with 4 different and tasty bowls of salsa, none too hot.

When we got back there was another gathering in the B&B, with several new people coming in for the weekend. A couple of ladies from DC and a cute young couple from Brazilia Brazil, and a couple of guys from BC.

Sat 31

Today we took the subway to Zocola, and went through the Cathedral. It is huge and ornate with lots of gold guilded altars and side altars. There was a large group of people with infants in baptism finery. They do group baptisms on Sat & Sun.

Our next stop was Palacia Natioanl to see the Diego Rivera murals. They depict the history of the people of Mexico up through the 30s when I think they were done. Very beautiful. Then we went to the Templo Mayor which is a excavation of the original pyramids under Mexico City, with a large outdoor area and a museum.

Lunch was at a taco shop, very good and then walked to the Fine art museum for a quick tour and a walk through Alameda garden to the subway home. There were huge crowds of people lots of families & kids out and about.

I am using the laptop here at the B&B to write.

2008-06-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

2008-06-28T14:40:00.001-07:00

More photos of Vietnam

2008-06-28T14:36:00.001-07:00

Photos of Vietnam

2008-03-13T17:53:00.000-07:00

We are back home safe and sound.. What a wonderful trip, we had so many interesting and unusual experiences and are now happy to be home.

The most wonderful part of the trip was the Vietnamese people. They are without a doubt the kindest and friendliest people we have ever come across, the majority of whom live in appalling conditions most westerners can only imagine.

I will post some more photos as soon as they are edited.

2008-03-10T06:48:00.000-07:00

Our last night in Vietnam and we are back at the Sunway Hotel in HaNoi.

Saturday evening our guide in SaPa, Dao, met us at the hotel and took us to the restaurant where he cooks. It was close so we walked in the rain. The restaurant sits up on the hill with no windows and a great view. We were afraid it would be cold but, they had all the bamboo shades down and a huge fire in the open pit in the middle. He cooked the best beef dish for us.

Sunday morning we left early in the rain and fog to drive to BacHa where the famous Flower H'Mong Sunday market is held. SaPa is at over 4000 ft above sea level and the road down to Cao Lai which sits at close to sea level is 38 km and very steep but in good paved condition. We then drove up the other side of the valley and the road got worse as we went. After about an hour we saw a lot of tour cars and buses coming down, and someone who knew our driver flagged us down and said that we couldn't get to Bac Ha as there was a landslide and the road was covered. Our guide said that the road is dirt and gravel and one side is straight up and the other straight down. He kept saying, "What a pity, you can't go." About then I needed a bathroom so as we drove back they kept slowing down to look at the roadside stops, finally Dao said they were looking for one with a nice bathroom. When we did stop it was at a typical little spot selling a few snacks, a few clothes and drinks, all on tiny plastic chairs and tables about big enough for Kate or Cam, with a blue tarp to hold the rain off. The bathroom was the second worst squat we have seen in the whole trip and that is going some. You have to touch nothing to stay healthy. We sat down and had tea before driving on.. our driver poured tea into all the cups, rinsed them and then tossed the tea onto the road before filling them to drink.

We went back to Loa Cai and saw the Chinese border, the Red River is the dividing line there and both cities are quite modern and built right up to the river with a bridge and modern border offices.

We then went to an interesting pagoda that had a zodiac circle and huge marble carved animals for each sign.

The rest of the afternoon we wandered around a couple of markets and waited for the train. The town was full of tourists since the major attraction was Bac Ha Market.

Our train car on the way to HaNoi was even noisier than the first one but we managed to sleep through it.

Trang, our HaNoi guide, was waiting beside the track when we pulled in and tapped on the window. All of the guides have been very responsible and really take good care of us. We left from the train station at 5am to go to the Perfume Pagoda. It was something that we sort of wanted to skip, but it was too early to get into the hotel so we went, and it was wonderful.

The village of Houng Son is about 40km west and they control the pagoda which is up in the Perfume mountains west of the village. The only way to get there is by boat of which there are hundreds docked in the river. There are no motors and each boat is rowed by one or two people depending on the size. It is beautiful country with lots of trees and mountains that look just like the ones in HaLong Bay. This month is the busiest time there, as it is right after the Lunar new year when all Buddhists make a pilgrimage. It is like their mecca.

Today was not a "'busy day" since it was Monday, but there were thousands of people there. The cave is at the top of a mountain 2.5km up a path. We walked in the footsteps of millions of Buddhist pilgrims. Or rather we walked down in their footsteps, on the way up we rode a brand new German made cable car. The entire 2.5km of the path was lined on both sides with booths selling food, drinks and souvenirs.. they all seemed to have the same stuff. The people take big trays of food into the pagoda and then carry it all the way back down to eat after it is blessed. The cave at the top was huge and people crowd in and stay there all day, eating and sitting.

Some of the food stalls had dead animals hanging out front, dogs, cats, rats, deer, goats and chickens. We didn't eat until we were back in the village. Trang ordered lunch for us and we had a special treat, whole fried shrimp, head, tail, shell, legs and all. He dished up a large helping for me and I chewed it down... really wasn't too bad if you didn't think about it.

Everyone was so friendly and wanted to talk with us since we were the only westerners there. Most tourists come later in the day. A couple of college girls asked us to pose for a picture with them. Since we were going on 30 hours in the same clothes and no shower we added a bit of perfume to the area ourselves. We were very happy to get back to our hotel and shower.

Tomorrow we leave for home at 11pm.

2008-03-08T02:01:00.000-08:00

We are in SaPa at the Victoria Hotel. Our train arrived at Loa Cio at 530 in the morning and our guide and driver were waiting for us. It is about an hour drive up here, and lucky for us the hotel gave us our room so we could shower. On the train we had a sleeper, and bought all four beds so we had privacy. We didn't think we would be able to sleep a wink, but both of us got a few hours sleep. The shared bathroom was vile.

Today we trekked 6 miles to a H'Mong village. When we came out of the hotel three teenage girls in H'Mong traditional dress started walking with us, and continued the whole way. They were so cute and buttered us up for sales. Whenever anyone else came near us one of them gave the best stink eye... these are our Americans and stay away. The trail we took was the "easy" one, and we can't believe we did it. Part of the way was on pavement, then it turned into a steep downhill trail with large rocks for a long way. We walked past the terraced rice paddies, and there were pigs and water buffalo wandering around. Len said, " the worst of the trail is over" and about a block later it turned into a virtual stairway of rocks and dirt, then we walked over the rocks that held the water back for the rice, and along a steep hillside on a 12 inch wide trail. Our guide was great, and helped me all the way. The three girls had flip flops on, and jumped from rock to rock giggling all the way in a sort of mountain ballet. They had a great time teasing Len. We stopped at a shelter for lunch which Dao (our guide) had in his pack. He prepared our sandwiches for us which consisted of good bread, scarey lunch meat, laughing Cow cheese, and then he pulled out the best part; raw bacon. Len ate his and I slipped mine over the railing when no one was looking. Then we had fruit for dessert. He took about 10 minutes to peel and slice an apple, not sure about his chef abilities.

As we were leaving lunch one of "our girls" said, "would you buy something from me now so we can go home?" We bought a couple of little trinkets, and gave them a bag of M&M's which really got a smile.

We then walked further through a couple of villages and met our driver for a ride home. Tonight our guide is going to cook dinner for us, he is a chef at a local resturant.

Hopefully we will still be alive tomorrow after todays lunch.

2008-03-07T00:08:00.000-08:00

We drove about 3 hours from HaNoi to the ocean. Along the way there were many international factories built in the midst of miles of rice fields being farmed by water buffalo with farmers planting rice seedlings one at a time. We went through a red clay area with brick factories, then a coal mining section with coal fired electric plants. All the way the pollution was as bad as in LA.

When we arrived at the dock in HaLong City there were a dozen or more tour buses and hundreds of tourists milling about. We have learned to stand back and let it happen. Our tour guide was negotiating with several people, someone came and collected our passports, we were told to follow another fellow onto a boat and within 5 minutes we were away from the dock. There is no way you could do this on your own, it is not at all apparent how things work.

We were on a boat with a capacity of 12 and there were 7 of us. A couple from Germany near Kohn, a Swiss couple and an English lady who is traveling around the world alone. They were a great bunch and we enjoyed visiting with them. The Swiss couple took a bit to warm up.

We cruised for 2 days out in the bay which is about 1000 square kilometers and has 1969 islands both big and small. They are limestone and jut straight out of the bay with very few areas to beach the boat so all the excursions were by a bamboo boat with a sort of raft built on top of it and the boy stood up and ran the oars. Of course no life jackets in sight but we didn't go out of swimming distance from shore. We went into one large cavern similar to Lewis & Clark and then stopped at an island named Titop. It was where Tito and HoChiMinh had a meeting. There were stairs to the top which we climbed for a beautiful view, although my calves paid for it that night. There was a beautiful sunset after which we droopped anchor for the night in a secluded cove. The next day was misty in the am and high clouds all day and we cruised around and looked at more caves. We saw monkeys on the hill side. It was such a quiet and relaxing place and a respite we needed after the noise and crowds.

When we pulled into a fishing village all the kids came out is boats trying to sell us seashells. One little 5 year old was being rowed by his Grandma, Kate gave him a dollar which he wasn't too sure of, then Len gave hime 20000 dong which equals a dollar and he broke into a huge grin, stuffed the dong in his pocket and handed the dollar to Grandma.

Our driver and guide were at the dock to meet us and we stopped at a handicapped workshop on the way back to lighted our wallet.

We are in HaNoi now at an internet cafe waiting to take the night train to SaPa. Will write more from there.

2008-03-04T04:46:00.000-08:00

We spent today in Ha Noi, visited Ho Chi Minh tomb which sits in the middle of a huge park and parade ground. It is open limited hours so there were thousands of tourists there, and security is high. You line up and go up stairs and into the semi-dark room where his body is laying. It looks to be perfectly preserved, we thought it might be a wax effigy, but our guide says it is a secret process that the Russians and Chinese know. Maybe the same as what they used to produce "Bodies". After that we walked through the grounds and saw the presidential palace which is very French, then were Uncle Ho worked and lived. Our guide here is Trang, and we don't love him. He is full of the importance of Ha Noi and the North and spouts party line at every opportunity. We then went to the Temple of Literature where students studies Confuscianism in ancient times. It is large and beautiful but we hit overload about halfway through, making us think about "mother & child" in the museums of Europe.

After lunch we took a cyclo ride through the old quarter which is colorful, each street sells one product, they even had a "home depot" street. Shopping here must be difficult.

The city is very beautiful, wide tree lined streets and very clean. Our guide said that twice a day the loudspeakers come on each block telling the retired folks it is time to go out and clean up the street... hope that idea doesn't catch on at home.

Tonight we attended a water puppet theatre, which had traditional live music and puppets on a stage of water. They are famous all over the world.

Tomorrow morning we leave for 3 days on the boat to Halong Bay, then three days to SaPa, so we most likely won't have internet access or phone coverage. Will write more from SaPa if possible.

Thanks for the computer tip John, we will give that a try.

2008-03-03T04:09:00.000-08:00

We spent today in Hue which is a beautiful city. It is much cleaner than we have been in so far. First thing we took a trip in a Dragon boat up the river to an interesting temple. The family who runs the boat also lives on it and it is about the length of our upstairs bathroom and half as wide with no furniture but a couple of little plastic chairs for us to sit on. We saw boats that people live on that earn their living dredging sand from the river bottom with hand wenches, and then sell it on shore for construction.

Our next stop was the Citadel which is similar to the Forbidden City in Bejing. There are a few buildings that survived the 1968 Tet battle, and many more are being restored. It is a huge place and was built by the Nyugen Dynasty which were the first to combine Vietnam into one country in 1802.

From there we went to a couple of burial sites of the emperors, each different and very elaborate.

Ahn our guide was telling us a little about his family. His parents met while fighting in the jungle for the North Vietnamese army and were married after the war in 1975. In 1979 the country was at war again with China and all Chinese in Vietnam were arrested and sent to "reeducation camps", his father among them. His family was not together again until 1985 when his father was released. It seems like a terrible injustice, and he said his father is very depressed and bitter.

We are waiting to take a 9:30 flight to Hanoi.

2008-03-02T06:27:00.000-08:00

We had a free day in Hoi An yesterday and just spent the whole day in the town which is very interesting, touristy but fun. We went to the central market where they sell everything, as we walked through the food part there was an old woman selling vegetables who had a table about 5ft square and she was squatting in the middle of her produce eating a bowl of noodles. Looking at everything we were glad we didn't have to eat it, and today the realization hit us "We are eating it". Every vendor comes out trying to hard sell you and your face is frozen into a smile and throat is sore from saying "No thank you.

The Vietnamese have a great sense of humor, one young woman in the market held up her baby and said " Souvenir Madam?" Then the peanut seller was joking with Len trying to get him to buy and she patted his stomach and said "You're a happy Buddha".

We went into lots of shops and saw lots of things to buy until we realized how far we had to carry it until the flight home.

Today we drove north through Danang and stopped at a holy site called Marble Mountain. It is a temple carved into a natural cave in the mountain. There are steps up into the cave to the top with a view out to the South China Sea. Len and the guide went to the top and said it was beautiful. Our guide for the three days we are here is a young man named Ahn, who we like a lot. He is a native of Hue and is married with a 13 month old baby.

In Danang we stopped at the Cham museum where there were a lot of artifacts from the numerous sites in the central part of the country.

From there we drove over a high pass, about like Logan pass, but starting and ending at sea level. The road was build by the Americans during the war and there are still remnants of bunkers at the top, and also some down lower in the rice fields. There is a tunnel through the mountain opened in 2005 which makes a fast trip for everyone but tourists. We had a warm day but it was hazy, not sure if it is haze or air polution.

Our hotel in Hue is the Saigon Morin which was built in 1901 and is very elegant. It sits just 1/2 block from the bridge that was in the video clip John found on the web. We walked down to the market after lunch and bought a scarf from a vendor who said he had a sister in Seattle.

Tonight we went on a boat on the Perfume River, just Len & I and our guide on the boat with a musical group of 7 young people. They played and sang beautiful traditional Vietnamese music, then gave us each three lotus shaped boats with candles in the middle to float down the river for our three wishes to come true.

We ate at a little hole in the wall place down from the hotel and walked away stuffed for $7.00 including tip. We are spending more on laundry than food.

We are missing seeing you Kate & Cameron..

2008-03-02T03:44:00.000-08:00

We're in Hue, waiting to go on an evening boat trip so I'll post more later. I can't do pictures because there is no WiFi and I am having trouble getting the laptop to work anyhow. We have a fast connection here at the hotel so will be able to tell you all we have done the last couple of days.

2008-02-29T05:03:00.000-08:00

Today we drove about 30miles to My Son, the ancient temple site of the Chams which was occupied from the 4th the 13th century and remained virtually intact until 1969. At that time the Viet Cong used it for a camp and the Americans bombed about 75% of it. We were saying how awful and our guide said, " It was a war and its in the past, nothing can be done about it!" That is the attitude here about the "American War". All of the people we have met were born after the war was over, or after independence as they say.

The countryside here is absolutely beautiful, hilly and lush and green with lovely green rice fields. The population here is so much less than in the Delta and around Saigon, so there is much less noise and chaos and the roads are not very crowded. We are also enjoying the cool weather, all the Vietnamese are wearing their winter coats and freezing to death as it is about 60 degrees today.

We had a great lunch which included Mango Beef Salad, soooooo good. We went shopping this afternoon and I got a silk jacket made. Two little women that hardly reached my shoulder were doing the measurements, one was measuring calling out to the other with a lot of chatter in between. They were probably saying, "Can you believe this, the biggest one today!"

We then just wandered around in the town, and ended up in the local market. They really give you the hard sell, except in the vegetable selling part.

Tomorrow we have a free rest day, will spend it at the pool if it warms up or else go shopping.

2008-02-28T04:18:00.000-08:00

We are in Hoi An tonight at the Hoi An Pacific hotel. Our flight from Nha Trang to Danang was smooth and we were picked up by our guide for the next three days Ahn. He seems like a pleasant guy. The driver who brought us here from the airport was the scariest driver in the world, I can't believe he didn't kill 50 bike riders on the way. We got a different one this afternoon for the next two days and he was fine.

Hoi An is a cute town that appears to be quite prosperous and with well preserved old buildings. It is also swarming with tourists. We went to a silk factory and just walked around looking at tailor shops to get an idea what to order tomorrow.

Dinner tonight was one of the best Vietnamese style meals we have had so far.

2008-02-27T04:11:00.000-08:00

I am writing news for several days. We spent Feb 24th and 25th in Siem Reap and the Angkor Wat temples. Our tour guide was a nervous fellow Chenla who spoke barely comprehensible English with the theory that if he said it 10 times loud something would stick. Our driver was a young funny guy with "cheeky street kid written all over him. He loved to make jokes and spoke fairly good English.

Angkor Wat is a bunch of temple complexes all in the same general area, but too far from each other to walk. The first morning we visited Bayon, which is the one with the famous carved faces and the bas relief walls. You can climb all over the temples, on fairly precarious steps. In the afternoon we went to Angkor Wat the big complex with the five spires.

That evening we climbed up a big hill and to the top of a temple and watched a beautiful sunset, along with several thousand other tourists. After that we went to a open air buffet resturant and watched a dancing show. The show was good, and the food was Cambodian Kings table..

The next morning we got up at 5am to watch the sunrise, but it was cloudy so we could have slept in. On the way that morning about 530 we went past the Angkor childrens hospital and there were parents with sick children lined up for a least a block to see the doctor. We complain about 30 min in an AC waiting room...

The area around Siem Reap is extremely dry with this being the third month of the dry season and no rain. The people in the country side live in extreme poverty in thatched shacks.

The second day we went to several smaller temples and the big one that was used to film "tomb raiders" with Angelina Jolie. It is big news there and they are proud that their temple is in an international film. That afternoon we went to a cultural village and watched a bunch of differnent dances which was fun.

We flew back to Saigon on the eve of the 25th and then on to Nha Trang on the morning of the 26th they use the old Cam Rahn airbase from the was as their airport. Our guide here is "Bill" the bullshitter, he said my
Vietnamese name is too hard to remember so you can call me Bill, like Bill Gates and Bill Clinton. We got in the car and he started singing "O Carol" the song from the 60's. He is 24 yrs old. Our driver has a brand new Mitsubish and thinks he is an Indy driver. Today was very stormy and cloudy but we went on our island trip anyhow since it isn't cold, at least not to us. The sea was very rough but I had taken my Dramamine so all was well.Too bad they don't make a dramamine for fear!!!! I counted the life jackets and there were 20 with only 5 on the boat, us and two drivers so I figured we each could stay afloat with 4.

We went out to some islands in the South China Sea to an aquarium, fed some turtles and then went on to another island and went swimming. The water was crystal clear in the bay. Then we went to a fishing village for lunch where we chose our own fish from a net. They took it to the resturant to cook it for us. The cook said "What should I do with the head? I wanted to say "the garbage" when he suggested fish head soup... It was acturally very good.. Len even ate two bowls.. They cooked our fish in foil and it was the best meal we have had since getting here.

This afternoon we walked down to the central market, a large area of stalls where the locals shop for everything from food to shoes.

We fly to Hoi An tomorrow..

2008-02-26T05:20:00.000-08:00

Just a short posting to let you all know we are okay and at the Yasaka Hotel in Nha Trang which is a beautiful beach area north of Saigon 1 hr by plane. There is no place to sit and write and no WiFi so will write about our trip to Angkor Wat later.

2008-02-23T15:49:00.000-08:00

We are at the Borei Ankor hotel in Siem Reap and is it ever plush, teak everywhere you can look. We took a Bangkok air flight from PhnomPhen and got here late so am posting for yesterday. They fly the same little airplanes the Horizon flies to Montana. Driving from the airport we were getting a little worried going through bad neighbor hoods, but the hotel is great.

The night we spent in Phnom Phen we swam and relaxed by the pool and then took a TukTuk (a motor scooter drawn buggy the only means of public transportation) down to the riverfront and found a great restaurant called Frizz. It is run by a Dutch expat and serves authentic Cambodian food. We had green chili curry that was better than Mali thai. After dinner we were going to walk a bit but the beggars got to us so we retreated to the hotel. In some ways Cambodia seems less poor the Vietnam because it is less crowded but there are far more people who have been injured by landmines and the war and children begging on the streets. We were talking to an English couple at the airport who travel in Asia a lot, and they said, "Give what you can but remember they were here before you came and will be here when you leave, you can't fix the problem." The hotel has a brochure about all of the programs the Cambodians have set up to get their people back on their feet which would be a better way to donate.

We started our tour yesterday visiting the grounds of the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. It is a large park like area where the king's lives and the public can visit parts of it. Lucky for us it was overcast as we spent a lot of time outdoors, and buckets of sweat were pouring off us. The present king was crowned in 2004 and the country is governed by a prime minister and Parliament. This is an election year for them. The present form of government was set up by the UN in 1990. The dollar is the preferred form of currency here, at least equal to the Cambodian real. Our guide said it was because their money was worthless after the revolution. Her parents had worked hard and saved and it was worth zero, so when democracy was restored people only trusted US dollars.

From there we went to the National Museum with many artifacts from Angkor Wat and other sites.

Lunch was at a very busy Chinese restaurant. I found something new coconut jelly is really good. After lunch we visited the "lady pagoda" which sits on a man made hill and is the oldest structure in the city. The steps and grounds were packed with beggars. Before we started Talee said not to give money until we were leaving and she changed our dollars into Cambodian real (4000/dollar) so that we had could give to more people. It was really awful seeing all of those suffering people.

Our next stop was two markets, the first especially for tourists and very expensive and the second the "Russian Market" for local people. Hot, crowded, interesting with great prices on the same stuff that was in the first market.

Out guide for the day was a 37 yr old lady named Talee who was very interesting. Her parents were teachers and she was 5 years old when PolPot's Khmer Rouge revolution took place. Her family was relocated far into the country and forced to do field labor. After 1979 when the Russians and Vietnamese threw the Khmer Rouge out they stayed in the village and taught at the schools there. She is the oldest of 8 children and attended school off and on, being taught at home part of the time. As a teenager she passed the entrance exams and was allowed to to to University in Phnom Phen. She asked how old we were and was astonished that we are older than her parents who she says are "very Old". An easy American life with good dental and health care really makes a difference in how people age.

Our last stop was the killing fields memorial Choung Ek, where they found thousands of bodies from victims of the genocide. There is a large building in the center serving as a grave for the skulls from the graves they exhumed. Many were left undisturbed.

2008-02-22T01:02:00.000-08:00

"I might have ridden a motor scooter, but I will never ride a cyclo" (rickshaw behind a bicycle)... As we came out of our hotel this morning at 0630 Phi was standing there with three grinning cyclo drivers. "We will be taking this conveyance to the boat dock." Len got on the first one and I was following, as we came to the only red light in 50 miles and his driver flew right through with mine after him. We were both looking at the grill of a Hyundai truck.. it was quite a thrill but sort of fun once we didn't die on the truck bumper.

We left Phi there, he will return to Saigon by express bus and got on a "Blue Cruise" fast boat to Phnom Phen, by way of the Mekong River. It is a huge river nearly a mile wide in places and moves fast. Our first stop was the Vietnamese border where they unloaded all the baggage, made the porters carry it up a steep rickety staircase and load it in a cart which they wheeled to the custom house, waited 1 minute and turned around and carried it back to the boat. The boat company picked up all the passports at 5am from the hotels. We were with a group from Holland and everyone was getting nervous about getting our passports back. About a mile up river we stopped at the Cambodian border for a real "Chinese fire drill". It took over an hour and there was no organization and no one spoke English. No lines, just sort of milling around and calling out names. Things finally sorted out and we were on our way. Our boat company must not pay big enough bribes, because other companies came in after us and were long gone.

Our tour guide met us at the dock, a cute 21 year old named Nim. We went to a great Cambodian resturant for lunch. Len is feeling much better and enjoyed the food. Our next stop was the genocide museum with memorials from the killing of the Pol Pot regime. It was very sad but interesting.

We are staying at the Phnom Phen Hotel, which is very nice, we plan to hit the pool later. There is not WiFi, so will have to save up photos for later.

2008-02-21T04:01:00.000-08:00

We are in ChauDoc and the hotel doesnt have WiFi, so no photos today. This morning we took a boat ride, just us & our guide in a small boat, and went to the floating market. Small farmers bring their produce to the larger boats who wholesale it. It was really interesting, seems like anything that floats is a boat. Each large boat had a pole with the produce they were selling tied to it as an advertisement. I got some really good photos.

From there we took a long ride through the smaller branches of the Mekong and saw how people live along the river. They cook, drink , bathe and wash dishes and clothes in it.

Then we went to a family run rice noodle factory, where they boil rice into a batter and spread it on a steamer for about 1 minute then dry in the sun and finally cut into noodles. Very primitive working area, and not very sanitary, the pig pen was right next to the work area. There was a lady that wanted to talk to us, she asked me how old I was, she is 74. I took a photo with her. On the way back to the car we stopped at another floating fruit market and tried a coconut milk drink with a straw in the coconut. It was quite good.

From there we drove to ChauDoc and stopped along the way to see a bird santuary where beautiful white herons nest in the tree tops. The river was too low to take the boat so the owners took us on the back of their motor scooters. I wouldn't have done it if there had been time to think ahead, but it was a lot of fun. Len had to ride behine the teenage boy, I chose the old Dad.

Here in Chau Doc there is a sacred mountain with many temples and pilgrims. We went to one temple that was a climb lots of stairs, with a beautiful view into Cambodia from the terrace. I'll add photos tomorrow from Phnom Phen if there is access.

2008-02-20T02:34:00.000-08:00

More Soc Trang photos

2008-02-20T02:29:00.001-08:00

Soc Trang photos

2008-02-20T02:10:00.000-08:00

Soc Trang - Providence Orphanage

We found the Providence orphanage in
Soc Trang, after a lot of stopping for directions, and as luck would have it there was an older nun there who spoke English and remembered Rosemary Taylor, Sr Susan and Mary Nelle from tjhe days when they made the trip to Soc Trang to take babies back to their nurseries in Saigon. She said that Do is one of the most common last names in that part of Vietnam, in fact it was her family name. She told us that there were no records kept in that time, because of the war and confusion. The compound is no longer an orphange, but a day care center. They use only a small part of the original area, as the government confiscated the hospital and several of their buildings in 1975 after the was ended.

The people of the Soc Trang area belong to the Khmer ethnic group which is the second largest minority in Vietnam, Chinese being the largest. The city and surrounding area are about 1 million people, and they are traditionally rice farmers, but the Tiawainese are building many factories there now. The top photos are of the old orphanage. The people are very dark skinned, some much darker than you Chris.

We visited a pagoda, and every kid we saw wanted to practice their English on us. "Hello what is your name?" They are so cute, and all of the people are friendly.

After looking over the breakfast buffet, I told Len, "You aren't in Kansas anymore Dorothy". It is difficult to be brave about food at 7am when your stomach is a little queasy. We both have had a touch of tourista.

Yesterday we drove through an area south of Saigon where the main industry is making rice wine which is 40% alcohol. they sell is in big gallon plastic jugs all along the roadside. Phi says it is the cause of Vietnams overpopulation problems.

2008-02-19T03:07:00.000-08:00

I can finally upload photos, but can't get the labels right with them. From the top, Len & Phi at the Mekong boat dock., the kind of boat we took across the river and around the islands with coconut and fruit plantations. Houses along the Mekong, they deliver goods by river to the back of the house and the front on street level has a shop. Motorscooters with the VN version of 5point restraints for children. A typical roadside scene, and a picture of a new house.

We are in CanTho at a very nice hotel. Our room has a living room, bedroom and two bathrooms.. a bit of overkill but very nice. I now realize that I couldn't travel in a third world country without an airconditioned hotel at the end of the day.

We drove south from Saigon, the area just outside of the city is being developed into a new urban center, with lots of construction of high rise apts and homes. It is planned by the government, so they must have moved everyone out. As you drive past the area being developed everyone lives just by the road with open farm land further back. There are new houses here and there built right next to the worst looking tarp and sheet metal shack.

We took a small boat up the river from MyTho and then visited a fruit and coconut plantation. The cool breeze on the river made it very pleasant.

2008-02-18T05:54:00.000-08:00

Today we drove about 60km west of Saigon, driving or riding in a car here is not for the feint of heart. The roads are mostly narrow with very few traffic lights, and are full of scooters, bikes, cars, trucks, ox drawn wagons and any other form of conveyance they can come up with. There don't seem to be any rules of the road. Phi (our guide) said, "Red light, okay, red light + police = stop". Our driver is very careful tho.

First we stopped at a laquer ware factory that hires handicapped people. It is a very labor intensive process and we walked through and watched them working. Their products are really beautiful.

Then we drove to the CaoDai temple area. The temple is very ornate and colorful. they seem to be the Vietnamese cult of 100 years ago. There was a service at noon which the allow visitors to watch from the balcony., lots of chanting and sitting cross legged on the floor.

After a great lunch we went to CuChi to see the area where the Viet Cong had the largest network of underground living areas. Len went down into a section of the tunnel and said it was interesting.. I stayed above ground thinking of spiders.

There will be pictures tomorrow, I bought a new media card tonight and it works. Don't know what the problem is with the old one.

2008-02-17T13:25:00.000-08:00

I think we are finally caught up on sleep. After or tours yesterday we came home at 3pm for a short nap before dinner and just now woke up at 4am, so I am writing this while we wait for breakfast to open at 6am.

I am having problems getting the photos to download to the computer. I insert the disk into the computer, and the box that asks to download doesn't come up. When I go into Digital image and try to do it manaully it says disc isn't formatted and if I click to format it can't.

Yesterday we saw the Presidential palace, War Museum, Notre Dame Cathedral, Post office 3 pagodas and two markets.

Saigon is unbelievable, District I is the old French Quarter with all of the tourist hotels, resturants, government buildings & international chain stores. There are wide streets with parks, trees and flowers.

Outside of District I, live 10 million people in the most crowded conditions imaginable. At street level every kind of shop spills onto the sidewalk and mixs with plastic chairs & braziers the outdoor space of the people living in the tenements above. Children play in the midst of it all. The street is full of motorbikes and the noise level intense. Mix in the heat and humidity and it is exhausting. They seem to have no personal space. We visited the wholesale market in Chinatown where all of the products come and go on the backs of motorbikes or bicycles.

We asked our guide about cost of apartments, and he shares one with 5 other guys. He feels fortunate to have a good job.

2008-02-16T16:14:00.001-08:00

A little cooler and overcast today. We are going to see the tourist spots today with our guide.

Communism must have been a hard sell to this city, the streets are full of people selling things, from taxis, cyclos, to food and every thing else you can imagine for sale from little spots 3 feet wide between store fronts. Len said that the paper money must be worth less than the cost to print it, although no worse than our copper pennies. We bought two bottles of ice water from a street vendor and she said 10. Len gave here a 2000 note which is the smallest he had thinking how would she make change, and she shook her head and showed us a 10,000 note.. which is about .65 . The exchange is 16,000 to 1$.

2008-02-16T07:09:00.000-08:00

We're here, Rex Hotel Saigon. What a trip 27 hours door to door. Waiting for our luggage we talked to the ugly Ameraican. He informed us to take our time in Angor Wat because, "You can't see that sum bitch in 3 days", and then proceeded to give us his view on why womens lib has ruined airline service in the US. I was too tired and time was too short to take him on..

Our guide was waiting outside the terminal, he is a really cute twenty year old from Dalat named Phee (not sure of spelling). Today we had no plans, just slept late and had breakfast here at the hotel. The buffet was up in the rooftop resturant, which is part of the Rex rooftop garden bar. The food was great, every kind of Vietnamese, European and American breakfast you could want. The hotel is full of tourists, mostly Europeans.

On our walk this morning we did okay crosssing the small streets, but to get to the Saigon river you need to cross a 6 lane boulevard with no stop lights. As we stood on the side looking two cyclo drivers came and stopped traffic for us.. and then we couldn't get rid of them. We were standing by the river watching the barges and one driver told us, " I love USA, especially California, then he told about the news he had heard of a mass murder/suicide in Colorado. You could see that he thought USA was a dangerous place. We finally had to slip into the lobby of the Grand Hotel and wait until they gave up and left, "NO" wasn't an option in their book.

Slept all afternoon, had dinner at Augustin a French resturant near the hotel that Gavin Young mentioned in his book as his favorite resturand from the 50's. We had a great dinner, soup salad, entree, beer, wine, dessert & coffee for $43.00 which included the tip.

Crossing the street in the dark was interesting, we walked behind a mother with three kids, and when she yelled "Hold Hands", it was understandable in any language.

There is a beautiful plaza in front of our hotel, lots of trees and flowers where everyone is sitting tonight watching the people go by. There are families with a blanket and picnic...Some of the motor scooters have 4 people on them, 2 adults with helmets and 2 kids hanging on.

2008-02-15T01:41:00.000-08:00

Hi from an internet cafe in Seoul airport. We have a 2 1/2 hour layover here. The flight on Asiana was great, the last time I remember that kind of service was when Theresa & I flew Lufthansa to Germany in 1966. I had my first food adventure 5 min off the plane. The food court had HagenDaz and what looked like mint was green tea!!!! I never thought to find Ice cream I couldn't eat. Will post more from Saigon.

2008-02-11T10:19:00.000-08:00

Wow, this is really happening, we leave in 3 days. I read in interesting book this weekend "A Wavering Grace" by Gavin Young about his experiences in Vietnam as a war correspondent and follows the lives of a family from Hue that he knew in the 60's up through his last visit in 1996. I bought a dictionary last week and now can't find it, so that is my last errand, getting a new one.

2008-01-06T20:53:00.001-08:00

It is just weeks away, our long planned and dreamed about trip to Southeast Asia. We leave Seattle on Feb 14th and start out trip in Saigon or HCMC, the hard to get used to name. I'll try to post photos and notes whenever we are at a hotel with internet access.