Mangrove

On a tower looking over part of the northern part of the southern end of Vietnam. Cambodia is in the distance.

We saw and heard lots of birds nesting up in the trees on this silent canoe ride.

Phu Quoc Island

Big tree in the National Park on Phu Quoc Island.

Playing in the waves, John the English teacher on the left, students on the right.

Beautiful beach on the southern end of the island.

We went squid fishing at night. We didn't catch anything.

Eating sea urchin. Brown, slimy but with lemon juice and crushed peanuts it was delicious. I ate 4 of them. It was a little bit of revenge, because I think I stepped on one in the ocean and it hurts.

Trip to Saigon & Mekong Delta

While visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels, a maze of over 150 miles of intricate tunnels, some three levels deep including meeting rooms, kitchens, painful booby traps. We got the opportunity to crawl through 100 yards of tunnel. First on feet, then hands and feet then hands and knees. I can't imagine doing it with guns, helmets, etc. This tank has been here since, well, 1970. ALL of the trees in the background have grown up since 1975 thanks to the Agent Orange that was sprayed all over the area.

When given the opportunity to shoot a couple bullets from a Russian AK-47, I couldn't resist. A strange sort of tourism opportunity given the history but fun nonetheless. A little pricey at over a dollar a bullet. 3 students and one other teacher each shot two bullets.

Ted coming out of a tunnel, not too easy.

Cathedral built in 1880s in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)

A nice vintage Lambretta scooter

Donated medals from American soldier to the War Museum in Saigon.

Definitely the coolest building in Saigon. That is a helicopter landing pad sticking out. Hanoi has a long way to go to catch up with the architecture of Saigon.

There happened to be a flower festival going on when we were there in Saigon with the students.

Cathedral in Saigon.

A meal we had on the Saigon River with our students on a boat.

The Snakehead fish, this is an invasive, introduced species in the U.S. They live all over the U.S. including the Potomac River. Voracious predators that can breath air and move on land. We did get the opportunity to eat them, and we did.

On the Mekong River.

One of the two huge bridges spanning the two major branches of the lower Mekong River. One bridge was built with the help of Australia, the other with the help of Japan. The second one was finished in April, 2010! Actually, there are 9 major mouths of the Mekong River.

Yeah, not quite sure here. Herbal medicine I think with a few monkey skulls in there too.

Lisa standing next to a support post of a house showing the year and the height of the Mekong River flood. The 2010 flood was so low it is marked on the curb thing under the post. The highest flood was 2002 which is about 2 feet above Lisa's head.

We visited a Muslim community where they weave fabric with this loom.

Fish market. The fish live under peoples' houses that are built over the river. They raise them and feed them food. Most of the catfish fillets are exported, putting a dent in the Mississippi catfish market. Check the label of your next catfish fillet, might be from Vietnam.

A floating grocery store that comes up to people's boats that live on the river. They have no house, just live on their boat on the river.

Selling bananas and moving them from one boat to another, up to the big boat in this case.