Trip to Central Coast

Doing some fishing in the morning.

In Hoi An.

Ruins at My Son.

Train tracks/bridge south of Hue on the central coast. We were off the train and on a bus at this point but Lisa and I will be back on the train and on these tracks along the coast for a 25.5 hour train ride beginning on 12/22/10.

Lisa at the bunkers at the Hi Van pass that separated the north from the south during the war. A few bullet holes in the back there. I actually found a half bullet shell on the ground here. Kind of weird.

Central coast south of Hue.

The actual car.

We did not stay here, but a great name.

This was a real surprise! Yes, there still are elephants in Vietnam.

The citadel in Hue.

Arriving in Hue after a 13 hour train ride from Hanoi.

Walking across the street at 7:45am

Makes crossing a polluted street much more pleasant.
Notice in the video that we almost make it across to the other curb, when two girls on one bike sneak past us going, of course, the wrong way.

The Gym and Lisa's Birthday

We had a little celebration and pizza and two cakes after their last exam and the end of the semester.

Lisa's birthday cake!

Locker room in the gym we go to.

Nice showers, glass doors and glass tiles.

The pool at the gym. Missing pictures of the main floor with all the treadmills, etc. and the jacuzzi, steam room, sauna etc. It is really nice and we are often the only people there, sometimes there are 10 people total.

More pictures of Ha Long Bay and a few of Hanoi

So, this is a picture taken from our balcony in August. Then below you'll see a zoomed in photo of the same area and another zoomed out like this one. Notice: 1. The air quality change. 2. The height of the two tallest buildings. They are now over 70 stories high. They will be the highest in the country.

So it has not rained in over 4 weeks and as you can clearly see (Ha!) the dust and air pollutants are nicely packaged in Hanoi. This is often called a "dust dome" and it literally covers the city. If it would rain, much of the suspended dust would be grabbed by the water and brought to the ground. Our balcony is covered with a fine dust and open shops have a fine dust on all their products. Breathing is not the most pleasurable activity.

This is the new building that is being constructed quickly before our eyes. We catch the public bus in the morning under those trees in the middle of the picture.

Jumping in Ha Long Bay. The air here was nice and so was the water!

Lisa at the floating fish market. You walk around on a grid pattern of planks looking into netted areas below with live fish. Pick the one you want and they scoop it out with a net.

Standing at a floating fish market.

Trip to Sapa in the mountains near China

water storage tank

a day at the market.

Quick! Find the green umbrella handle.

Indigo dyed fabrics and pillow cases.

A cool orchid.

Technology from the 1800s is still alive and well!

Lisa and somebody with long sticks in a basket backpack.

A terrraced rice paddy after being harvested.

Walking with a giant wok.

At a market we went to. Spot the dinner choices, duck, chicken and two types of dog.

Trip to Halong Bay

The pictures are pretty self explanatory. Ha Long Bay is breathtaking. The scene of pirate ships and deep water. It was fun. Don't have any pictures of us jumping off the boat roof into the water, but somebody does, we'll have to get those on the blog.

Lisa and Hang. She is our secretary, "solve all problems" person and she came along with our group for the 3 days. Only one day on the water though. We all wished we could have been out for longer.

Sort of like Vermont in November...but not really.