Trip Of A Lifetime to Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand!

Roger and I are very lucky parents/grandparents!

Rick and Jodie hosted Roger and I to go along with their family 

to visit our granddaughter, Sadie's, mission field 
to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. 

Rick planned a fabulous private tour for all of us to also visit Siem Reap, in North Cambodia,

where the famous Hindu temple ruin, Angkor Wat, is located; 

 Hanoi and Saigon/Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam; 

and then, to finish up in Bangkok, Thailand. 

We left the SLC Airport early Saturday morning, December 20.

Rick, Jodie, Rog and I flew to Seattle, then connected in Seoul to catch our flight to Hanoi. 

The kids went on a separate flight to San Francisco, then we were to all meet up in Seoul, 

where we would fly to Hanoi together.

Now, I admit that my knowledge and feelings about North Vietnam stem from being in my early twenties 
during the War in Vietnam. Roger and I knew friends and classmates who died in Vietnam. 
It is probably the most controversial war in our history. Hanoi is home to the "Hanoi Hilton," 
where American soldiers, among other nationalities opposed to the Communists taking over, 
were tortured and killed. 
It is all very complicated and we learned so much more detail while traveling there, 
but we had not pictured Vietnam as a tourist destination. 
We were wrong!

After flying to South Korea, we connected on a flight to Hanoi, North Vietnam. 

We were met with our own private guide, Chon, and a nice bus at the airport and taken to Hotel De'LOpera 

in Old Quarter, Hanoi, where we crashed overnight.

Next morning, after a wonderful hotel breakfast where you could order off the menu 

and have whatever you wanted on a lavish buffet, 

our guide picked us up to take us to catch a cruise of Halong Bay, 

one of the new Seven Wonders of Nature.

We saw motor bikes everywhere, some carrying interesting loads.

Roger was interested in observing how the newer living quarters are built going up many stories, 

none with elevators.

I knew we were in Vietnam when we stopped at a rest stop and our guide ordered a Banh My sandwich!

After about a 2 1/2 hour drive, we arrived at the dock to embark 

on our Orchid overnight cruise. 

As we waited to board, Rog and Jodie took pics of pretty flowers.

We're off!
Ha Long Bay, northeast of Hanoi, means "descending dragon," and is thousands of miles
of limestone isles and the literature about these formations says they have gone through
500 million years of formation. 
Prehistoric human beings lived there tens of thousands of years ago. 

Jodie and I enjoying a delicious welcome juice drink.

Our "cruise director" welcomed us and told us of upcoming  activities and festivities.

The kids' flight out of San Francisco had been late, misconnected and they over-nighted in Seoul. 

They didn't arrive in Hanoi in time to depart on our bus ride and embark on the cruise, 

so the travel company Rick had booked with got them to the boat terminal 

and Rick paid for a speed boat to bring them to where we anchored. They didn't really miss anything, 

as the cruise prepared them a late lunch and they were there for the afternoon activities.
We were so tickled to see them and they were in high spirits about their own little adventure!

These unique formations are scattered throughout 600 square miles.

It was overcast part of the time, but blessedly cool and breezy.

Four fishing villages, or floating houses, are scattered along the Gulf of Tonkin.

People live on the water and fish for a living.

There were several cruise ships we were near along the way enjoying the spectacular scenery.

They all hiked up hundreds of steps to an ancient natural cave.

There were just a few times that I stayed behind on this trip when there was a great deal of climbing involved.

I didn't mind - I brought my iPad with lots of good books to read!

They viewed many stalactites.

When the kids got back from the caves, the Katie and Abby went swimming off the back of the boat, then warmed up in the hot tub.

Before dinner, the chef showed us how to make Vietnamese spring rolls. Each of us rolled our own and they were delicious!

Dinner that night was a many courses affair and we enjoyed tasty food while watching the pretty scenery go by. We had such wonderful tropical fruit all throughout our tour!

For dessert, they had a parade of glowing pineapples in the dark, simulating the Baked Alaska parades 
on other cruise ships, while the little instrumental combo played Vietnamese music.

After dinner, we took many pics up on deck.

I love this pic of their beautiful family, taken at sunset.

A lighthouse, built by the French

Next morning, the kids got up to do Taikwondo with the sunrise, then Rick's family went kayaking.

We enjoyed sitting on our little deck off of our room.

Inside our room was a sliding glass door to our bathroom, hand-painted with the orchid theme.

We watched this vendor approach our boat and then, one across the water and try to peddle her wares.

She raised a fish net filled with the requested item for a prospective customer to view.

We took some more pics. 

What a fun cruise this was, and it was the perfect thing to do to help us recover from our jet lag!

I was amazed how these kids can use chop sticks!

Pretty shot along the way back to the dock

After a farewell buffet, we disembarked.

We walked to our bus, then headed back to Hanoi.

Back in Hanoi, motorcycles are everywhere and they are parked right up on the sidewalk, forcing pedestrians to walk in the gutters.

It was Christmas Eve, and though this is overwhelmingly a Buddhist country, 
there were cute decorations and cheery signs here and there.

We saw so many colorful sights!

We experienced a water puppet show that afternoon. This form of puppetry dates back to the 11th century in Northern Vietnam.

Singers and musicians taking a bow after the show

We walked all over the city after the show, making our way to St. Joseph's Cathedral, 

where there were throngs of people to witness a Christmas Eve celebration.

We then made our way to the restaurant where we would eat dinner.

Note the durian fruit (spikey yellow). It is famous for its foul smell but very popular where we traveled.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner here, maybe my very favorite food on the trip!

These charming ladies were determined to make us feel welcome and enjoy our Christmas Eve dinner. 

They prepared a special non-alcoholic drink for us out of various juices, dipped the rims in sugar 

and lit them on fire. So cute!

After we ate, they brought the girls a Christmas grab bag with little prizes.

Abby pulled out this miniature Christmas hat and they all said, "Grandma, put it on!"

So I did and they brought Abby another one.

We climbed up to the rooftop and got a beautiful view of Hanoi at night.

It was such a fun evening!

Next morning, we had another outstanding breakfast in the hotel. 

This was probably the best breakfast buffet we had - such delicious French baguettes, juices and so many yummy breakfast and other items choices.

We checked out of our hotel and boarded our bus for sight-seeing, before catching our flight that evening for Phnom Penh.

We first walked all around the grounds where Ho Chi Minh is buried. 

He is a much beloved leader in their history, though our main memory of that name 

is of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Cambodia, 

which has very negative connotations of bombs, blood and horror.

We walked through the mausoleum  and saw him lying in his coffin. 

It was like seeing Lenin lying in his on Red Square.

We next were taken to Hoa Lo Prison, known to us as the Hanoi Hilton, which I mentioned earlier. 

As we were approaching, this school was nearby and the students were out taking pics, so we grabbed one, too. 

They were very friendly with Roger as he took their pic - so cute!

North Vietnam's government's "take" on the war

We read about and saw some pretty tough things; the horrors of war.

Our guide took us to this restaurant for a typical Vietnamese lunch.

Each meal we had was almost always finished with fresh fruit for dessert.

After lunch we went to the Ho Chi Minh Museum and the Temple of Literature.

Cool-looking bodhi tree

Shrines to Buddha - so ornate and red signifying luck and prosperity

We walked and shopped around our neighborhood of our hotel before we went on our cycle rickshaw rides.

Each of us got to go on an hour-long ride throughout the crazy traffic in Old Quarter, Hanoi.
Yikes! It was so fun, but kind of scary!

These pics were taken where it was less busy, but, at parts of it, traffic with the motor bikes was insane!

Off to the airport 

Next stop - Phnom Penh!