November 15, 2001 to December 5, 2001
What an adventure.  3 weeks (in a carry-on bag) experiencing this beautiful country with such kind, forgiving people.

Click here for some trip pictures. 

Packing Tips

• Sturdy sandals to climb around the temples in Cambodia. You never know when you may need to get your feet wet. No flip-flops or any shoes that may fall off on a motor bike.
• Conservative clothes. They are very conservative dressers in Asia. Intrepid's tips said to always "cover your thighs" for both woman and men.
• Umbrella or hat for shade or rain.
• Ladies Swim in their clothes in Cambodia. Pack (or buy) a sarong, or loose pants and top to swim in.
• Medicine - Imodium just in case. Cipro is recommended for bad "tourista" problems.
• Electrolyte gator-aid powder to recharge your body batteries. Your body looses salt when you sweat a lot.
• Ink pens for the children. If you can bring crayons and paper that would be good too. I wish I had brought more hair clips, barrettes and ponytail elastics to give to the girls.
• Pants with a tie string around the ankle are a good idea. I suggest this because of the squat toilets. Before you go to the bathroom tie it tight so your pants don’t fall on the floor when you use the squat toilets. OK, about the toilets – do not put toilet paper in them and "put your hole over the hole."

Tips for this trip

• If you have outside pockets on your pants, be aware that children may get into them. Put money that you want them to have, or things that you don't mind loosing in those pockets.
• When you ride on a motor bike, put your hands on your knees. DO NOT put your hands on the driver's shoulders (very dangerous) or around his waist, and do not hold onto the back of the bike. If you are not comfortable being a passenger on a bike, you should definitely not touch the driver. If you lean the wrong way, or you don't lean as far at the driver, you do not want to be responsible for throwing the driver off balance. If you loose your balance, the LAST thing you want to do is affect how the driver is operating the motor bike. You actually have the most movement to balance yourself with you hands on your knees.

• Also, when you ride on a motor bike, do not yell loudly into the driver's ear. It is possible to carry on a conversation with the driver if the driver initiates it. Like, my driver found out that I was 41 and single so he wanted to set me up with his brother that night. No, I don’t think so.
• When you buy a T-shirt, or any clothing item, make sure you unfold the entire thing and check it for holes or uneven print.
• Always have small denominations of local money to give to disabled people. If you give them US money, sometimes they may have a difficult time exchanging it.
• DO NOT give anyone money for taking a person's picture. This is a strict Intrepid policy. You ask first, if OK, take the picture, then buy something from them to give them money. DO NOT encourage begging.

• Try to find out more about other people in your group than you tell them about yourself.
• There is a web site on the Internet that is compiling a list of the information of dog tags that people acquire in Vietnam. They make great imitations, so if you buy any, make sure you know what US serviceman's serial number looks like – the number of characters. I bought four tags and only one may be real.
• There are no napkins. In Vietnam, they usually put down a plastic wrapped towel. You smash it between your hands so it makes a "pop" sound to open it.
• Do not call the police. Locals never intentionally call the police. A foreigner who calls for the police may be arrested for making a local person look bad.
• If you take the train, bring your own food. If you are going overnight, bring your own sheets because the ones supplied in the berth may be used already.
• People smoke in Asia. Get used to it. I can't remember ever seeing a no smoking sign.
• Some children selling souvenirs have learned some bad things to say when you don't buy from them. Things like "f--- you" and "go to h---". They have learned these things from foreigners. I wish we didn't teach them our bad deeds. Just tell them an adamant "No!" and keep walking if you don't want to buy.

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Interesting Facts Statistics - Education, Income, Jobs

• Vietnam Population

• Vietnam Education

• Vietnam Income

• Motor bikes and helmets in Vietnam:

• Cambodia Population

• Cambodia Education

• Cambodia Income

• Cambodia Jobs

• When you get "white coffee," they put sweetened condensed milk in it! Yum. It’s never in a cup or mug. Always a small glass glass. I’ve been getting iced white coffee. Yum.
• They just opened a "stock exchange" about 5 months ago in Vietnam. There were only two companies trading. To make a trade, you had to buy a designated amount and sell it before a designated time… Doesn’t really seem like a free market to me, yet. They’ll learn.
• Alex’s good luck rocks: Moonstone – for travel, Rose quartz – for love and friendship, and Gold stone – for health and vitality. Alex told us a story about why people knock on wood for good luck – to get the devil out.

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Hotels

Hanoi

VietMy Hotel No. 9
34-36 Nguyen Khuyen Street
Hanoi Vietnam
email: victoryhotel@hotmail.com

Hue

Thanh Noi Hotel
3 Dang DungSt
Hue City, Vietnam
email: thanhnoi@dng.vnn.vn
www.vietnamtourism.com/thanhnoihotel

Hoi An

Cua Dai Hotel
18A Cui Dai S.
Hoi An
Quang Nam, Vietnam
email: cuadaihotel@dng.vnn.vn

Saigon

Embassy Hotel
35 Nguyen Trung Truc Street
District 1 Ho Chi Ming City, Vietnam
email: embassyh@netnam2.org.vn

Phnom Penh

Renakse Hotel
No 40 Blvd Samdach
Sothearos Phnom Pehn
Cambodia

email: renakse-htl@camnet.com.kh

Siam Reap

Freedom Hotel
Road No 6 near central market
Siem Ream Cambodia
email: freedom@bigpond.com.kh

Adventure Center -INTREPID

1311 63rd Street Suite 200
Emeryville CA  94608
(501) 654-1879

Getting there - Atlanta to Los Angeles to Tokyo to Kuala Lumpur to Hanoi

I'm packed. I'm ready to go! I do still not believe I got everything in a carry on bag! I honestly couldn’t think of anything else to pack so I couldn’t fill a 30-inch suitcase. It will be nice to expand it later. I even put my empty backpack in my suitcase. I didn't want to check any luggage so it's all in a carry-on bag. [After trip note - I was worried about the hassle of getting searched and having to re-pack everything in the airport, but I was very lucky. I never had to open the carry-on bag. The bag did get x-rayed many times. My film went through teh xrays evertime and all 14 rolls came out great - only two bad photos that I took].

Yeah! I'm on the plane now. Off on my big adventure trip! I am on vacation!!! No headache yet!

This airplane seat is like none I’ve ever been in. I am going to be spoiled now. I used frequent flier miles to go first class so I paid US$14 for my round-trip tickets. I am more relaxed because I know it will be a comfortable flight. Yup. I remember some tough coach seats going over seas. OK, so I am getting older and I didn't want to fold myself into a tiny space for 14 hours…..

What an ordeal to get to Hanoi:

10 hour flight to Narita in Tokyo (I had no idea we were stopping in Japan - I was lead to believe that it was a direct flight when I booked it!)

4 hour flight to Kuala Lumpur. I get on the airplane and it's Thursday. When I get off, it is Saturday because we arrived at 1:15 am.

Check into pay-by the hour Transit Hotel in the KL airport.

9:30 a.m. board plane for 4.5 hours flight to Hanoi.

Something interesting - they have Muslim prayer rooms everywhere. There were prayer rooms in the airports in Narita and KL, and on the plane. Every six minutes on the air show, they show the direction and the distance to Mecca so they know which way to pray. The praying room on the plane was first come, first serve basis.

The women here in Malaysia absolutely beautiful. I can't stop staring at the stewardess. Light brown skin (and very thick hair). Beautiful green print long skirt and top.

Arrive in Hanoi (a day before the official tour starts). Taxi to the VietMy hotel. I think he charged me about $10.

What a city! What an assault on your person! People, motor bikes, cars, bicycles everywhere. Honking CONSTANTLY. This was going to take a little getting used to.

I checked into my room (which Intrepid had reserved). I rested during the afternoon then went to a Thai restaurant for dinner.

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Sun Nov 18^th - Day 1 Hanoi

Breakfast at the hotel. The first of many small loaf of crusty bread. Very good.

I changed US$100.  15,000 dong = US$1 so I was a millionaire! (After 10 days in this country I still had some dong left over. Everthing is so cheap here.) I got a map at the reception desk and spent the day "roaming the tree-lined boulevards and relaxing by the city's lakes" as the itinerary says.

Walked around Hoan Kiem Lake ("Lake of the Restored Sword"). You can walk around it in 30 minutes. In the middle of the lake is a 3-tiered pavilion called the Tortoise Tower - the symbol of Hanoi. A red bridge in the middle is called the Huc Bridge. It takes you to an island where Den Ngnoc Son, the "Temple of the Jade Mound." Founded in the 14^th Century. The principal altar is General Tran Hung Dao, who defeated the Mongols in 1288. A room in the sanctuary hall has a 2-meter giant turtle.

Beside the bridge is a nine-metre high obelisk, the Writing Brush Tower. The 3 Chinese characters proclaim "a pen to write on the blue sky." I can relate to that!

Some young girls stopped us to talk by the lake. They wanted to practice their English. The second question was "how old are you?" I was a little taken aback, but have since learned that they ask that question to establish how they should address you. They have more respect for elders. They even have different words (in their language) that are used to talk to and address young people versus older people. Vietnamese is a very difficult language. One word, "ma" can mean six different things depending on how you say (pronounce) it. Every word appears to be one syllable. It was very difficult for them to say "Suzanna" (three syllables. By the middle of the trip, I had shortened my name to "Susan." Once, I said my name was "Sue," but that sure got a laugh and a giggle from more than one person. I wonder what that means in their language. That's when I went to "Susan."

Took cyclos to the Army Museum. Very interesting. Lots of piles of awful American bombs and crashed planes. I learned that The Ho Chi Minh trail started in N. Vietnam. It went through Laos and Cambodia to Saigon. It went around the DMZ.

By that afternoon I had my bearings and could make my way from the lake back to the hotel. I started to get sucked into the pandemonium occurring all around me in the street. I loved it. What a wonderful feeling to be able to experience this. No where else in the world can you hear and see so much going on everywhere you look. People selling, running their business, and living, all viewable from a walk down the street. I felt a part of it all.

Looking back, I do have a big regret about this day. I wish I had gone to the Perfume Pagoda. It was a day venture leaving at 8 and returning by 5:30 (in time for the 6 p.m. initial tour meeting). I was convinced that I should take it easy the day before the official trip starts. I had gotten plenty of sleep and I did feel rested. Oh well.

Pre- trip meeting was at 6 p.m. to meet the other folks on the trip. We met Mary Scott our guide. She was very organized - she had maps and information on every city. A couple from the United States never arrived so there was only 10 people on the trip.

After the meeting, half the group went to dinner. There were five people that met other friends (from the end of the Laos (don't pronounce the "s") portion of the Indo-China loop trip) at another restaurant. Our group went to a good local restaurant. It was our first dinner together.

I got beef noodles. Very very good. Then the beers started coming. I really really tried hard not to drink on this trip. I did not drink that first night, but every night after that. Most everyone in the group really bonded so it was great fun to sit and talk. Mary, Alex, Paul, Margaret (cute "husband and wife"), and I sat around getting to know each other and sharing some great travel stories. I really liked Mary. She is a true traveler and she's going to be a great tour leader.

Mary sure had some good stories. She told us about her travels through India. Kashmir is her favorite place in the world. It must be beautiful for two countries to war over it for so long (Dec. 2001 is the biggest troop build-up by India and Pakistan in the history of the region.)

She told us how the "Lemon Grass" restaurant in Saigon got in mentioned in the Lonely Planet book. After that the quality of the food and service went down because they didn't have to advertise any more. Sometimes it's not so good to be well known.

About Hanoi. It has been the capitol for 1000 years in the 10^th century under Li Dynasty. It is the social center of Vietnam.

Opera house was built by the French in 1954? when France left Vietnam. It's an ornate yellow building with white trim.

We paid a 5,000 dong toll for the bus to go over the Chuong Duong Bridge over the Red River. He said it's called that because the water red from a famous battle with the Chinese here.

The other bridge across the river, Long Bien Bridge, is used for walking bikes. Mary said it is very scary when the train goes by and you're walking on that bridge.

Around the city, there is lots of "political art" or "propaganda art" HIV Aids, 2 children policy, looking for Leprosy spots.

They have afternoon siestas (naps) here. Everything seems to close from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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Mon 19^th - Day 2 Halong Bay

We packed an overnight backpack for our trip to the Bay tonight. We had to leave our suitcases stored in the hotel in Hanoi. I took all my food with me - I didn't want to leave any food in the suitcase in case it was a "Faulty Towers" hotel….. I can already tell that it doesn't look like I'll need the emergency supply of food that I brought. The food here is fabulous.

We walked to breakfast by many "tube houses." Thin homes - very long. Some are just 2 meters wide; the result of taxes levied on street frontages. They may by up to 60m long where they live. Really amazing.

We ate a great buffet breakfast at KOTO restaurant. Koto means "know one teach one."  At this restaurant they teach English, they learn how to take food orders, and they learn hospitality. Mary said that they do get great training here - one employee is now at a 5-star hotel.

Bill Clinton ate here. Bill was at the Institute of Literature across the street. It's the oldest university in Vietnam. Mandarins took their exams there. Bill was hungry, so they found this place across the street. The restaurant was about to go out of business, but since Bill Clinton ate here, it has got the publicity it needed, so it's still open.

Buffet breakfast had - cereal, yogurt, and lots of fruit, fresh milk, and coffee. They cooked something if you wanted it. I had eggs benedict. The eggs were perfect and the sauce was very good. I hope that Koto's doesn't get into Rough Guide book.

After breakfast, we rode a bus to the town of Bai Chay to see Halong Bay.

Our guide is Pham Quang Chien (Family name, Surname, First name). He majored in Tourism. He works at the Victory Hotel. It's around 164-km 3.5-hour ride today. We'll get there about noon.

We rode through the countryside. Chien said that we are traveling on the best road in Vietnam right now. It used to take 5 hours to get there. Now only 3 hours.

Gasoline costs 5,000 dong for a liter. I saw a Caltex station and a Mobil gas stations. I also saw a Heineken advertisement! [Every bottle of Heineken goes through our software!]

I saw a United Nations truck on the road. There are Lougan fruit stands along the road. It's in the Leechee family of food. There are many many Com Pho signs. Com is rice, Pho is noodles. They also serve a green bean cake - like marzipan. We saw many Vietnamese farmers. Everyone leases land here. Rice season is Jan to Oct. Now they are growing vegetables here.

You also see an occasional important-looking structure. In every city in Vietnam there is a war memorial / hero monument. Dec 10 is worship hero's day. The people of the city decide the type of memorial that they want to build. There is one town that a has a big cement chicken 9 meters tall standing out in the open for their memorial.

We are about 1.5 hours by road from China.

We arrived in the town of Bai Chay and checked into our hotel. Very very nice room with a beautiful view of the bay.

Next was our 4-hour private boat ride on the boat named Thanh Nien. Halong Bay is definitely the most beautiful place in Vietnam. We cruised through "some of the 2000 limestone karsts of this World Heritage site."

Halong Bay means "Descending Dragon." A dragon descended from heaven and it was so big it decided to stay on earth. There is awesome beauty here. We're looking at "Hu" rock and stone mountains ahead of us. We parked the boat and got out to see a cave with incredible formations of stalactites and stalagmites.

"Suprising cave" was discovered in 1911. The cave was covered with plants. In 1983 a family was trying to avoid a sea storm and found it again. In 1994 the government recognized it. It is 900 square meters.

Meandering writings from my journal: OK a minute to write. I'm on the boat and we are headed to the swimming hole. I'm remembering a perfectly wonderful day and similar trip on a boat like this with May in China. The cave that we just saw reminded me of the Reed Flute Caves in Guilin, China. But this cave was smaller. There are no colored lights in the cave here. I bet in 5 years that they will have colored lights. At Reed Flute caves when you lifted your camera up to take a picture, they turn the lights out until you pay. These caves are definitely worth seeing here. There is a loud motor making noise in the background of my dream state on this boat journey…..

We stopped the boat and couple people went swimming here in the bay's emerald waters. Paul was first to jump, then Arthur, Robert, then Margaret.

I've been learning a few new words from the Australian and New Zealand folks on the trip. "Cossies" as in a "swimming costume" and "Togs" for swimming trunks.

Jill said this trip would be over before I know it. Only eight more days. Eight days to enjoy this.

We had a very nice lunch on the boat. You had to eat with chopsticks. There was a lot a good food. Cucumber, tomato salad. A whole cooked fish which was fabulous, pork something, egg rolls, french fries ("chips" to the English people), fried Tofu (very good). They kept bringing out more and more plates of food.

There are small boats all around the bay. Houseboats where families live.

We saw the caves, had a swim, and now we are heading back. I have a very very nice view right now. The bright orange ball of a sun is setting. Great photo op for spectacular pictures.

The weather so far has been perfect. Maybe 80 F, or a little cooler. Long pants and shirt are very comfortable. I did break a sweat going up those stairs to the cave. I am so glad that I'm getting to see all this now - before the thousands of tourists that will trash it. They had really done a lot of work putting in those steps and the stone paved concrete path around the cave. They are ready for the thousands that will be coming here.

There is construction everywhere in the city by the bay. Many, many hotels are being built. All of these are tall skinny, buildings. This place is already a big vacation resort town in the summer. It's getting even bigger. Like a small Valparaiso (in Chile). On the road here, we passed a huge vertical statue of three dolphins. They are constructing a road out to the island where Mary said they are building an amusement park. An island that we passed on the boat ride is going to be a zoo. This will be totally different place in couple years. A vacation destination. The new buildings are all so narrow. I wonder if they still pay taxes by the street front space that they occupy. Chien said that there are a lot of Korean businesses here.

We all went to dinner at a local restaurant. I had vegetable rice. This is such a heavenly place to experience, except for two things: the construction, and something that Mary warned us that we would see. A very scary, odd thing here - they drug a baby and hang it on their body to go begging. The small child is forced carry this dead-looking baby around tourists. It was very sad.

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Tues 20^th - Day 3 Reunification Express - Overnight Train from Hanoi to Hue

We spent the night in Bai Chay. Breakfast, then ride back to Hanoi.

We stopped at Dong Trieu ceramic village. It was a government-sponsored business where handicapped people worked. I bought a few souvenirs.

Some notes on interesting things that I heard from the guide and Mary on the bus ride:

We had the afternoon free so we decided to take a taxi to the Museum of Ethnology. It was a great museum on the past (and current) cultures in the country. Here are some of my notes:

After the museum we went for a walk around Hanoi again. I saw an Internet sign and stopped into the "Phuc Loi Hotel" on Hang Bong Street. Very nice hotel where I stopped to send some emails (Very cheap - 300 dong a minute). They displaced 6 family houses to build the lobby of this hotel.  They paid US$9000 for 4 square meters and the lobby is 200 square meters.  A room is only US$20. If I came back to Hanoi, I would stay here. [I have another travel friend, Ron, who I convinced to go to Vietnam. He is leaving on Jan. 5, 2001 and I told him to look up this hotel in Hanoi.]

My ramblings: The people in this country a different that the people in Russia and Cuba. In Vietnam they seem so much more industrious and hard working. They have a very apparent, very admirable drive to succeed. The general impression I got in Russia was that the (older) people were so accustomed to handouts. The people, in general, wanted to be hard working and succeed, but it was very difficult in the Russian economy. I went in 1998. I went to Cuba in December, 2001. The people there seemed frustrated to me. Arturo and his wife had decent government jobs and were happy with the US$22 a month that he earned, until they learned about making money. They were just learning about means and schemes to make some money for their future.

Arthur (fun guy from Poland on the trip) arranged to have pizza delivered to our hotel that night. I had a beer (a must with pizza!). After dinner we're off to the Reunification Express train for an overnight ride from Hanoi to Hue.

Tina, Alex and I were in a four-berth sleeper compartment. Then they added a fourth girl who was traveling alone. She was very nice and joined in our party that night. Tina had bought some glass glasses and Johnny Walker Red, Robert had Scotch, Alex bought some Smirnoff. At one time, we had 9 people in that little compartment. We were doing some serious drinking and partying. It was the second night of the trip so it was fun to start exchanging some stories. I had brought a Readers Digest magazine. I read some jokes from the magazine and no one laughed. OK, so it was from the "Life in these United States" jokes. It had never occurred to me, but I guess some jokes are only funny to Americans. After some indulgence in the bottle of Scotch, I sure heard some things about how Americans are different from Europeans. Yup, it was all true.

I slept great on the train.

It was a nice morning - beautiful scenery to look at. Rice fields, running water buffalo (there were about ten in the herd) and we saw a flock of white birds (about 30)! Very few birds in this country.

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Wed 21^st - Day 4 Hue

9:40 am - the train arrives in Hue - the former Imperial Capital of Vietnam. Hue is also known as the center of Buddhism and education in Vietnam.

Mary told us the train only stops for a short time so you have to get off quickly. We moved all our bags near the door so we could pile off in a hurry. A bus met us at the train station. We checked into the Thanh Noi Hotel. Wow. The hotels just get better and better on this trip.

We had the afternoon free so I wanted to walk to a couple museums nearby. The cyclo drivers sure don't want anyone to walk. They want the business, but I wanted the exercise!

We walked to the Antique Objects Museum, which is in Long An Palace, built in 1845. Maybe 10,000 dong entrance fee. Beautiful objects. mother-of-pearl inlayed furniture. It's hard to believe they sleep on a hard wood bed. Gorgeous clothing on display.

We also went to the other museum across the street. This was the Thuan Thien Hue (Bao Thag Thuan ) Provincial Museum. This one was definitely worth seeing. There are three buildings. I spent a lot of time in the Museum of the Resistance against US invaders (1954-75)" Many pictures about the "American War" as they call it. The information was presented to make America look bad, which is understandable. Here are some captions from pictures:

Another building at this museum was "Finds in Paleolithic, Neolithic, and historic times in Thua Thien Hue."

At this museum I bought two packs of postcards and four dog tags. There is web site on the Internet that is compiling a list of the information of dog tags that people acquire in Vietnam. So I bought the four tags that he had displayed in the case. When I got back to the hotel, I finally looked at what I purchased and it turns out that only one of the tags may be real. I wish I found out what US serviceman's serial number looked like – the number of characters, letter and/or numbers? I didn’t know. One of the tags said "MAKE LOVE, MAKE LOVE". The others were all different in where the hole was punched, and what side the information is punched into. They have gotten very good at making fakes.  (Note: I have since found out that a serial number starts with two letters, for example "RA" for Regular Army, "NG" for National Guard, then it has at least eight numbers.)

After the museum we decided to give the locals a little business and take a cyclo tour. This is a very nice place to go for a walk, but you have to take a cyclo to help the economy. The name of my cyclo driver is "Nguyen Van Hoa." I called him "Hoe."

GO ON A CYCLO RIDE WITH ME:

It is a beautiful, sunny with a couple clouds, not-too-hot day. Sit back in the cyclo seat and settle into a leisurely feeling that you get on vacations when you don't have a care in the world. You want to see it all, experience it all.

We ride toward the Citadel. I smell fresh-cut grass. They are cutting the field with gas weed-eater. [I wonder if they have lawn mowers?] They are wearing full-face motor bike helmets. There are women pulling weeds by hand. [I wonder if they ever use a chemical weed killer?]

We stop in front of the Ngo Mon Gate to the Citadel. There are about 40 school children playing soccer in the field.

As we ride along the roads and I smell wonderful smells from restaurants.

There are women picking up garbage on the street [I guess the government pays to keep the city clean?]

We are riding down this beautiful street. There are big trees on each side. The branches hang over the entire street and make green canopy [Reminds me of St. Simons Island off the Georgia coast.]

This is a very nice ride down the street. It is generally very quiet, but there is an occasional vehicle that honks to pass us. The other things we hear that make you feel so good are energetic school kids that wave at us yelling "Hello! Hello!" "Hi!" "Bye!". The people smile when they see us (foreigners).

There are beautiful homes all around the Citadel. French influence in the types of buildings.

We are passing by a bombed building that they are renovating. Lots of red bricks. They are making cement bricks.

Now we are passing by a school. I hear children singing in the big yellow building.

There are carts selling food along the street. Smells good.

This is beautiful, peaceful and relaxing.

We are passing by a very big pink house. The Viet-Kieuw people that left the country are coming back and bringing their money with them.

We passed motorbike washing and repair business.

We stopped the cyclos by a lake where Morning Glory flowers are blooming. So pretty, but …. if you look close in the lake there is garbage floating in the water. Uck. There are measuring poles in the water to see how deep is the water.

UNESCO United Nations Education and Social Council (?) Is helping to restore sites here.

We got out of the cyclos to walk across the bridge. There were some boys playing a game of soccer and the ball came directly to Jill, so she kicked it!

There were some cute kids on the bridge who posed so we could take their picture. It was a nice moment because they didn’t ask for money or expect anything in exchange for posing. [Foreigners are teaching kids to expect money in exchange for posing for pictures. I wish we didn’t teach them how to beg.]

They wanted to practice their English. Sure enough, we had to disclose our age.

We rode by a big bunch of gated buildings. It was an old Vietnamese Army compound. It was French, then American, and now Vietnamese again.

There are children frantically waving "Hello!" as we pass by. One girl did a peace sign with her fingers. I really do feel humbled by these effervescent people.

Hoe said the kids in the old city where we riding now are happier. They don’t see many tourists, so they get excited when they see foreigners.

There are two very old women looking at me coming towards them on this bike. I smiled and waved and big smile appeared on both their faces.

Hoe taught me to say "My" (pronounce "Mee") when people ask me where I am from. I say "America" some people don’t know what that means. So if I say "My" they know.

"Sin Chow" is hello.

We stopped at Tinh XA Ngoc Huong. It was a pagoda where monks lived. We stopped the cyclos and got out to walk across a cement bridge to a small island. Seems like a very quiet life. It is a library now too. The #1 monk and #2 monk passed away, so #3 and #4 live here now. Ten monks live here. They NEVER leave this place their whole life. They are vegetarians and never eat meat or fish. You can look across the water and see French army barracks. The place where we stopped the cyclos there was a child's grave. He was buried there (near the monks?) for good luck they said.

There are some very very cute children with big beaming smiley faces looking at us.

We stopped at Diem Tham Quan Xin Giu Ve Sinh Chung Cam On. (It’s not on the map.) It’s a gate between the old and new city. There are eleven gates. The gate is an entrance to the city so there is a road under each gate.

We walked up on top of the wall that surrounded the city, then up to the gate structure. We climbed all the way up to the top of the gate. The entire structure was full of bullet holes. Thousands of them pock marked the walls. There were some steep steps up to the top. It was really eerie to stand there and think about crouching in the corner while planes shot at you. About 100 yards away, the American had constructed an ugly cement bunker. They could shoot at people on the river, or in the gate. I took a picture from the top of the gate facing that ugly bunker. The bunker almost gets lost in the beauty of the surroundings. There were people on top of the wall taking care of their gardens. Beautiful vegetables. There were people in the river moat outside the wall tending to the "water spinach."

There was sign on the gate "No graffiti" it was in English and Vietnamese.

They rode us to another city gate, but the entire gate structure was gone here. I can only imagine the fighting and bombs and bullets that tore this place up. There was a memorial that was erected in 1998. There was 26 days of bombing and fighting in 1968. "Noi day Dem 31.1 Rang Ngay 1.2.1968" The Tet offensive. Hoe, our guide, was 4 years old when that happened. In 1968 his entire family walked to Da Nang. It took 4 days.

He was 14 in 1975 when the American left. He was in the Vietnamese Army from 18-21 years old (3 years). He fought the Chinese at the border. Now you are only required to spend 1 year in the Army. You must have a high school education to get into the Army. He is 37 now.

So after the wonderful cyclo ride – the discussion about how much money. Two big rules here that we broke – use a cyclo driver from the hotel (so they return you directly to the hotel after it is over) and get a price in writing for $1 for 1 hour. Jill and I walked to the museums (2 blocks away), then got a driver at the museum. He did a very good job selling his cyclo services. He had letters and post cards from other people who wrote let him know how much they enjoyed his tour.

Our wonderful afternoon lasted about 2.5 hours. They returned us as it was getting dark, one block away from the hotel where we bickered about money. They didn’t take us back to the hotel because the other cyclo drivers were there and he wanted to get as much money out of us as possible. He refused to take 3 dollars and kept demanding more. Whatever. I was getting uncomfortable arguing there on the street and it was dark and we still had to walk a block to the hotel. We ended up giving them US$9. I guess by giving them that much money we are teaching them how to rip us off.

At 7 p.m. tonight is a group dinner to a Latvian restaurant. There were 14 of us in the group. We all took individual cyclos. They tried to ride us together, but you get separated in the traffic. I looked back and did a double take when I saw Robert pedaling and the cyclo driver sitting down! Robert had convinced him to trade places. Too funny. Paul did the same thing. They learned that the brake is in the back. You lift a lever behind the seat to stop the cyclo. The cyclo drivers seemed a little humored by it also.

In Hanoi, Robert told me that he tried to lift a set of baskets that these ladies balance on their shoulders with a stick. The lady had a good laugh watching Robert struggle with the weight and awkwardness of their style of carrying. The women who carry them have a special shuffle so they only bear to weight of the load every other step. It really makes us admire their skill and appreciate more how they live when we can try to experience things first-hand.

I didn't realize it till now (when I'm typing this journal) that I NEVER saw a man carry those baskets hanging on the stick. Why is that?

I ordered the specialty food of Hue - banh khoai. It is a delicious small, crispy pancake with meat, shrimp, and egg. You eat it with salad and peanut sauce (nuoc leo). It was very very good. I wish I'd gotten two!

They gave all of us a souvenir from the restaurant - a bottle opener made of wood and a screw. Written on the wood is:

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Thurs 22^nd - Day 5 Hue

Day of touring Hue via motor bikes. 8 am, everybody picked a driver. I think my driver picked me. He was very nice. First they took us to the Citadel - the Imperial City. Read in the Lonely Planet book about this place. It's very interesting!

Here are some of my notes that may not be in the tour books:

The Mandarins took their tests at the Temple of Literature in Hanoi. Their diploma is a huge, big, heavy wood plaque that is very difficult to carry home. But they show it off during the trip home.

The (back of the )Flag Tower is across the street. It is three brick terraces built in 1807.

Entrance to the Imperial City through the Ngo Mon Gate ("the Noon Gate"), built in 1833 by Emperor Minh Mang. A masterpiece in Nguyen architecture. On top of it is the Five Phoenix Watchtower. It has nine roofs. It looks like they are doing construction on the building, but it is really just reinforcements for storms. The building almost looks Chinese. Our guide said the China and Vietnam a assimilated so similar in some ways. Same, same, but different" he says.

Walk through the gate to the Thai Hoa Palace, the Palace of Supreme Harmony. Very spectacular. There and 100 red and gold lacquered and guilded columns in the Kings Throne room. There is one original column left unrestored here so you can see the original state of the palace. You can see the mahogany wood. Four Mandarins and the Royal Eunuch and the king are allowed inside as part of the king's court. Ying and Yang are in action here to balance the harmony of the universe.

The throne faces the Esplanade of Great Salutation - a stone-paved courtyard where the mandarins stood. There are different levels of Mandarins: 1-3 stand on the highest level close to the building. Levels 4-10 stand down on the next level.

Unicorns (looks like a dragon to me) monitor the ceremony.

When you are in the thrown room, the flag pole lines up directly with the Throne.

In 1968, the Tet Offensive, the palace was partially destroyed. North Vietnamese army (NVA) held the city for 25 days. They killed over 3000 people. In the counter-assault 5000 NVA, 384 Southern troops and 142 American soldiers died. It is labeled at "the most bitter battle" of the entire American War. In 1993 UNESCO listed Hue as a World Heritage Site and sent architectural expert to totally restore it.

The Citadel is divided into many compounds:

Ho Chi Men ruled in the North in 1945.

Royal Library (Royal Reading Pavilion) has a beautiful Japanese garden in the front.

We walked to the King’s mother’s residence. Dien Tho Palace.

Mieu & Hung Mieu compound are where the women lived. There are a great display explaining all the past rulers. Our guide did a good job of keeping us interested by telling us a little about almost every one. I got some notes:

At the Hien Lam Cac (Pavilion of Everlasting Clarity) we saw the Nine Dynastic Urns. 2600 kilos. The epitome of Hue craftsmanship. Big.

Then we went through the Mieu Gate built in 1821 by Minh Mang to worship his father.

Journal time out here for a "Tour Group Tip/Request": If you are in a group with guide who is talking, do not talk. This should be obvious. If someone in the group asks you to be quiet so the group can hear the guide, then you should stop talking instead of turning your back on the group and continuing to talk.

After the Citadel, we took the motor bikes to the Perfume River. The Emperor named it that when he was on a barge and smelled perfume – actually it was girls washing their hair using petals from a flower.

We took a dragon boat cruise on the river to the Thien Mu Pagoda. Founded in 1601. In June, 1963 a monk from here burned himself to death in Saigon. He was protesting the repression of Buddhists by President Diem, who was a Catholic. We saw the Austin car that they used to drive to Saigon . He took gas from the car and covered himself. He meditated for 30 minutes so he felt nothing when his reluctant, crying disciple put the match on him. His heart was "beating and bleeding." In November Diem was assassinated.

A pavilion to the side has a huge bell, cast in 1710, weighs 2 tons. During fighting, two monks hid under the bell and lived, so they were "saved by the bell". It’s also called the "kissing bell" because there are no public displays of affection (PDA’s), a couple can get under the bell to have a moment of passion.

There are seven levels in the 21 meter high pagoda tower with a Buddha statue on each level. Each level represents the seven stages of Buddha's life to nirvana (to want for nothing, an extinction of desires. It is the purest form of Buddhism. Nirvana is an attainment from whichone does not return.). It was gold, now it is bronze.

The next adventure was a long motor bike wild ride. We were on dirt roads and even zoomed through a stream and almost didn't make it up the other side.

We went to the Tu Hien pagoda. 80 monks live here. They are self-sufficient. They grow lots of food – gourds, bananas. We stayed to hear their chanting. That was amazing to experience. Their schedule is posted:

We went to a nunnery for lunch. They parked the bikes out front, then walked up to the building, take shoes off. The tables were beautifully set with lots of food. It was vegetarian, but you wouldn’t know it until some told you that there was no meat. Very good. The "nuns" seems so young. Giggling a lot. They had shaved heads. They showed us how to mix up the dish of food.

They said Alex was "beautiful" and Arthur (the guy from Poland) was "handsome." I’m sure they liked his shaved head. They played with my hair and Stacy’s long hair.

I was sitting at the end of the table. They asked "Where you from?" I said "America." They got excited and ran off. They came back a short time later with a package. It was a sealed VCR tape. They said it was "Buddha's birthday." It was address to a Vietnamese man in Massachusetts with their return address. They wanted me to take it back to America and mail it. I was apprehensive. One person told me not to do it, but then Mary explained that when they ask me the question if anyone asked me to carry anything, just say "Yes." [I took the tape and sure enough, when I answered "yes" to that question, customs agents asked to look at the package. I think they x-rayed my suitcase again and it was fine. It only cost me $5 to mail it here in the US and it would have cost the nuns $20. I was glad to do it.]

The bathroom there was yuk, but tolerable. Amazing conditions that these people live in.

We rode the bikes to the edge of the river. They carefully walked the motor bikes onto a shaky, small boat to ferry all of us across the river. They put at least ten bikes and just as many people on that small boat. Mary said that costs about 3,000 dong for local to cross. We paid about 60,000 for all of use to ferry across.

After we got across, we rode through the construction of the huge bridge to get to Nguyen Emperors’ tombs - the Minh Mang Mausoleum. The only other way to get there is via a 4-hour boat ride so there were almost no other tourists. Seems like that bridge will put the ferry drivers out of business. There is a huge Lady Buddha Goddess of Mercy statue at the top of the hill near the bridge. It is cement, painted white. It is the largest lady Buddha statue in Vietnam. About 50 meters high.

On the road leading up to the entrance, there were concession stands, but no one was there to buy anything. They are restoring this place. Mary said they are timing it so the restoration of the tomb and the bridge will be finished at about the same time.

The sign said "Trich Quy Che" at the Minh Mang Tomb. He had 300 wives, 142 kids (80 are boys). It took 10,000 workmen 3 years (1840-43) to build it. There are 35 monuments along 700 meter axis.

Our guide pointed out a very large, old pine tree! [I thought, how odd. Geez, I have 10 like that in my back yard at home in Georgia. Old trees are very uncommon in this country.]

Nov 1840 he died. This was two years before his tomb was finished so the "moral king" finished it. The inscription on the Stele tells the story of the emperor.

I took a picture of Fresh Air Pavilion. The original yellow and green tile is still in good shape here. Beyond this is a beautiful crescent lake. It is 4 meters deep. A bridge goes across the lake to a large mound (hill). They slid the coffin through a tunnel under the mound to it’s final resting place.

After the tour of the tomb, we put the bikes back on the small ferry boat to cross the river again, then ride to a home industry where they make the Vietnamese conical hats. We rode right through town, along the rail road tracks to a small community of homes where they have home businesses.

We saw a family that made conical hats. They make these hats from Palm leaves. These are multi-function hats that the Vietnamese use to hide from the sun, use as a fan, or even carry water. The palm leaves must dry in the sun for 2 days, then they iron it flat. They whittle the bamboo to a thin wire to shape the form of the hat. Make 16 notches in normal hat, or 19 for a monks hat (bigger). A poem hat has a design that you can see when you hold the hat up to the sun. They cut newsprint into shapes and a poem, then nest it between 2 layers of palm leaves. They sew the hats with nylon thread. It takes about 3 hours to make one hat, so they can make two hats a day if supplies (palm and bamboo) are available .

We rode the motor bikes on cement paved roads about 6 feet wide, then the paving ended and we rode on dirt paths through the woods. The dirt was very red. It reminded of red Georgia clay that I have in my yard.

We were zipping around trees on the path. We also went through a stream, down to the water then a spinning wheel shove up the other side. That was so much fun. My driver was pretty aggressive which made it more fun. We were near the front of the pack most of the time.

We rode through the back yards and front yards of people's homes. At one point we had to cross a narrow bamboo bridge. It looked scary.  They let us go across first one at a time. There were many gaps in the bamboo so you could see below to the water about 10 feet down. But then they lead the bikes across one right behind the other. Mary said we had to pay 1,000 each to go across the bamboo bridge.

We rode a long way out to the country to the beautiful Thanh Toan Covered Bridge. Built in the 17^th century. There is a altar inside the bridge where people can worship Tran Thi Dao, the woman who gave the money to build the bridge.

The bridge is not made with any nails. During the French and American war, they took the top off the bridge and hid it in tunnels. They paint the bridge every year. In 1999 a flood covered the bridge. 300 people were killed in Hue, but every family here has a boat (maybe even 2 boats).

When we arrived, there were no people, then school let out. Many, many energetic children came running across the bridge when they saw us. Waving and yelling "Hello!". I was sitting on the bridge just writing in my journal when two young girls walked up to me. I wrote "The girls are watching me write this right now. They are staring at the pen and paper as I scribble ink across the page. They came very close and reached out to touch me, then they turn to look at each other and laugh. Too cute. I need to keep writing so they can watch me do this."

I asked if they could write their name. No, they were too shy. They just stood there and watched. It was a very touching moment. Then Phil raised his camera and he sure learned that they did not want to have their picture taken. They ran away. (Alex and I can relate - we don't like to have our picture taken either.)

I got up and walked toward an older group of girls. A girl in that group did write her name. She wrote something like " Gy name Tri"

We were on and off the bikes touring from 8 am to 5 p.m. We went about 25 kilometers on the bikes today. It was such a fun, great day. Everywhere we rode, when people saw that foreigners were coming the small children would run up at start yelling "Hello!". Their face lit up with smiles. For the older people, you need to establish eye contact and smile, then they would break into a big smile too.

When we got back to the hotel, no one wanted the day to end, so we ordered beers and sat down in the lobby to share our fun day with each other a little longer. When we I got back to the room, I washed my face and dirt came rolling off. Yuck.

Intrepid definitely goes where no other travelers go. Getting the bikes and us on those ferry boats to cross the water was unbelievable.

That night we went to an Indian restaurant for dinner. Very good

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Fri 23^rd - Day 6 Hoi An

Bus ride from Hue through the Hai Van Pass to Hoi An may take about 3 hours. The drive today is about 83 miles. (100 km = 60 miles.)

There seems to be lots of public transportation here. We just passed bus loaded with people and it had motor bikes ON TOP of the bus. Unreal.

There are toll roads here. You must stop before the toll booth to pay and they record your vehicle and give you a ticket to give to the people in the toll booth. At the end of the day they match the records with the ticket stubs.

We stopped for coffee at Lang Co (a picturesque fishing village). There was a nice beach on the South China Sea. It feels like about 75 degree F. Stacy and Arthur actually went swimming. Phil and Jill got a massage. They used some of the Tiger Balm to massage their shoulders. That stuff is supposed to cure everything. I really do not care for the smell of it.

Hoi Van pass peak is about 1200 meters high. We are climbing from sea level up. It was built by the French. It was a one-way road so it was open at odd times. One day it was North to South, the next it was South to North. There are lots of natural waterfall through dense jungle all around.

We stopped at China Beach and the Marble Mountains

We rode through Da Nang. A five-star hotel just opened here. They recognize the tourist potential. They are making the harbor bigger for ships – I guess tourist ships. That will deteriorate the realness of the place. Many Americans were stationed here in the American war. This was a bawdy party place with bars and brothels during the war. Many "massage" parlors, drinking joints and prostitutes. Da Nang was the third largest city in the Vietnam.

[We just passed a Cosmos tour bus in Da Nang. ] There was a BP gas station. Our van stopped at a red light here in DaNang and they are trying to sell us pornography magazines!

There is a big statue here to commemorate the women’s role in the war years.

Arrive in Hoi An around 1 p.m. Hoi An was just declared World Heritage Site.

We checked into the hotel, then did a walking tour and stopped for lunch at the Mermaid restaurant. I had a great cheese sandwich. There are not many dairy products in this country so I was craving cheese. I also had a great vegetable soup.

Mary took us on a walking tour of this quaint town. There are very few cars here and many bicycles. We walked right down the middle of the road.

We went to some clothes shops that Mary could vouch for. She doesn’t get any commission, but she knows the reputation of the shops. You really seem to get sucked in to the culture here and end up buying a kimono and sarong. A Canadian woman was trying on her new AoDai (the traditional Vietnamese dress) that she had made. It was beautiful.

There a many very talented people here. We saw wood carving – it takes 3 days to do a carving 12 by 10 inches.

One shop had the silk cocoons to show how silk was made. It takes 7 kilos of cocoons to make 1 kilo of silk. They grow their own mulberry leaves here. 1 cocoon yields 5000 meters of silk.

The garment makers in Hoi An use (antique) pedal sewing machines – not electric. I did see one electric machine though. So if the electricity goes off, they can continue sewing by candle light.

Jill bought some nice clothes. Jacket, blouse, skirt. They measure you, then you have all your clothes the next day. Amazing. Arthur had two business suits made - hard to picture him in a suit - well, I guess we all need a way to earn money to pay for these fun adventures.

What a great little town. You can walk from one end to the other in 20 minutes. When we got back to hotel, it was raining. I realized that I’ve left my bag somewhere. It had my water bottle and black sweater in it. No great loss if it’s gone. I ventured back out and found it in the clothes shop where they had the silk worms. I walked back in the pouring rain – khaki jacket on, hood pulled tight over my head. People still asked me if I wanted a ride. Foreigners stick out everywhere. There is a big bus load of French people staying at the four-star hotel down the road.

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Sat 24^th - Day 7 Hoi An

Hoi An – wake up on our free day and it’s pouring rain. It was the first time we’d seen rain on the trip. I'm glad that we didn't have anything planned. Some people did go on a tour of the Marble Mountain. We had a leisurely breakfast around 8:30 and it had stopped raining. It was turning into a beautiful day. Except that the electricity went out around 7 am.

Some folks walked down to the beach about 3 km down the road (past the new four-star hotel).

I did a little walking tour of my own around the town. There are only three streets, so it was very easy to get around and not get lost. We walked to the Tran Family Chapel. A 200-year old walled compound. 80 people in the Tran Family have a reunion here every year.

Bought some T-shirts for $2 each. The lady in the stand next door called me over and said her T-shirts were $1 each. I found one that I liked and gave her $2. I almost feel guilty paying so little.

Went back to the Mermaid for lunch. Got stuffed squid (yum) and WonTons (delish).

We walked around all day. We stopped into the Tran Duong House. The man was very interesting. He told us about the house. I took a picture of him laying on the bed - it looked like a low dining room table to me!

We walked right through the Central Market. What a fabulous array of colors and smells! Then over to the Japanese Covered Bridge - the emblem of the city. It sure looks like it could use some restoration. It existed in the 16^th century and it has been reconstructed several times.

I got back to the hotel around 5. They said the electricity would come on around 6. But at 6:30 it was still off. Our group was partying by candlelight on the second floor lobby. Candles were everywhere. So romantic. Such a good mix of personalities of people to talk with.

For dinner that night in Hoi An, I got Cau Lau, the special dish they only make in this city. Thick rice-flour noodles, bean sprouts and pork-rind croutons, topped with pork. It was OK. They use water drawn from on e particular local well to make the dish. We talked with some very nice boys before dinner. They sell post cards and these nice cards that look hand-made. During dinner the lights went on, but after we ordered dessert, the lights went out again. Some hotels have generators but not ours. The pool hall across the street had generators.

We ate our dessert by candlelight then walked back to the hotel. I took a shower by candlelight. It wasn’t so bad after you get used to it.

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Sun 25^th - Day 8 Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Sunday morning. Up at 5:15 a.m., leave at 6:30 to drive from Hoi An to Da Nang. Arrive around 8:15 at the airport in DaNang. We brought breakfast with us from the hotel and ate it in the airport. Boiled egg, bread, cheese. I bought 2 small boxes of sweet milk for $1. I'm craving dairy products! I remember seeing any cows. I've seen one horse.

We had to take a bus to the plane waiting on the tarmac. Every seat was full on the plane to HCMC. It’s about a one hour flight to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). Rob looked into taking the train, but ended up flying anyway. This tour company is very flexible to try to accommodate everyone on the tour.

We arrive at HCMC, get our luggage, then about a 30 minute drive to the Embassy hotel in Saigon. On the drive to the hotel I realized the difference from Hanoi – there was no honking here! The streets were very very wide and the sidewalks were very wide also. There was plenty of room to walk on the sidewalk and to park motor bikes and plenty of room on the streets to handle the traffic. The drivers are very good here (compared to Hanoi).

There is very clean manicured landscaping in the center of the street. There are big intersections and big round-abouts here. I wish I could get a picture of all the things they carry on bikes around here. I saw about a 120 pound pig laying in a long basket on the back of a motor bike. One guy had 260 soccer balls on his motor bike. The most I’ve seen is four people on a motor bike. Entire families travel on motor bikes. I wonder what they do when the kids get older.

There are 7 million people in Ho Chi Minh City. It is 229 square kilometers. Every family has 2-3 motor bikes.

The hotel is in a very central location. Right next to the Ben Thanh Market (the city's main shopping district) and I can see the Reunification Palace from my bedroom window. This is the best hotel yet. Jill and I have a two rooms with a air conditioning in each room. We definitely need air conditioning here. It does seem a little warmer here, but still not unbearably hot. Relax an hour, then meet in the lobby at 12 noon.

Internet access is one block away at the business under the Lipton sign. Internet signs are everywhere in the town. 300 dong per minute – very cheap.

After we checked into the hotel, Mary walked us over to a fast food restaurant on Le Loi street - they serve Vietnamese food! It was great. I loved the beef noodle soup. There are no napkins in this country. They usually put down a plastic wrapped towel. You smash it between your hands so it makes a "pop" sound to open it. After lunch we took a cyclo tour of Saigon. Guide is Cuong (I think).

There is a statue of a waving man on a horse on Le Loi is Tran Nguyen Han.

War Remnants Museum notes:

Continuing the cyclo tour:

There is statue of Tran Hung Dao. He fought off the Mongols – this was the only nation that was able to do that.

Ton Duc Thang Road.

On the way back to the hotel, I closed my eyes. I tried to lock into my memory the smells, sounds, and feeling that I had during the cyclo ride. I wanted to be able to   sit in my chair at the office and be able to remember and recreate that moment and feeling.

That night we all met in the lobby for a before dinner drink (BDD) at 6:30. We waited for Mary to workout passing another Intrepid group to a different leader. "Trevor" was ill in Hoi An. Mary took his group on a walking tour in Hoi An. He was supposed to fly to HCMC, but Mary was so concerned about how he was going to get on the airplane. He couldn’t even move some of his limbs. It was probably something that he ate.  What a good tour company to have responsible leaders here to take over if necessary. . Anyway. No one is sick on our trip (so far…)

For dinner we walked to the restaurant right beside the hotel to these little blue chairs. They don’t have any adult chairs in this entire country! Always these tiny little chairs. So there we were on the sidewalk eating our dinner, huddled over our bowls of steaming noodles. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was neat to be trying to experience how these people live. The food was delicious. I had chicken with noodles. I’m eating safe food, but still trying to be a little adventurous. The dining atmosphere with our group was civil – as we tried to move past "the episode." Stacy, the China group leader who is traveling with us, is a good arbitrator.

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Mon 26^th - Day 9 Mekong Delta

Today we went to the town of Ben Tre on the Mekong Delta. About 70 km drive. We were going to the Min Chan province. Our guide for the river tour is Tam.

On the way to Mekong we stopped at a Cao Dai Church. The sign out front said "Thanh That Ben Luc." Inside was a sign with "Truyen Ky Tuong Tam Thanh." It is a religion with the concept of a universal god. Cao Daism is entrenched in Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, elements of Christianity, and Mohammedansim. God is in many places. It borrows structure and terminology from the Catholic Church. The Devine Eye is the tangible representation of the religion's existence. It was founded around 1926. Cao Daism - "Cao " means "high" and Dai means "place." It sure makes sense to me…

I think Tam said that over 60% of Vietnamese are Buddhist. 20% Christian. Some Muslim.

The main transport is by boat in this area – all families have a boat and all life is centered around the water.

On our boat trip on the Mekong, we went to Con Thoi Son Island, Phuno Island, An Khanh Village.

Tam is singing to us on the boat ride to the first island. This island is 3 km wide and 11 square km. The water is 1 km deep in this area. 6000 people live on this island. Farmers grow fruit.

On the other island –Dragon Island people are fishermen. It is 6 square km.

Cambodia is 70 km away. 100 km to Ho Chi Minh City. It is a 10 hour (cheap) boat ride from here.

There is one suspension bridge across the river. The ferry across the river takes 40 minutes.

There are lots of water palm (or was it coconuts) growing along the river. They cover the houses with the leaves. Mangrove grows to prevent erosion.

The river water looks "not clean" but that is not true he says. It has many soil deposits and runoff from farmer's fields. It is very fertile land here compared to North Vietnam. In fact they dig up mud from the bottom of the river and take is up to the land so they can plant in better soil. I saw a small boat loaded with the squares of mud. They were unloading them onto a wet plank. The slide the mud onto the land.

This is such a pleasant perfect day. I’m comfortable in long pants and sleeves so far. It ‘s a little cloudy so the sun is not bearing down. It’s only 11 am.

There is fresh fish in the Mekong river not salt water fish.

We went to a coconut candy-making place. It was so good.

Right now we are in a small boat going through waterways off the river. There is a loud engine which slows to let an occasional other boat to pass. We went under a bridge – there was a boy with a fishing pole walking over the bridge. Now the canal is getting narrow, I just got scraped with palm leaves.

We got out and saw a honey business – I took some honey from the wax.

We had a nice tropical fruit snack with tea. Sapodilla, Jack fruit. They had a drink of rice wine and honey kumquat cocktail.

They played some music for us. A six-string guitar, and two other instruments.

They put salt on pineapple here. I guess that’s no different than Southerners putting salt on watermelon.

The canal was not very wide, so we climbed into row boats. Four of us per boat. Our rower stood up like in Venice, but not quite like Venice. "Same, same, but different." On the canal, we transferred to motor boats.

During the war, the US and S. Vietnam controlled the river, but the Viet Cong always controls the canals.

We are 60 km from the sea so there are fresh water fish here.

We had lunch at a restaurant on the Mekong. A group ordered a fish called "elephant ear" fish. It was beautiful. It arrived decorated and standing up. The girl that served it helped them figured out how to eat it. Rice paper with some leaves and roll the fish up in it. It looked very good.

There were a couple very skinny dogs there. We fed them all our leftovers. Chicken, spring rolls. The dogs ate well.

After lunch, we went on a walk to a wood carving business. I can’t even begin to describe it. Very industrious, hard-working people. A saw a man trying to repair a hand saw. We walked past the business, then into their house to see the wood behind the house.

There was a very dirty kitchen area with new delta mud piled beside the cooking area. There were clothes hanging around behind the kitchen area. A woman was laying in a hammock. We all walked by and I looked back and saw that she was playing a hand-held computer –type game.

There was a television set in the front room. Also a VCR and stereo. The roof was metal with tarps filling in the holes.

There was a stream about 6 feet wide . Their bathroom was a shaky square wood structure over the river. You can pull the tarp closed for some privacy, then squat over the river to do your business.

On the ride back to the bus, we were on a very wide part of the Mekong river. We passed a family on boat along the shore. They had two children and all four of them were eating big slices of watermelon. As our boat slid by in the water, big smiles appear across their faces and they wave "Hello!"

Tonight was the farewell dinner for Vietnam portion of the trip. We met in the lobby for our BDD (before dinner drinks). There was a big scuffle in the alley next to the hotel. Many dogs barking and what could have a been a gun shot. Panic stricken Vietnamese men charged over to our hotel lobby as a safe refuge. Fear was written all over their faces. We have no idea what it was or what happened. Mary said that you NEVER call the police in this country. Maybe it was someone taking care of their own discipline. It was over pretty quick. We just sat there with our beers and watched.

At the restaurant, Robert and I got "sour soup." It arrived on gas burners that they set right on the table in front of us. His was better than mine.

Mary asked all of us what was our best moment on the trip. I had three:

After dinner we went to get ice cream at Fanny’s. Yum. One scoop in a martini glass. I asked to buy the glass and the owner told me to take it as a souvenir. No one had asked to buy the glass before. That was nice. I took it back to the hotel and had some of Alex’s vodka so it was kinda like martini.

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Tues 27^th - Day 10 Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and Day 1 on the Road to Angkor Tour

Free day on the Vietnam tour. We start the Cambodia tour tonight at 6 p.m. Six of us from this tour are going on that one. We’ll get five new people.

It was a relaxing day because I took off on my own to do a walking tour of the city. There were a few "must do and must see" things that I had to do and see. The Palace, the Embassy, the Rex, the Continental hotels.

Notes from my walk around Saigon.

I have not seen any fast food places in this country. No McDonalds, no KFC.

In Saigon there are hardly any traditional conical hats. There are lots of caps and other hats. A few helmets.

I saw a Toyota shop.

Everything seems to close from about 11 am to 2 p.m. I guess for lunch or siesta. I walked up to the American Embassy. There was three papers taped to the front door. One was a memo warning about a white powder found, another saying that the white powder was not anthrax. Then a third paper dated September 9, 2001 to warn people about increased crime around the embassy street area. Americans should be aware of their surroundings, hold onto all possessions, and do not talk to motor bike drivers. They may work in groups.

I walked to the Rex hotel. It’s one of those "must do" things in this city to have a drink on the top of the Rex. It was decorated with two big elephants. This is where you go to "get away from Vietnam" Mary said. It’s almost like I’m back in the US with selfish people who ilke to talk about money and show it off. It isn’t pretty. The "haves" and the "have nots".

I’m finally out of dong now, so I’m spending US dollars now. Geez, it had taken me 10 days to spend US$100 and I have bought most of my food and all my souvenirs!

I had a nice walk around the town. A television is 4,990,000 dong.

My lunch of beef noodle soup and iced coffee with milk is 22,000 (about $1.50).

I walked over the Reunification Palace.

OK, one more huge regret about this trip. On this last free day in Saigon, I wish I had gone to Cu Chi to check out the underground tunnel network that served as an important hideout for the Viet Cong during the American ware. It would have been a day venture (like the Perfume Pagoda, my other trip regret). I was distracted that morning, so I didn't remember that I had to go on that excursion. Oh well. I did and saw a lot of other must-do things in the city instead.

6 p.m. was the introduction meeting for the Cambodia trip. Kate is the trip leader. Looks like a fun nice group of new folks. I can already tell that this portion of my trip will be the best. After the meeting we had a big group dinner at a place like Koto. These are really fun people!

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Wed 28^th - Day 2 Bus ride from Vietnam to Cambodia

7:30 am - board the bus to ride to Cambodia. Kate said it was about a two hour ride to the border, then we switch buses in Cambodia and it’s about 4 to 6 hours to Phnom Penh.

Beautiful scenery to look at here in S. Vietnam. I saw a couple row boats in the water and they were rowing with their feet! The man was laid back in the boat with his hands crossed over his chest, and his feet were operating the oars to row the boat.

This road is in pretty bad condition. Kate said it’s part of the construction for the Indo-China highway. It will be finish in about 5 years. It goes from Vietnam, through Laos, Cambodia, Thailand. In the mean time, here we are on the "dancing bus." "Dancing" because of the numerous pot holes. They had built huge cement drainage canals that will go under the road, but we were having to slow down and slowly make our way around them. At least we had room to maneuver around the hole. A month ago (November – rainy season) Kate said that the land was all flooded so every animal in the area was also on the road.

There are so few birds here. In Saigon I saw Mynah birds in cages when I was having my drink at the top of the Rex. I realized what a pleasure that was to hear birds singing, but they were caged. There are people that walk around with this big cages full of birds. They want you to buy one to set it free.

At Moc Bai we had to put the bus on a ferry to cross the river. We had about a ten minute wait before the ferry was ready to load. Children immediately circled our bus selling us things. Kate bought some toasted bugs. Someone dared her to eat one. They shouldn’t have done that, because she did! A couple other people tried them too. Mmm, crunchy. No thank you. We were passing our empty aluminum cans out the window of the bus. The kids get some money when they take the can to get recycled.

Everyone drives the vehicles right up on the ferry. It was packed in tight. Motor bikes filled all the space.

After we crossed we arrived at the border crossing. We piled out of the bus and took our luggage into the building on the Vietnam side of the border. They took their time to check our passport, then we had to walk about 100 yards over "no-man's land" to the Cambodian side.

As I wandered over this border I looked around and wondered if land mines had ever been placed around here. [I learned later that there are still 4-6 million land mines are still in Cambodia now.] I thought about the Afghan refugees, at this moment, fleeing their country to escape the American bombs. They had to get across (sometimes closed) borders into Pakistan. What a tough life.

And here I was. I had a bag with wheels, dragging it across this dirt and gravel. It was rough terrain but I think the wheels survived. I sure didn't want to carry all that on my back. [When we had to weigh our luggage for a flight, it happened that that my carry-on suitcase weighed 19 kilos and Chris's back pack weighed 20! He's young and strong so he can handle it.]

When you get to the Cambodian side, you go to this hut where you give your passport and immigration form to another person to check. It was a warm/hot day. Everyone in our group was sweating from the long walk with the luggage. There was a local man at the hut who was wearing with big, thick, winter coat! This was cold weather for them!

After we cleared the hut customs, we re-grouped and boarded a different (no so nice) bus. Air con worked a little. It was about another 2 hour ride. The road was a little better so we made great time. We arrived in the Phnom Penh at 4:30.

I saw a sign for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries right as we were coming into town. I guess that’s where Grampa worked when he was here back in 1960.

Check into hotel. Awesome location. Right across the street from the Grand Palace and Silver Pagoda. After I took my first refreshing cool shower, we learned how to press the button in the shower to get hot water.

I absolutely LOVE this city already. The feeling you get from the people, the view, the location of the hotel, everything. It seems like a relaxed pace. Big, wide streets.

There was big banner hanging over the road to welcome the Director of the World Trade Organization and the President of Vietnam. They are visiting Phnom Penh right now!

We went for a walk along the river (one block from the hotel) and ended up at the Foreign Correspondence Club (FCC) of Cambodia. I’m sitting here having a drink, gazing out to the river.

There are lots of big cars in this city. The United Nations staff gets US$145 per day here. That’s a lot of money! They are many huge sport utility vehicles driving around here. They said there was an official memo put out to tell the UN staff not to park in front of the Houses of Prostitution, they should park a couple blocks away.

An example of the cost of an apartment: 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 2 living room, kitchen, furnished with garage is $300 a month.

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Thurs 29^th - Day 3 Phnom Penh

8 am buffet breakfast, leave at 9 am for a day of touring. Our guide is "Vuthy."

Money in Cambodia: 3800 Real = US$1. I didn't change any USD because they accept US money everywhere and you get Real in change.

I get such a different feeling in this city. There are many more monks walking around. The traffic is calmer. Not much honking. Very wide streets.

Our first stop was about 15 km from Phnom Penh - the Killing fields. Choueng Ek Genocidal Center.

There are some very whiney children begging around here – you can hardly understand what they are saying. Kate bought pens for the ten kids around here. I’m not sure where they hid them, but they were back asking for more a little while later. I was sitting in the bus and one girl successfully communicated to Chris and she wanted him to take the barrette out of my hair and give it to her! "Cheeky" children!

I really wish they would learn how to say "Please", but Kate there isn’t really a word in their language that means the same thing, so they would not understand how to say Please"

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Everyone is quiet on the bus. Trying to fathom the horrors that surrounded us as we walked around that field. Next stop was even soberingly worse.

Tuol Sleng prison tour. Museum of Genocidal Crime.

After the tour – back to the hotel. We ate lunch at the restaurant right beside the hotel. I had some really good beef kabobs for $4.

After lunch, I went across the street to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. Quite a spectacular place to see. Pristine and immaculately kept.

After wandering and admiring for 1.5 hours, they chased everyone out at 3:30. When I was in the Silver Pagoda they were very busy moving things around - it looked like they were hiding the tourist items and bringing out the most beautiful things to display in center front. They were getting ready for a private ceremony. Anyway, I tried to go back to the Royal Palace, but they wouldn't let me. I had to walk out on the Silver Pagoda side. I'm glad I got to see it!

[Note: Later that afternoon as I was walking to the river, I saw a couple police cars escorting some big vehicles into the center entrance of the grand palace. It looks like only the most important people get to use the front entrance. I’m guessing it was the President of Vietnam.]

At the shops near the exit I bought a framed picture of Angkor Wat. I could tell it had been then a very long, long time because it was covered with dirt. Vivid colors and perfect reflections appeared when I wiped the dirt off.

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It was such a beautiful afternoon so I decided to go for a walk along the river's famous Sisowath Quay. It was difficult to walk by the (cute) motor bike driver. The river is only a block away and I really did want to walk so I didn't need his service.

There are people walking around here dragging big, tall scales. Someone told me that there is a government campaign for people to weigh more. What a difference from America where 67% of the people are obese (fat). So I was just sitting there watching this lonely person sit by his scales so I decided to get weighed! I sure drew a crowd to see this tall blond girl getting measured. The man couldn't speak any English so he called a young girl over. I gave my pad of paper to her and scribbled some numbers - definitely metric number because I know that I have gained weight on this trip and I sure did not expect that! The food is so good!

So right now, I’m sitting here by myself after a long walk along the river. I’m watching the people go by. I really do like this city.

People are starting to come by begging for money. They are so poor here. So sad. Also so sad that they are learning how to be ambitious beggars. Tourists teach them how by giving them money to go away. I remember Mary explaining to us that it is not an Intrepid policy to throw money at people so you can take their picture. You should not do that. You should buy something from them. But these beggars. Geez, so sad. Ok, so now I have three monks that wandered next to me and now they are sitting right beside me watching me write in this journal. This is very weird. One is about one foot away from me, staring at me. OK, they can’t speak English, so I’ll keep writing. They do have "cheeky" monks here. At the palace, a monk was flirting with Karen. He wanted her address! I couldn’t believe it when I saw that. The tour book says that we (women) are not supposed to touch them. The monk next to me seemed to be asking the time. I tried to let him see my watch, but it was so small that he couldn’t read it. I took it off my wrist and handed it to him. He looked at it and read "six," then gave it back to me. It is starting to get dark so I need to get up and start walking back. It’s hard to communicate. A beggar came by and stood in front of me for a awhile. The monk took out his wallet and gave her some money. I felt obligated to do the same. SO then word got around that a foreigner was giving out money – more beggars come around. I got up and started walking away. I saw a man in a wheel chair and gave him some money. Within 10 seconds, two more men in wheel chair appeared, so I gave them some too. Then I did a quick walk to get away from the children. My pockets were totally empty. Nothing else to give.

7 p.m. dinner. On the way, Kate told us a story about how they base their predictions on what cows eat! Once a year the area next to the Grand Palace they bring in three cows. There is a big pile of rice, fruit, and water. If they eat more rice, it will be a good rice harvest, If they drink lots of water, then there will be water problem that year.

We were very fortunate to have a very unique Intrepid experience to dine at a home in Cambodia. "Rahn" is our host. 32 people live in the house. He was a tour guide, but the government started enforcing the required license to be a guide, so he had to go to the university and pay before he can be a tour guide again. Intrepid is supporting him with the dinner. We paid $5 each for best meal and the most fun experience of the entire trip. (see picture on my web site www.suzannamorris.com)

All 12 people in our group wanted to go. We rode about 15 minutes and the last part was on a very bumpy, washed out dirt road. People were really looking at this van trying to drive down this bad road. We rode as far as we could, then had to get out and walk the last 2 blocks. It was dark, so he kept the head lights on so I didn’t step in any big mud puddles.

The house was on stilts. We took our shoes off at the bottom of the stairs. 32 people live in the house, but you’d never know it. Very quiet, shy children, an 82 year old grandfather. The house is 100 years old. At one time, it was a hospital and an officer station for the war.

In 1918, when people were allowed back in the city (they were forced out for 3 years), the poor and rich came back and claimed what ever house was available. No property records were kept. This is an "average" house Kate said. 13 of us sat on the floor on mats.

First fried bananas, curry chicken, cuddle fish and mushrooms, beef and broccoli, beef and noodles, and good seafood soup served on hot pots so it was boiling the whole time. They always serve fruit at the end of each meal. They salt the pineapple. All the food was very very good. They said they started shopping at 4:30 this morning and cooked all day.

So that is how they live and eat. Only Intrepid could arrange something like that.

The typical house here in Phnom Penh is on stilts. The cost of a "typical" house is about US$2000 in the city.

The TV was on because they had to see their horoscope. There were commercials for skin whitening products. Stacy said could not find deodorant that didn’t have a whitening product in it. People are vain everywhere in the world. In the U.S. we sell skin tanning cremes! People do stare at my very white arms and pale legs. On one tour, I zipped my pant legs so I was wearing shorts and I actually felt self-conscious at the stares, so I zipped the long pants back on. Intrepid did tell us that in Asia, you should always have you thighs covered. Pant lengths anywhere from your knee to the ankles is the norm here. Women/girls should definitely not wear singlets (the thin strapped tops).

Other interesting things that I learned in Phnom Penh:

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Fri 30^th - Day 4 Siem Reap

Leave at 5:45 am to fly to Siem Reap. 8:15 arrive in Siem Reap and meet our (cute) guide "Ung Savy." We called him "Saffy."

We flew, but if you drive it is about 10 hours from Phnom Penh. Half of our group (the true adventurers) took the boat! Intrepid is flexible to arrange and accommodate whatever people want to do. I opted not to do the boat thing when Kate mentioned that there is still a travel warning from the Australian government that someone shot at boat 18 months ago. Robert went on the boat so I carried his "for-the-safe" important items in my carry-on on the airplane. That was just in case the boat got robbed - I sure didn't mind doing it because I believe in being prepared.

What wonderful weather! We're in the dry season now. In the hot season it can be 35-38 here, but now in Nov, Dec, and Jan winter months, it is 20-25.

We were driving on very new roads and some of it is still bumpy dirt roads. The roads will be all complete a couple weeks at the end of 2001. They pave the roads here with gravel that women carry in baskets. Unreal. Then they have trucks to lay down the asphalt. They are installing sewer systems so they don’t ever expect any more flooding.

The Siem Reap river never dries up. Even in the dry season. They are very lucky in their province to always have water.

Check into Freedom Hotel. Very nice, great same-day laundry service, and cheap. I think Robert's friends paid US$20 for their room.

There is lots of traffic here because of construction. We’re in a "Cambodian jam" now…

The tour usually goes to Angkor Wat first, but since half our group on the boat won't arrive till 1 p.m., we'll see other temples today and do the Big One tomorrow. Kate and Savy put together a great (adjusted) temple schedule: