Trip to Vietnam on Sumner Evans

Looking Back

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 21:23:00 -0600

Sumner

OK now I will tell you what I thought of the trip since that’s the number one question that you ask people when they come back from a vacation. It was great, I was able to see the lives of many different people groups, from the Dao (pronounced: Zow) in Sapa to the Cham in the Mekong River Delta. I got to see rice being harvested, planted and rice fields that were already harvested. One of the sad things that I noticed was that much of Vietnamese culture is based on Buddism. Well I have thouroly enjoyed being able to share this wounderful, rich culture in this blog. I hope that one day I can go back to Vietnam to see my wonderful homeland once again. I’ll be sure to keep a blog that trip too.

Trip Back Home 12/12/10-12/13/10

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 22:37:00 -0600

Sumner

It was about a for hour trip to Shaghai and then we had an eight hour layover. It was long and hard. We ate a meal and shoped and bored ourselfs to death. Finally the gate opened and we checked our bags and went to the plane. It was a ten and a half hour flight to San Fransisco. I slept and worked on my blog for most of it. We had thought that all the movies that they were playing were going to be bad. One of the ones that they showed was Ramona and Besis. I would have watched it but I thought that it was another of those bad movies and nobody told me that I could watch it. We made it to San Fran and had a three hour layover. Then we had another three hour flight to Denver. We bussed out to our car and were a little worried that our car wouldn’t start. It did and we drove to our house. Hannah slept all the way and mom and I dosed off for a minute or so. Dad luckily didn’t dose off and we made it home safe.

Saigon,(or Ho Chi Minh City)

Sun, 12 Dec 2010 02:18:00 -0600

Hannah

So, we are back safe in Saigon. No problems on the plane, but the transportation to our hotel was aweful. I guess the guy who was supposed to pick us up, was wrong on the timing, so we waited for about 1 hour, till mom decided to call the guy. After waiting another half hour, the guy FINALLY showed up. He said, wait for 10 minutes, and I will get your ride. But of all things, another guy,( the guy who picked us up at the airport last time,) showed up and said to come with us. So we loaded up the luggage in the taxi, and ALMOST started out agoin, but then, the first guy said to wait another 10 minutes, and he would load us up into a “big” van, the van was the size of the other car, but we FINALLY succeded in getting to our hotel. We got a warm welcome, so that is all to tell you what we did this after noon.

Fourtyith Day - Saigon 12/11/10

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 21:46:00 -0600

Sumner

Today is our last day in Vietnam. We woke up and ate breakfast. Then we hung out for a fem minutes to find things to do and work on the blog. Then we went shopping for a while. We ate lunch at a place called Wrap and Roll. In this restaurant you were served the food that you ordered with some green vegitables, noodles and rice paper. Then you rooled it all together. It was really good and then we went out and shoped a little more. After that we went back to the hotel and asked if we could have a small room for the night so that we could have a room until we leave at one o clock tomorow morning. They let us and we moved to the other room. Then we went swiming for a while to cool down. After we were refreashed we went to the room and got packed up. Mom and Hannah slept for a while and then I laid down to try to sleep for a while. I never did but my body got to rest. By this time it was about time to fialize out packing and go to the airport. We went down with out bags and got into the car. We made it to the airport but the gate wasn’t opened yet. Some people started to line up and we asked them if they were in line for our flight to Shainghi. They were and so we got in line. I took forever to get up to the desk and when we got there she couldn’t find our tickets! Finally she found ours but she couldn’t find dads! After a while she was able to locate dad’s ticket. Needless to say, we were the last ones at the check in counter. Unfourtunentaly she couldn’t check them to Denver so we would have to spend all of our time in Shanhai with our bags. Then we went to our gate and got onto the plane…(Look at the next post for the rest of the story.)

Phu Quoc

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 02:17:00 -0600

Hannah

Day… half

Thirty-ninth Day - Phu Quoc and Trip to Saigon 12/10/10

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 21:46:00 -0600

Sumner

Today was our last day on Phu Quoc. We swam in the ocean and in the pool for a couple of hours and then packed up to go back to Saigon. After we were packed up we went to the resorts restaurant for lunch. It came late, thirty miniutes after we ordered. We only had fifteen minutes to finish our meals. After lunch we were picked up to go to the airport. We got onto the plane fine and on the way we had one last view of Cassia Cotages. We knew that it was Cassia because of the houses and a house-boat in th water just outside Cassia Cottages. It was a very short flight. It was only about one hour long, half the length of the trip from Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City. We got to the airport and went outside to find our guy. There must have been some confusion because there wasn’t anyone there. We had to wait for thirty minutes to find anyone. He then took us to the wrong taxi. Another man showed up and said that a big van was coming. Then instead of waiting to get the van they decided to move us to another taxi that was the exact same size as the one before. We made it to the hotel and went to reseption to get our key and go to our room. The told us that we had to pay for the room that we stayed in last time and the room that we are going to stay in this time. We wanted just to pay at the end so that we could use as much Dong (that’s the currency here) as we wanted for shoping and then use the rest to pay the bill. Then if there was any leftover cost we would pay it in dollars. We tried to tell them but they said that we had to pay anyway. We paid some in dong and some in dolars. Then they said that we owed another twenty-eight cents. We asked what that was in Dong and they calculated that for us. It came out to be six thousand Dong so dad pulled out his walet and gave them a five thousand and they said one more. Mom then pulled out a one thousand and put it down, a little violently. Done. We went to our room and got settle in. Then we swam for a minute went out for dinner and went to bed.

Thirty-eighth Day - Phu Quoc 12/9/10

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 02:44:00 -0600

Sumner

This morning we hung out at the beach and the swiming pool. Hannah played with her Norwegen friends. Then for the afternoon we decided to go on a motorcycle ride. In Vietnamese you would say that we went on a xe om (say ohm). We went up to reseption and asked for a mortorbike for te afternoon. First we went out to lunch. We went to a german place and had sandwiches. They were good and then we got back on our motorbikes and went south. The road that we took was the one that we went on with Johns Tours but this time we got to enjoy the scenery better because we were going slower. Unfourtunently the motorbike that dad and I were on didn’t work properly. When you tried to accelerate it would go for a second and then putter and die. As soon as you let off it started to work again. Sometimes when we were ahead mom and Hannah would spead up and pass us going “HONK HONK” with their horn. We drove along the beach and then went across a really scary bridge. All it was was a few metal poles suporting wood with sheat metal on top. It looked like they were making another bridge to the side of it. We made it accross and kept going allong the beach. We were hoping that there would be a place that we could turn off and go through the forest but there wasn’t. Mom was getting worried that she would get sunburnt so we turned around and went back to the resort. Or at least tried. We we were supposed to fill up the gas taks of the motorcycles at the end of out trip but dad and I missed the gas station. I looked back and mom looked bewildered. I told dad to stop and pull over so we could figgure out what was wrong. Mom pulled up and asked where we were going. We said that we were looking for the gas station and they replied “it was back there!” So we turrned around and went back. We filled up and then went to the resort. We played in the pool, had dinner and went to bed.

Thirty-seventh Day - Phu Quoc 12/8/10

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 23:25:00 -0600

Sumner

Today since we didn’t have much to do I will give you a tour of the resort. If you went in the front gate (opposite the beach) on your right are the staff’s area. On the left is a mortorbike rental place. Walk a little further and on both sides of you are little cottages where you can stay. Walk past the cotages and to you right is the breakfast room, the internet cafe, and reseption. Now walk around the bend in the path and to you left is a beach house. Walk a little further and (on your left again) you see the pool. On you right is the big house with four rooms, one of which was ours for the last four nights of Phu Quoc. Oh I forgot to tell you that on the second day we had to move to another smaller room. Anyway if you go a few steps more you are at an intersection. If you go on the path straight in front of you it will lead you to the beach house that we stayed in the first night of our stay. Turn right and you are facing the room that we stayed in for the lastr few nights of our stay. If you turn left and go down the steps you are in the area of the resorts restaurant and walk a little further and you are on the beach. That’s about all. I decided not to tell you anything about the second room that we stayed in because it wasn’t anything special. All I’ll tell you is that it wasn’t as nice as the first one, it was more like a regular hotel room. OK done with the tour. Durring the moring we played at the pool and the beach with the Norwegen girls Then we went to eat lunch. I forgot what we had, it must not have been very special. Then we hung out at the pool and worked on the blog for a while. Then at around three thirty dad and I got ready to go squid fishing. We were picked up late, fifty miniutes late actually and went to a van at the hotel next door. Two people were already there. Then we waited for two guys from the hotel. Finaly they came but then they went to their rooms for fifteen minutes! Well they got in and they said that they had gotten lost on the island. I can’t immagine how they got lost because the entire island except in the cities have about ten main roads and a few secondary ones. They should have taken a map. Well we went to another hote and picked up four more people. One boysterous man sat next to us in the van. Then we went to another hotel and picked up two more people. After that we went to the dock. On the way the driver blasted the music and when he stopped the music the man next to us said! Oh! That was good keep it up! So the driver turned it back on. For most of the trip I had one ear smashed on dad’s shoulder and the other ear pluged up with my finger. Well we made it to the dock without being deafened and when we got out some of the local boys who were playing soccer started dancing to the music coming out of the van. After that we got into the boat and went out to where all of the other tourist fishing boats were. We fished for fish for a while with big spools. I got pretty good at casting and I even caught a fish. Then we got a different spool for squid fishing. It didn’t have a bait just a shiny thing that you drew past the squid when you saw it. I didn’t catch any squid, we only got three squid and a few octipi. They squirted ink all over the place. Lucily there were buckets and we put them in those. We even caught two crabs with a net! On of the crabs was caught bu the man that sat next to us on the bus. I saw it and told dad. Then one of the ladys saw it and yelled. Someont handed a net to the guy and he scooped it out of the water. After fishing they grilled them on a little stove thing. They didn’t have very much meat but fourtunently they made some calamari soup for us to eat. The man who caught the crab had one bown and said, “I’ve had enough calamari soup for the next ten years! After the calamari soup which wasn’t my favorite we went back to port and went to a taxi. There was something about us and two other guys going in this taxi because they didn’t want us to walk in the dark. I guess that they didn’t want us to walk down the little road that leads to Cassia Cotages. Well we made it back safely and went to bed.

Thirty-sixth Day - Phu Quoc 12/7/10

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 22:13:00 -0600

Sumner

Today we went on a tour of the sothern part of Phu Quoc. We started out and waited for them at the front gate. While we were waiting the owner of Cassia Cotteges came up to us and asked where we were going. We said that we had organised a tour with John’s Tours and were waiting to be picked up. His comment about them was “Oh, go get another cofee, they’re always late.” He obdviously didn’t like the lateness (I don’t think that is a word is it, oh well I’ve made up more that a few words while wrighting this blog) of Johns Tours. We also asked him if they spoke good English and his comment was that “there will be somone that can speak enough to say ’now it’s time to get out to snorkel’ and ‘sorry the coke isn’t cold’ and stuff like that.” Anyway we were picked up by a taxi and went to one of their many offices and got onto a bus. We drove around for a while allong the beach and then stopped to “see how pearls were formed.” Of course the real reason was to let us buy stuff. We did get to see them open a few clams to see if there were any pearls in them. After shopping we got back into the bus and drove to a dock and got onto a boat. We went out for a while and then stopped to do some fishing but the seas were pretty choppy and we moved to another place. Then we went snorkling. Hannah had some problems because her fins didn’t work and so she couldn’t stay up, they were just flaping around not doing anything. So she took off her fins and got a life jacket just in case. We snorkeled to the reef. It wasn’t much of a reef, all of the coral was dead and it seamed like there wasn’t anything alive exept small fish. All of the fish were, well, fished! Much of the reef was gone because of dynamite fishing. That’s when they drop a stick of dynamite into the water and then the shock kills all the fish and makes them rise to the surface so the fisher-men just have to pick them up. Unfourtunently it also ruins the reefs. After the first snorkeling place we sailed to another one close by. The conditoins there were just about the same, dead coral and not many fish. After thirty miniutes there we moved to another one. The first time we stopped for snorkeling all ofthe people got in. The second time about half got in. This third time it was just us and another couple. This one was a little more interesting but just as dead. There were some rocks that made it neat to look at. After that we went back to the dock and went to Sao (pronounced: sow) beach. I was the only one that got into the water. Not even Hannah mom or dad got in. Just me. Then we went back to the resort and swam. Hannah played with her Norwegen friend again and then we went to the room to get ready for dinner. We saw the beautiful sunset on the beach and went down to get pictures. We decided that it would be easiest to eat at the resort’s restaurant. The menu didn’t have very many choices but we ordered and after a while the waiter came back and told us that some of the things that we ordered were not avalible. So we had to re-order some of our dishes. Anyway the food came and we had a pleasant meal. The area had a little stream and some nice trees and vegitation which mada for a pleasant atmosphere.

Thirty-fith Day - Phu Quoc 12/06/10

Sun, 05 Dec 2010 21:54:00 -0600

Sumner

Well today is our first full day on Phu Quoc. We decided that today we would just stay at the resort and enjoy the beach and the swimming pool. We swam for a while in the ocean it was pretty special because this is the maybe fourth or fith time that we have seen the ocean and the beach in our lives. The last time that we really were at the beech was when we went to Hawaii when I was five. We stayed at the beach and at the pool for most of the morning and then we walked into town to see the town and look for some goggles for me because mine broke. On the way we stopped at a little stall for John’s Tours beside the main road into town. We boked a tour for tommorow of the south of the island. Allong with that we booked a tour to go squid fishing the night after tomorrow. Then we walked a little futher and found a shop that looked like it may have goggles. He didn’t have any but he told us where to go buy some. We walked in that direction and looked at some differnt shops until we got to one that sold goggles. We got the goggles and then headed back. The town wasn’t very big, just maybe five to ten main streets. By this time it was about time for lunch. We ate at a pizza place, it was good but we accidentaly got two pizzas. I think that when mom was asking for the size she pointed at one of the choices and the waiter thought that mom wanted to order that. Well we ate the second pizza and then went back to the hotel. We went down to the pool for a while. Mom chatted with a Norwegen man with two daughters. He asked where we were from and we said America. He asked which state we were from and then he said, oh, there’s a university somewhere it starts with a “B.” Of course he was talking about Boulder and when we said that he said that one of his friends was going to school there at Colorado School of Mines. Then another couple came over and said “Boulder? are you from Boulder?” It turned out that they lived in boulder and had come to Vietnam on a buisness trip for Celestial Seasonings. The reason is that all of the cinimon that celestial seasonings uses comes from Cassia Cottages. It just tells you how small the world is, three people metting at one spot all having something in common! Hannah played with the Norwegen girls one was nine and the other one was my age. The younger one had very good English, of course not perfect, but what would you expect from a girl that has oly taken two years of English! It wasn’t just “my name is Ellinor” it was “can you do a hand stand?” and things like that! Of course there were some grammar errors but they were minor. Then we walked down the beach to another place where we had dinner. It was good and then we went back to the hotel and went to bed. ZZZZZ (that’s dad snoring).

Thirty-fourth Day - Trip to Phu Quoc 12/5/10

Sun, 05 Dec 2010 21:50:00 -0600

Sumner

Today we woke up and got ready to go to Phu Quoc, an island off the western coast of Vietnam. After we were packed we got into the car go to Rach Gia where we were to board a boat to go to Phu Quoc. Once there we had to kill time for a hour or so. We had lunch and then went to the dock. Our boats name was the Super Dong Express. It was suposedly a hydrofoil and most likely it was but sometimes companys just think a word sound like a good way to market their services to tourists and may not even know what it means. It was like an airplane in some respects like having set seats. It was pretty cramped so it was a pretty long two and a half hours. We got to Phu Quoc safe and sound. We were picked up at the dock and drove to our hotel. The one that we picked was called Cassia Cottages. It was one of the first resorts on Phu Quoc. We got our key and were shown to our room. It was huge! When you went in the front door you were in the living room it had a sofa and two chairs in the left side . On the right side was a table and the mini bar. If you waled forward to a little alcove you would see to either side of you a door that led to on of the rooms. They were mirror to each other so you know the drill. I’ll tour you through the one on the left because that was where Hannah and I slept. As soon as you go in you are seeing the bed with nighstands to either side of it. In front of the bed was a big box to put valubles in. Walk in a little bit and turn right and look right you are looking at a closet/desk allong the wall going all the way to the bathroom wall. The bathroom door is on the wall paralel with the closet. In the batroom was nice but not spectacular, it had a bath and a shower and all the regular things. The ammenities were basic though, oh well. Anyway once we were settled in we went and toured the grouns. I am not going to tour you right now but it will come. We went down to the beach and hung out at the ocean and the pool. Then we went back to the room to get ready to go to dinner. We decided to walk down the beach to try to find a spot to eat. We found a little restaurant on the beach with little tables on the sand. We got a table on the sand and had a wonderful meal. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and went to bed.

Choa Doc Ride

Sun, 05 Dec 2010 01:53:00 -0600

~Hannah~

Hey,today we are going to Choa Doc. That is on the way to Phu Quac Island. That makes sense that Phu Quac is an island. Anyway. This morning we went to a more occupied breakfast room. There was about… 20 people at breakfast. Mom and Dad were the odd balls, because they were the only white people. We had to leave for Choa Doc at 8:00 AM so we had a relatively hurried breakfast. We got ready and headed out on the road at precisely 8:00 so we timed everything well. Mr. Anh, ( our guide,) told us a very interesting story that I would like to tell you guys.

Thirty-third Day - Drive to Chao Doc 12/4/10

Sat, 04 Dec 2010 21:45:00 -0600

Today we woke up and got readdy to drive to Chao Doc. We went through Can Tho and then kept on going north to Chao Doc, a place very close to the border with Cambodia. The first thing that we did was go on a boat ride. We rode around and see many exiting things. One thing that really stood out were some people fishing with big nets. It was a simple design for these big nets. The frame was just two ladder-ish things conected at a fulcrum on the shore. One side is over the river and has a net attached to it. The other side is just free with nothing. The person fishing walkes on the ladder closest to shore and tips the net out of the water. Then he (of she) walks to the center of the contraption and pulls a rope that then pulls the net up. Then they put the fish that they caught in a smaller net. Then he walks to the end out over the water and waits for two miniutes and start the prosess over again. After the boat trip we went to a market. It was basicly just like any other Vietnamese market. We saw some pretty disgusting stuff such as frogs with their heads cut off but still moving. After the market we went to the hotel and got settled in. It was a nice hotel and the rooms were nice (we had to have two). The staff didn’t win any prizes though. We hung out for a while at the hotel (no tour because it wasn’t anything special) and went to the hotel’s restraunt for dinner. Then we went to bed.

Soc Tran Trip

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 23:40:00 -0600

~Hannah~

Hello, today was a very special and memorable day. Today we started at in a city called Can Tho. Can Tho is also a very special day, because when Mom, dad and Sumner came to get me in Soc Tran, they stayed in a hotel very close to the one we stayed in this trip.

Thirty-second Day - Soc Tran 12/03/10

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 18:53:00 -0600

Sumner

So toady we woke up and got ready to go to Soc Tran. Soc Tran (pronounced: shoc tran) is where Hannah was born and where her orphanage is. We got up and walked to the dock to go to a floating market. On the way we found the hotel that we stayed at the last night that we were a three person family. The next day we had Hannah. Then we got onto the boat. We went up the river a little way and then turned on a canal where the floating market was. On the way we saw an on the water gas station. It was like any other Vietnamese gas station with gas pumps and all. When we arived at the gas station we went slowly up one side of the market. There are many boats with fruits and vegitables. We saw many bamboo poles with some of the different fruits and vegitables hanging on them. We asked our guide what they were for and he said that those things are the things that they are selling on that particular boat. This market was wholesale so you had to buy in mass. We saw some women in little canoos up beside the bigger boats and buying produce. We saw some other women in canoos selling phu and noodles and other food. Our guide called one of these weomen and asked her to make us some fried noodles. She had a little styrofoam box with the top and one side cut out of it with a little one burner cookstove. She had one pan add mixed the noodles and fried all the stuff. Then she gave us the food. It was moving fast food! Once we got to the end of the market we furned around and went down the other side. On the way back we stoped at a place that sold pineapples we baught one and the man on the boat sliced it for us. We ate the pineapple on the way back down the other side of the market. Then we went back to the big river and to the dock. After that we went to buy some things for the kids in the orphanage at another market. This time it wasn’t outside on the water it was inside on land. We baught all sorts of stuff, candy, washing machine soap, soy sause, rice (five kilo’s of it), toys and all sorts of other things that would help them. Then we loaded all of it in the car and drove to Soc Tran. It was maybe a four hour trip to get there. When we went to go get Hannah it took allot longer because you had to take two ferrys. They just compleated the bridge six months ago so if we had gone seven months earlier we would have had to go on the ferry. When we got there we went directly to the orphanage. First we went into the office of the orphanage and met a woman named Mrs. Van. She was the doctor for the orphanage at the time Hannah was there. She didn’t remember Hannah because she didn’t ever have any realy serious sickness. In that room they had a chart of how many kids were there. We were supprised to see that they only had twenty-nine kids. Then Mrs. Van took us to one of the rooms, the main one for orphans. We saw babies and little kids and older kids. There were some older kids in there that we gave those fethered things to. Many of the kids there had disabilitys. I was so glad that I have someone to love me and take care of me instead of being in an orphanage. It is probably one of the hardest lives to live. After giving some toys and candy and cookies to the kids Hannah played with one of the girls there. While she was doing that I played for a while with an older kid in the orphanage. His name was Tam and he is fifteen. We played with the fethered thing. We learned that the Vietnamese call it a fethered cock. I don’t know why, but that is what they call it. After that we went to another building where elderly people live. That room used to have with Hannah’s crib. After that we went to another building, the one that we went to to sign the papers that offically made Hannah ours. Then we went back and had a conversation with Mrs. Van through Anh because her English is very limmited. She thanked us for taking care of her for the last years and we thanked her for taking care of Hannah for the first years of her life. The conversation was more than that but that was the path the conversation took. After that we got back in the car and drove to a pagoda. It was basicly like any pagoda exept that in the trees surrounding the ppagoda were many bats. The locals even called it “bat temple.” After that we went back to the car in a thing sorta like a sicilo. It was the oposite though because a person on a motorcycle attached at the back to a small carage (not like the ones that the pony express went on just a seat and a little area to sit on the front.) Once at the car we went to the hotel and got settled in. It was a big hotel and looked very nice from the outside. Once we got inside it was still nice but it wasn’t as nice as it seemed from the outside. Our room was clean and it would be only one night so it was fine. They even had a swimming pool so we decided to go check it out. It was a little questionable about how clean the water was but it looked clean enough so Hannah and I swam for a little while and then we got out and went back to the room. By that tome it was about time for dinner and we went to the restraunt in the resort. It was a little scary because we were the only ones there, besides two emploiees. The meal was OK though and we went went back to the room to get readdy for bed. Done with today, BEDTIME!

Thirty-first Day - Trip to Can Tho 12/02/10

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 10:05:00 -0600

Sumner

Today was basiclly just a ride to Can Tho. We started out by metting our guide who’s name was Anh (pronounced: an with the a sounding like a mix of the letters O and A) and driving out on the way to Can Tho (pronounced: can toe). The first thing that we did was see how they make rice noodles. We stopped at a village in the sububs of Saigon and walked down a path to someones housenoodl factory. Anh explained the prosess of making the noodles which was very interesting but to many steps to explain. After that we got back into the car and drove on. We arrived in Can Tho and ate at a restraunt that was relly good and was close to out hotel. Then we went on a boat trip on one of the branches of the Mekong River Delta. We saw the floating market but it wasn’t very active and we are going to see it tomorrow. We got to go on a little cano paddled by a woman down a canal. It was very prety and we got to see life in the country side. We met the big boat and continued on out tour. We stopped to see the prosess of making popped rice. Popped rice is kinda like rice crispy treats. Any way the first step was that they placed a big wok over a fire and put sand from the river into it and a little oil. Then, once the sand was hot enough, they added rice to it. The hot sand made the rice pop and then they put the rice into a sieve and sifted out all the sand back into the wok. Then they put it in another sieve and got all the rice husks which they used to fuel the fire. Then he started over again. After that they add some other ingredients to make it sweet and sell it to you. We tried to buy just a couple but we ended up with six, oh well. After that we got back on the boat and went to the hotel. We said goodbye to Anh and hung out in our rooms until dinner which we had at a restraunt in an indoor market. It was very nice and the food was good. After dinner dad got in trouble and asked for the price on a t-shirt that he liked. They went all over him and even he couldn’t get away. The one that he like was an knock off “Abercrombie”. They tried to sell him an knock off Osh Cosh shirt which was better quality. Of corse we knew that it was fake because Hannah and I out grew Osh Cosh a while ago. He ended up with the Abercrombie. Then I saw a t-shirt that had a picture of a Vietnamese telephone pole with all of the wires. I then went with one of the ladys to another shop and got a t-shirt that fit. Then we went back to the hotel. I won’t bug you with another tour because it really wasn’t anything special. And then went to bed.

Thirtyith Day - Cu Chi Tunnels (Saigon) 12/01/10

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 00:46:00 -0600

Sumner

To is our free day in Saigon (oh oops the politicly corect name is Ho Chi Minh City). We got up and went this morning at eight o’clock to the Cu Chi Tunnels. The Cuchi Tunnels are some tunnels that the Viet Cong hid in durring the Vietnam war. They are located on a bend of the Saigon River and cover over three hundred square kilometers (about one hundred fifty square miles.) It is a little northwest of Ho Chi Minh City (very long name). Anyway now that you know it’s general vicinity I will continue the story. At eight o’clock we went downstairs and met our guide. He was an older gentelman (we learned later that he was two years older that dad). He started out by saying “We must talk about the war. We are not enemies we are friends…” He went into the details of our good relations and Bill Clinton starting those relations. He talked on about it pausing only to show us a sight. It was rather funny, he would be talking about some political thing and then point and say “there is a rubber plantation, we’ll see it on the way back.” and then go right on talking. He was fairly easy to understand (always a good thing) only a few pronuctiation errors but hey, I would have umppteen zillion errors if I tried to speak Vietnamese. His English would probably have been easier to understad if he had not had fake teeth that didn’t fit because all the time that he was talking he was tring to keep his teeth in! Oh! I forgot to tell you that he was ex-Viet Cong (Vietnamese comunist fighters in the south)! When he told us we were thinking “maybe all of the tour companys hire ex-Viet Cong to do tours of the Chuchi Tunnels. But after the tour we hadn’t seen another tour guide that looked than forty years old! We were extremly lucky that we got shuch a guide. When we got there we first were going to see a movie full of comunist propaganda but all the little rooms were full. So we just went on to see the tunnels and see the movie later. The first thing that we saw was some traps that the Viet Cong used against the Americans. They were pretty brutal. Then we went throught the forest seing some of the different entrances. Some were very teny only about twenty inches by ten inches and had a little cover over it. You had to put your legs in and then slide down with your hands over your head and squat in the little hole to get in. There were little tunnels leading betwene the enterances that were maybe two feet wide and two feet tall. We didn’t go in those we just went down the entrance. We kept on walking through the forest and saw many other places that secret enterances to the tunnels. The reason that the tunnels have many enterences is so that when someone comes out and shoots if you go to that enterence then he goes to another enterence and shoots you again an so on. Then we came to a place that was the kitchen/mess hall. It was a rectangular pit with a fire and some tables. When it was really in use it was covered by a roof that was the level of the ground with a mound of dirt. For tourists though they made thatched roofs and made the walls about a food higher. If they let the smoke from the firego out freely then the Americans could find them and, as Phong said, bomb comes boom. So to avoid this fate they made tunnels that went through the ground. Allong the way put underground compartments to trap smoke so by the time that the smoke went out it waws greatly reduced. Sometimes they even had to do it for two hundred meters! After we saw that we saw the generals place. It was basicly the same as the kitchen just with a desk and a meeting table. After that we walked to one of the enterences. They made a roof and made the enterences ten times as big for tourists. They also made steps to get down to the tunnels. They had made the tunels larger two times (tells you how skiny they were and how fat we are). Inside the tunels used to be up and down and narower in some places and not in others. Also there were little indents that you could hide in while they went past and then follow them from behind. Also the tunels were curvy and made it hard to shoot at anything far away. At the first enterence we went back out. You could have gone further to other enterences but we didn’t. We didn’t go very far but it was very curvy so it seemed longer. All the other enterences in the circit were for tourists. They were really close together just like the part that we went in. We learned that there are three levels. The first one is three meters deep (nine feet) it is for getting around. The second one (six meters deep)is for fighting. And the third one which is nine meters deep is for when the bombs come. On our journey we went in the first and second levels (they don’t take the tourists to th third level because of the chance of them getting choked). The kitchen and generals room were also interconected with the tunnels (not now though). After that we went to a place were they colected unexploded bombsand shells to make their own homemade explosives. They burryed unexploded shells and used them as anti-tank mines. They sawed open bombs for the explosives (doesn’t seem like the best thing to do) and then put it into things to use as mines. After seeing the tunnels we went back to see the movie. The lady in the movie talked about how Cu Chi was shuch a piecefull place but how the “ruthles American bombs decided to demolish this beautiful land” (OK one or two of the words were wrong but that was the basic message). Then she talked about how the people of Cu Chi defended themselfs. She never said anything about the Viet Cong hiding there or that many of the people there were against comunisim. Fighting with the Viet Cong was almost like a game of hide and seek for the Americans because they had to find where they were hiding and then clean them out. And they were tring to hunt the Viet Cong and what is a game of hide and seek without the seek?

Hue and Hoi An

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:50:00 -0600

~Hannah~

Hi, I seem to have miscalculated my estimations on when we have WiFi, cause today we found out that we have free internet. So here I am telling you about what we did in Hue. The way we got to Hue was by plane. It was the shortest plane ride I have ever been on. It was an hour flight,and basically we went up for about 20 minutes and then stayed in the air for about 20 minutes and then went back down to the ground for the rest of the hour ride. When we arrived at the airport, we got our baggage and then went to find our driver. He saw us before we saw him. Then we went to our hotel. It is the grandest hotel that we will stay in while we are in Vietnam. There are about… 95 rooms in all. But I think the way they did the grounds around the area is very

Twenty-ninth Day - Hoi An 11/30/10

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:28:00 -0600

Sumner

Today is our las day in Hoi An, well actually it is our last partial day. We leave for the ariport at eleven o’clock this morining to go to Da Nang for our flight to Saigon/Ho Chi Min City.

Twenty-eight Day - Hoi An 11/29/10

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 13:14:00 -0600

Sumner

Today after breakfast we met our guide to go on a bike ride. We went through the country side of Hoi An and passed lots of rice fields and just got to enjoy the country side. Then we got onto a boat with our bikes (I was surprised that they could actually fit) and went to an Island. We biked through the country side there and I almost had a wreck! This is what happened I was riding and some cows were running in the field then they suddenly bolted out right in front of me! It looked like a mama and a baby playing tag!

Twenty-seventh Day - Trip to Hoi An 11/28/10

Sun, 28 Nov 2010 12:11:00 -0600

Sumner

Today we drove to Hoi An. On the way we got into a traffic jam. One side of th road was completely stopped but the other side was sill flowing normally. We found out that there was some construction and they were letting people on one side through for thirty minutes and then the other side for thirty minutes. Well we got through and then our guide asked if we wanted to go on the pass over the mountains or through the tunnel. the drive over the pass was going to take forty-five minutes whereas the tunnel would only take fifteen. It was hazy and we had heard that the roads were a little scary. So we decided to give it a miss because we really didn’t want to crash off the side of the road and there wouldn’t be much of a view because of the haze. The tunnel was six kilometers long (three miles). Twice a long as Eisenhower (the big tunnel) in Colorado. It also seemed longer because we were going slower (only about forty M/H) instead of seventy. After going a little way we arrived at Da Nang We drove to a museum with many statues from the Cham people. Many were pulled from some Cham towers that we are going to see tomorrow. We then went drove along the beach where the Americans first landed during the war. We stopped and took some photos and then we saw some of the hangars that we used. Then we went back to the car and drove to Hoi An. We went to the market and saw many people selling things and then we went to the fish part of the market. I to this day haven’t figured out how people with stand the smell! It’s absolutely terrible even in the regular market! Anyway we went to a restaurant that was pretty nice compared to some of the places that we have eaten at. It was good food but we were kinda disappointing that we hadn’t gotten to eat good street food. Then the guide showed us a bridge that in times past separated the Chinese and the Japanese parts of town. It was just a small covered bridge but it had, in the middle, an area that issues were resolved between the two sides of the bridge. Then Phong showed us a shop that sold custom made clothing so we went in and were just going to look around but then dad decided to get a suit. I just waited downstairs while they were upstairs looking at designs but I got bored after a while so I went up to see what they were doing. Dad was looking at the many different designs of suits but they all looked the same to him so he just picked one and a color. Then they measured him. They took lots of measurements and then went downstairs to take pictures of him. I guess they did that so that they could see what his body looked like. Then we drove to the hotel. When we arrived at the hotel we went to a little gazebo where we went through all the stuff and had a drink. Then we went to our room, got settled in and then rented some bikes from the hotel and went wandering on the back roads for a while. On our explorations we ordered mom some jeans at the place that one of the employee recommended After our bike ride we had dinner at the hotel and then went to bed.

Twenty-sixth Day - Hue 11/27/10

Sat, 27 Nov 2010 09:56:00 -0600

Sumner

Today we had our first day in Hue. We had a buffet breakfast in the restaurant and then met our guide at the front gate. His name was Phong, the same name as the guy that took us on our tour of Ba Be Lake and Phu Tho. We got into the car and went into town and went on a boat trip to a pagoda. It was like all pagodas basically lots of altars and incense and buildings. Then we went to the old palace of the emperor of Vietnam. (FYI, Hue was the old capital city of Vietnam.) On the outside was a mote system and a wall that was supposed to look like a star (I didn’t look like a star to me but it must have to someone). Then there was another mote system with another wall that enclosed the palaces. We went inside through the gate. One interesting thing was that there were three gates. One for the mandarins (government officials), one for the king, one for the commoners, and one for the elephants and tigers and wild animals. We went through the mandarins gate. We got in and there were two pools with fish on either side of the path. You could buy some food to feed them. It was amazing when you did because literally hundreds of fish fought for the food! Then we went up above the gate where the king would give speeches to his people. Then we went down and went to some palaces. It was sad but allot of the palace was bombed during the war. Since it was only one hundred kilo form the DMZ it got bombed from both sides. We toured around all the palaces and saw where they were trying to restore it. I was glad that we had a guide because we would have been clueless on where to go and what everything was. After touring the grounds we went back outside (this time through the elephants gate) and saw nine “sacred cannons.” They were sacred because they were never used and nine is a lucky number. After seeing the palace we went to a tomb of one of the kings. there was a lake and a nice island in the middle. We learned that this tomb was not only a tomb but before the king died he used to come to his tomb to wright poetry and just enjoy the area. Then we went to a place that had some statues and had an autobiography of the king. After seeing that we went to the place where the coffin was. Nobody really knows if the body is actually there because nobody has opened it. After the tomb we got back int the car and he asked if we wanted to see another tomb. We had had enough tombs so we said that we just wanted to go back to the hotel. Then dad, Hannah, and I went swimming and then we hung out for a while in the resort. When it became tome for dinner we went to the hotel’s restaurant for dinner. Time to hit the sack!

Twenty Fith Day - Flight to Hue 11/26/10

Sat, 27 Nov 2010 02:40:00 -0600

Sumner

Well today is our last few hours in Hanoi. After breakfast we went to the air port for our flight to Hue. (Hue is located in the central part of Vietnam.) It took only one hour to get there and when we did we had to show our baggage claim tickets. Mom was so unused to having to do this so she had to dig for the tickets! Anyway the airport was extremely small so we just walked outside and people with signs were there waiting to pick people up. We found our guy and then got into the car to go to our hotel. As soon as you walked in there was a great atmosphere, trees, grass… The first things that you saw were some handcraft shops where you could buy things. Then the lobby. Behind the lobby was a restaurant for lunch and dinner and to the left of that was the internet cafe. Behind this were rows of rooms set up with little houses that made it feel like a neighborhood. There were two swimming pools and another restaurant that served breakfast. There were spas and beauty salons and all sorts of other stuff. We were greeted and then sat down and an employee talked to us about the services. Then we were shown to our room. It looked on the outside like it wasn’t a connecting room but when we got inside we saw that is was. The rooms were mirror to one another so I will take you on a tour of one and you will just have to switch it around in you head to have an idea of what it was like. I’ll tell you about our room just because I want to. When you entered into your room you were in a little corridor that if you walked forward a little bit and looked to you right would be a huge bathroom that I will tell you about in just a minute. If you keep on walking you would in the main room and to you left would be the door to the other room and your right the bed that I slept in. Walk a little further and you would be in the center of the room with a steep right in front of you and a sofa. To your left is the mini bar and the closet. If you went around the sofa and down the steep you would be right next to a desk. Walk a little further and the TV would be to your left. Look right now and you would be looking over a coffee table at the bed that Hannah slept in In front of you just a little to the right are the doors to go outside onto the balcony. Outside were some chairs and a little lounge thing. OK now I will tell you about the bathroom. As soon as you walked in you would see yourself in the mirror and underneath the mirror the sink and amenities. Turn right and you would be looking at the shower and then tub. The water from the shower just flowed down to a sunken area with rocks and went to the drain. Go forward and do a right turn you wold be seeing yourself in another mirror. Look in the opposite direction and you would be facing a towel rack. Walk a little further and turn left you would be facing the toilet. Well that’s all, the only difference between the two rooms is that mom’s and dad’s didn’t have the extra bed like the one that Hannah slept on. Then we walked around enjoying the nice atmosphere and finding the pools and restaurants and the spa ext. Then we had dinner at the restaurant. Dad had hot pot. (By the way what I ate at the Kangaroo Cafe wasn’t hot pot it was clay pot.) Basically hot pot is a big wok set up on a little burner. You had some broth and some other vegetables. Then you have to add all sorts of different ingredients to the mix to cook them. Once cooked you would roll it up in a piece of rice paper. I forgot what I had but dad’s meal was memorable. After dinner we went to bed.

Halong Bay Trip

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 03:38:00 -0600

Hannah

Sorry I have not been able to post my blogs. But I will tell you all about our adventures at Halong Bay. First we had a four hour drive to Halong Bay. ( Not a bad drive.) We arrived at a place that sold a lot of different stuff. It went from Jewelry to food. Of course we did not buy anything. I felt sorry for the driver because my dad had spilled some red juice on the floor.( I do not know why he brought the juice in the car in the first place.) So the poor guy had to clean up the mess. He had said we would have a 15 minute break. I think that was his lunch break.Then when dad thought the 15 minutes were up, we started looking for our driver. We found out that he was still in the middle of eating his lunch, so we started out again. When we got there. we were welcomed with wet towels,( that’s the custom in Vietnam.)and tea. We waited for a while and then got ushered to the HUMONGOUS boat. Well it was big, but since I am small, it seemed that big. We had a warm welcome of rose pedals falling on our heads.( Pretty fancy stuff huh?) Then we got directed to the dining room. It was set with fancy glasses,plates, and the napkins were folded into the shape of a kind of bird.We had a speech from the manager, and then got our keys to our rooms. Sumner and I shared a room together.( Away from the adults.) We looked at our room, and then headed back upstairs for a yummy buffet lunch. I do not remember what there was, but it was good anyway. The first thing we did was go on a boat to this really cool cave. It had three different chambers in it. The first chamber was 300 square meters, the second chamber was 400 square meters, and the third one was 900 square meters. They were huge. And if you had a good imagination, you could see different animals, and people in the rocks. Got to go! T.B.C

Twenty-fourth Day - Hallong Bay and Trip Back to Hanoi

Thu, 25 Nov 2010 14:39:00 -0600

Today is our last day in Hallong Bay. We woke up a little later that yesterday so we definitely didn’t see the sunrise. Breakfast was about the same as yesterday but that’s OK. After breakfast we packed up our things and then went to see the cooking demonstration. Today they showed us how to make fresh spring rolls. You basically had to put the ingredients on evenly and then roll it up. No need to pinch it in. Then we went to Te Top Island, the island that we dropped off the two day people yesterday. We hiked up to the top of the island and had a wonderful view of Hallong Bay. Then after staying for a few minutes we hiked back down and go onto the boat. We packed up as we sailed through Hallong Bay and then went up to the sun deck to see our last views of Hallong Bay It was so beautiful, islands with very steep bare sides and then lush, greenery on the top. There were, it seamed, thousands of islands. Then we arrived at port. We were all sad to leave such a pretty bay but we have more great adventures to come! We got our luggage and then got into the car to take us back to the Elegance for one more night. On the way back we stopped at a place “conveniently at the half way point” It was a place that sold all sorts of arts and crafts and a restaurant. We ate some food and then got back in the car. When we arrived at the Elegance we were welcomed warmly as always. We got some pictures with the manager and the staff because the manager won’t be here tomorrow. ~~Then we walked around Hanoi for a wile and had dinner.~~ (Look near the bottom for what I meant to say.) I think that it would be proper to decide the Elegance in more detail than I have because it was such a memorable hotel. It had glass doors in the front and to the right of the doors were a sofa and a coffee table. it you walked in a little way to your right would be a travel desk where you could organize a tour. Opposite of the travel desk was reception. If you went to the right of reception were some chairs and a news paper stand. Opposite of the chairs was an elevator and if you stood in the middle and walked towards the back of the hotel you would be in the breakfast room. Behind the tables on the back wall is a mural/painting that showed a scene in Hanoi. The only thing missing was the multitudes of motorcycles. To your right is the cooking area which has a stove and a refrigerator and some counter space. It was extremely small only about five, maybe six, square yards in total area. It must have been extremely hard to cook because the squashed three sometimes four people in the space! OK now if you walk back so that you are in the lobby facing the travel desk you will see the bottom of the stairs. On the second floor if you turned right you would be facing two rooms and if you tuned the other direction on you left would be the elevator and if you walked just a little further to you right would be a bathroom that guests waiting for a room or those who have already checked out. In front of you is a lobby with a TV and a few chairs and a sofa. It also has two computer for guests to use. On the furthest side away from you is a little overhang where you can see the first floor. If you kept on going up the stairs you would be on the third floor which on you right would be tow rooms and down the hall one more room. On of the ones that we stayed in. The rest of the eight floors are basically the same so I will not bore you any more with my explanations and move on to…Oops I made a mistake. Right before the tour of the Elegance I said “Then we walked around for a while and had dinner.” But really this is what happened.
We had been wanting to do a cicilo ride but we hadn’t been able to. Did I tell you what a cicilo is? If I did you get another explanation. A cicilo is a cross between a stroller and a bicycle. The back wheel of the bike and the seat are at the back and the stroller type thing is front with a little bar at the back that the driver uses to pedal. The stroller is just a metal thing that is sorta like a sofa just really short. It also has a foot rest and two wheels on either side. We asked the receptionist to call one so that we could tour the old quarter. They came and we got in. Hannah and mom got into one and dad and me in another. Then we toured around. I felt bad for our guy because he had such a heavy load. We had asked for an hour tour but we only got a forty minute tour. Oh well it was very net to do because we could really enjoy the sights without having to dodge things on the sidewalk and cross streets. When we got back we payed them and went back to the hotel. Then we went out to dinner and went to bed.

Twenty-third Day - Hallong Bay 11/24/10

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 14:03:00 -0600

Sumner

Well today was our second day on the water. I woke up and was hoping to see the sunrise but since it was so hazy you couldn’t see the sun. We enjoyed the scenery that we could see and then went up for thirty miniutes. It was interesting, kinda like a cross betwene yoga and dancing and taekwondokarate (whatever you want to call it). After tai chi we went down to breakfast. It was a buffet breakfast with all sorts of bread and fruits and pancakes and french toast and egg and pho and noodles and fried rice. They had a good mix of western and Vietnamese food. Anyway we ate our breakfast and then sailed to Ti Top Island where the people on the boat who were only going for two days got off. By the way, there is a choice of a two of three day tour of Hallong bay. We went with the three day tour because we could really expeirience it. This is how it works. The big boats like the ones that we stayed in come out of dock each day. Do all the things that we did on the first day and then spend the night. In the morning the people going for a three day tour get onto a day-boat and do the things that I will write about in just a moment. The big ship goes back to port and gets more people and then comes back to meet up with the day boat and picks the people back up. Then the next day the three day people do what the tow day people did the day before and the cycle starts over again. That way they can two and three day people all on one boat. So because Te Top was what we were going to do on the third day we didn’t go this time. After we dropped them off we got into the tender and were taken to a day boat. It wasn’t anything special, just six tables lined up along the sides with wood benches on the fron and the back of them. The boat had life jackets which is always a good sign. In the back there was a little kitchen/nap room for the crew and if you went around that you would be at the bathroom. All that I have described so far has been on the first level so I will move to the top level and telll you what is up there. Basicly it is just the captian’s area and a deck with a few chairs. Anyway we sailed for a while at a good clip but about half way through our journey to Cat Ba Island the engine had troubles and we slowed down allot. We saw ships that were over the horison come and slowly overtake us. We made it to Cat Ba island safely though. We got out of the boat and were given a choice of going on a motorcycle or a bike. We went with the bike because we could enjoy the scenery better. Then we biked to a village. It wasn’t very big but we saw some activity. It was basicly just three streets. One leading into the village and a road leading off of that to another road. All around the village were rice patties. Anyway we got to the end of the trail/road we got off our bikes and went on a hike through the forest. It was almost as if we flew back to Colorado in an instant and were hiking thorugh the forest. The only diference was that it was very hot and had more exotic plants. It was wierd but there were no birds! We didn’t see them flying of hear them sining, there was absolutely no sign that there were any birds. We asked the guide and hea said that they are hunted for food and that’s why there aren’t any birds. We hiked up for a while and then got to a cave. It wasn’t very big but it was still dark. After the cave we went back down to our bikes and went back to the dock. Lunch was readdy for us so we ate. The food was very good and we even got brave enough to eat some squid! Dad tasted it and said it was like cucumber. I tried it and I guess that I can see why he compaired it to cucumber because it is sorta cruchy at the beginning. After the crunch though feels like you are eating rubber. After lunch we sailed to a protected cove and got off to kyak. Mom and I went togather and dad and Hannah went together. We went to a big opening that led us to another open area. The tide was obdviously going out bacause we had to paddle upstream to get to the second area for kyaking. We paddled in the cove for a while looking at the beautiful scenery . Mom and I even went into a fishing net on accident! After we paddled for a while we went back through the tunnel and to the day boat. We managed to get on safely without falling in but one person in the group fell in. We then went back to the big boat and then sailed to the docking place for the night. Then we had dinner which was a set meal of all sorts of different seafoods. It was very fancy everything was presented nicely, they never just plopped it on the plate. It was also the first time that I was served a meal in courses like that. We had many apitizers, a main meal and a desert. After dinner we flopped into bed.

Twenty-second Day - Hallong Bay 11/23/10

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 01:51:00 -0600

Sumner

Today we woke up ate breakfast and then started to get ready for going to Hallong Bay. Let me tell you what Hallong Bay is. Hallong Bay is located on the east coast of Vietnam in the big part at the top. It is a huge bay filled with big rocks called carsts which means that the sides of the rocks go almost straight down. Anyway I’ll tell you more about it later. We had organised the tour with the hotel so a hotel driver came to pick us up. Then we drove to Hallong Bay, a four hour trip if I remember corectly. We had decided to go with a company called Paridie Cruises because the hotel had recomended it and it had it’s own dock so it is much easier to goet on the boat. Anyway we got to the dock and waited in the loby until we were called to go onto the boat. We walked down the gangplank and then entered the boat. We walked in and were greted by flowers falling on our heads! Then we were directed upstairs to the eating room where the manager (his name is Jonas {pronounced yo-nus}) introduced to the staff. Then we were given our keys and went to our cabins. We had two cabins one for mom and dad and one for me and Hannah. I’ll tell you more about them later. After settling into our rooms we went back up tp the eating room for a buffet lunch. While we had lunch we departed from the dock and sailed out into HallongBay. Once lunch was done we went back down to the room for a miniute.

Twenty-first Day - Dad's First Day in Hanoi/Vietnam 11/22/2010 3:00 PM

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 07:54:00 -0600

Hannah

So, today was dad’s first day in Vietnam. But thank goodness he made it to Hanoi safe and sound. This morning we decided to do a walking tour around the old quarter in Hanoi. (Without the crowds, Sumner was our guide.) We started at Yen Thai. ( That is where our hotel is, 3 Yen Thai.) and ended at the Ngoc Son Temple. (In the middle of a BIG lake. During the tour around Hanoi, We stopped for lunch at a place called Quan An Ngon. It is a place featuring various traditional Vietnamese food. Me and mom ordered some Vegetarian Dumplings, but they turned out to be basically hot steaming rolls. They were good though. Dad ordered Shrimp with Lemongrass and Chilies. He was I guess expecting the nice small shrimp that we Westerners eat. But instead, they were HUMUNGOUSLY large shrimp, and they still had their skin,and feet, and so forth. After lunch we went to the lake. WE were going to have a cyclo ride. (That is were you go in basically a cart where the oldish men drive you by peddling their bicycles.) But we never got to it. We are resting now in our hotel room, waiting for the time that we will get dinner. (Well at least me.) Sumner and I were going to really go right around the corner to go pick up the stamps that we had ordered. But dad will not let us. Now since dad is here, we have to be more cautious. I just finished packing for the 2 day boat trip at Halong Bay. I am excited because we get to go kayaking. For the first time!!!
Boo Hoo, We only have basicly one more day in Hanoi! AND Sumner, Mom, and I have been here for 3 weeks! (half of our trip!) I think I have gotten too used to Hanoi. I have also met some really nice people here, so I wish I could live here. (For a little time.)
We just finished a scrumptiously yummy dinner. We all did not have anything special, so I don’t need to tell you what we had for dinner. Dad made it through the day without taking a nap.

Twentieth Day - Sunday in Hanoi 11/21/10

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 09:17:00 -0600

~Hannah~

Guess what? We went to church today. We went to a international church. It felt I was in God’s family because there were people from more than 30 DIFFERENT nations attending church! Wow that is a lot of different people. Church there was a lot different to our church at home. (Foothills Bible Church.) It was an A LOT smaller group, and the pastors seem to switch of every Sunday! Today their was a guest speaker who I think was from the Philippines, but I am not 100% sure. But I am sure that I did not fully understand the sermon, because his English was hard to understand at times. Also they did not have a certain building for the church. The sanctuary was a ballroom from a BIG hotel. After we sang a lot of beautiful hymns, we did the offering. After the offering we had the sermon of something. I did not fully understand the topic of the sermon. Soon after the sermon, we finished church. We tried to hail a taxi, but the first driver said we could not go to our destination.( Which was to have lunch.)We finally hailed a taxi that would take us to lunch. We had lunch at a place called KOTO’s ( Which means Know One Teach One.) It was a school/restaurant that took in 30 students each year. Those students were either street kids, or disadvantaged kids. Such as the kid lived in a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very poor family, and could not afford for the kids to get education. When we were at the H’mong Mountain Retreat, we did a cooking class with a guy who came from a really, really, really, etc. And went to KOTO’s. And now, he is the Master Chef at Sapa Rooms. (The place we stayed a in Sapa.) We all had yummy lunches. Then we wandered our way to our hotel. After 3 seconds in the hotel, we headed out to go see if we could go get tickets at the Water Puppet Theatre. But when we got to the place where you order your tickets, the lady at the desk just said NO in the most rudest way. So finally we got her to give us some tickets for 9:00 tonight. I am really excited. Now we headed back to our hotel. But then I remembered that we had ordered some beautiful hand carved stamps. We got those back and finally went back to the hotel. now we are just hanging out in room. AND Dad is on his way to Hanoi. I am SO excited. But he comes in the hotel at 11-12:00 at night! Surely we will be asleep! (hopefully!)

Nineteenth Day - Hanging out in Hanoi 11/20/10

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 08:22:00 -0600

Hannah

Today we did a cooking class. It was fun, but I only had fun for a little bit. Why? Because We were making yummy fried spring rolls, when our cooking extraordinaire was trying to flip the spring rolls, she accidentally dropped them in the very hot (to me) cooking oil. It splattered on my hand. It was not a very bad burn, but it still hurt very much. But I also learned how to treat a burn, with out ice, and the pain goes away pretty quickly. You need half of a lime or lemon. Then you simply squirt the lime juice on the places where you got burned and you are good. Also you can use some white light vinegar. After a while the pain will go way and you just have to be careful about where you put your hand.

Trip to Ba be and Phu Tho

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 13:56:00 -0600

~Hannah~

                                                                      Ba Be
Well, I have had a lot of adventures at Babe lake and in Phu Tho. We had to drive about… EIGHT HOURS! that was a long trip just to get to Babe Lake. That was a very long trip for me. I luckily slept a lot on the way there. AND we had a driver that did not know how to drive the car. It was his first day on the job! ALSO they gave him a very bad car that barely went up those mountain roads! When we got into a pretty good sized town,our driver asked someone something in Vietnamese. My mom asked if we were lost, but our guide just said that we were not lost, he was just
asking for directions. After a LONG time we finally arrived at our home stay. But unlike our Home stay in Ta Phin, you were separated from the family, you did not get to befriend the family members. So we went with our guide to other home stays, (which were more like guest houses) but they were all full.We finally found one that had only four other people ( instead of maybe…11-14 people, counting us.) Also the people were nice at our new home stay. Mom,Sumner, Our guide ( Mr. Phong,) and I went on a pleasant bike ride around the area. We went to a place where some people were working in the rice field. Sumner and I got to cut some rice. It is pretty hard work, but yet fun,( at least for the few seconds I did it.) Then we headed back to the house ( not my house though,) for a delicious dinner. It included rice ( duh) pork, chicken,and some greens. Then we went to bed.
   I think the roosters are a little confused ( and crazy),because they started crowing at 1:00 in the morning instead of at the crack of dawn. and kept on crowing for a long time.
   The next morning we had those pancakes again. ( I told you before, they taste and feel like you are eating rubber!) So the Lady of the House asked if we wanted some fried rice. Sumner and I answered yes very enthusiastically. After breakfast we went on a boat ride on the lake with our guide. It was very pretty, so I think Sumner will put the pictures on the blog. ( At least i hope so.) First we went to a cave that had a million bats, and they dropped waste on us. I had to dig out my hat so that I would not get hit by it. After that we went to a very dangerous waterfall. Because they blocked of the dangerous part with a big wall of cement, bur tourists go past the cement another way, so they slip on the moss and fall in the water. People can not find their bodies because there is too much foam.Then we ate lunch at a local restaurant, and then headed back to the house. Before the meal Sumner and I played with the feather thing. Our driver joined in as well. He is very good at the game, better than us at least! Finally after we got tired of playing, we went back to the house and got ready for dinner. We had a special dinner that night because we were going to eat with the family. Again we had a very good meal again, so I ate my fill and went to beddddd Sorry I am tired right now, so I probably should go to bed.

                                                           GOOD NIGHT!!!

Eighteenth Day - Back to Hanoi 11/19/10

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 10:34:00 -0600

Today we woke up and got ready to go back to Hanoi. Once packed we met Phong outside and got into the Jeep. It wasn’t nearly as long as the drive to Ba Be but it still was pretty long. Just outside of Hanoi we stopped on the side of the highway where some stalls were set up selling corn and shuggar cane trees. We got out of the car and Phong bought some corn. Hannah had been wanting some shugar cane to chew on. So we went over to one of the ladys and asked for just a little piece. There were some miscomunications and we ended up with the entire tree. It was an interesting experience, being on the side of the road buying shuggar cane. One that I will never forget. We tried to chew it, mom liked it and Hannah liked it but I wasn’t a fan of it. We got back into the car and drove on. Finally we made it to the hotel checked in and went to our room and sighed a shgh of releif. It was nice to be back in a western hotel with clean rooms and soft beds (This is where Hannah’s song comes in). We relaxed in our room for a while and then went out to walk around Hanoi. Then we went back to the hotel and tried to catch up on our blog. We went out for dinner and then went back to the hotel. Ok now for the bed.

Seventeenth Day - Trip to Phu Tho 11/18/10

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 12:56:00 -0600

Well today we woke up with another driver in our midst. The one who owned our car. He had come in the night on a bus from Hanoi to try to fix it. He arrived at about twelve o’clock and then towed the car to a spot where there was more light. He worked on it but when we got up in the morning it was still not fixed. And that’s were my day began, with waking up. For breakfast again we had those pancakes but today Hannah and I had fried rice. After yesterday’s breakfast Phong had asked if we wanted to have fried rice instead of the pancakes. We accepted so mom ate some pancakes and we ate the fried rice. After breakfast, which was delicious, we got ready to go to Phu Tho (pronounced: fu taw, the taw sound ends abruptly). The car had to be towed to be started but it did start and we were on our way. This new driver was like a race car driver on a one lane road, that to the Vietnamese is a two lane highway. He was passing people on blind curves and on the straight parts if there was a gap of two yards he went through it. Mom was scared to death and even Phong who was leaning slightly out the window was going, ohhhh, made it oh oh oh, phew! that gave me a scare. In fact I don’t think that we ever stopped until we got to a gas station. Where we stopped to stretch our legs he had to leave the car on because it he turned it off it would not be able to start back up again. After we got gas we went on to a town were we said goodbye to the first driver who was catching a bus to Hanoi. We felt sorry for the guy, it wasn’t a good car and he was nervous because it was his first time to driving it. We stopped in a town for lunch. We ate at a street-food place but the food was good. But the weird thing is that once we were served our food they pulled up chairs and watched us eat. And afterwards they touched mom and pinched her and talked about her. Phong said that they were feeling if she was real. I truly think that we were the first westerners they had ever seen! Then we got back in the car went on to Phu Tho. We wandered around the town and went to a square where we walked around. You could tell you were off the beaten tourist path in Phu Tho because wherever you went people stared at you. Just like to people at lunch, well maybe not as bad as them but we were the center of attention. Phu Tho, though small, is actually a university town. We saw that on our little walk.

Sixteenth Day - Homestay At Ba Be Lake 11/16/10

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 03:58:00 -0600

Sixteenth Day - Homesay at Ba Be Lake 11/17/10

Today we woke up and had breakfast. Breakfast was those “rubbery pancakes” but this time it was more crepe-ish. It was allot better but we went to the kitchen and they asked if we wanted to have some of their fried rice. We accepted the offer and ate the rice. It was much better than the pancakes. After breakfast we got ready for a boat trip on Ba Be Lake. But the car would not start! So we had to walk to the dock. We go on to a boat that was about two yards wide and about ten yards wide. The seats were wooden planks across the boat. The engine which was in the back was really loud but the trip was nice. First we cruised around in the lake. It was very interesting but the weird thing was that the water was surprisingly warm. After we had cruised around for a while we came to a river which we went upstream to a cave that the river went right through. We got off and walked on a path through the cave. On the way we went under a big crevasse that the bats lived in, The path was covered with their droppings and some fell on mom’s and Hannah’s heads! I was lucky enough to have kept my hat on so it didn’t get me. We got out from under that crevasse quickly and to another part of the cave. It wasn’t really very big but it was a good sized cave. When we go to the end of the path we went back through the cave and to where the boat was docked. Then we headed in the other direction on the river which led to a little village when we stopped and walked on a path to a gorgeous water fall. On the way we had to walk down a lot of stairs. Going down was fine but mom had a little trouble on the way up. The water fall spanned two kilometers (why did they make up the metric system?) which is about one mile. We looked at it from a look out and then went back up the hill and to the town where we stopped for lunch. Lunch was much to big for us and our guide didn’t eat with us. I would have liked to have more food but my mouth is hurting because some teeth are coming in in the wrong places. After lunch we went back to the lake and sailed back to the dock. When we got back to the homestay there were two drivers under the hood. They tried to tow the car up the incline that it was parked on, with the other driver’s car. They had tied a rope to the the front of the Forerunner (that was our car). Then they tied another rope to the other car’s front end where it had a hook. Then they put the other car in reverse and backed that car up and tried to pull the Forerunner up the incline in reverse. That was definitely not a good thing for the other car. Then Hannah went to go get the feathered thing and we played with that for a little while. After that we decided to go on a walk. We turned left and went down a small hill. Then the road evened out and we waked on to a bridge. We crossed over and a policeman was there at the other side. He came out and said something in Vietnamese to us that we didn’t understand. We think that he was asking where we were going so we decided that maybe we shouldn’t go that way. We turned around and went across the bridge. When we got across our car was rolling down the hill and stopped at right at the bridge. Then we made our way up the hill .We saw them again beside the other car discussing what to do. When we got back we played more of that feather thingy and the driver of our car played too. We went down to the “park” which was just an open field full of weeds and stuff with one torn up volleyball net in one corner with a little bit of sand. We played for a while and then went back for dinner which we had with the family, the driver who tried to help us, Phong, and our driver. It was about the same as last night with rice some vegetables and some meats. It was very interesting because mom was asked how old she was. The reason for this is that in Vietnamese what you call someone is relational the age of the person. For example, if I was older that you I would call you “em” but you would call me “anh” and if I was a girl I would call my self something else. So back to my point, when they asked her age it was more a thing of respect than disrespect. Once we finished dinner we were offered tea.We declined because of the caffeine. Then we went to bed.

Fifteenth Day - Trip to Ba Be and Homestay 11/16/10

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 11:51:00 -0600

So, today we checked out of our hotel early and had breakfast. Then our guide came and we got into the car that would take us to Ba Be Lake. The car was about one hundred years old and didn’t have any shocks left. There were no seat belts in the back seat and hand crank windows. OK maybe it wasn’t one hundred years old but it was very old. I wasn’t joking about the shocks though. The car was so bad that when we hadn’t even gotten out of Hanoi mom had to pull out the Dramamine!
Well we made it out of Hanoi and then kept on going until we go to the mountains. We were able to do most of the hills but the ten percent grades were difficult. Once we went up part of the way and then the car couldn’t go any further. So, we had to roll down the hill and then use the emergency brake and then hit the clutch to change the gear. We revved the motor and then let the emergency brake go. The car inched up the hill and then finally made it to the top. There were a few hills where we had to do this but we made it safely to Ba Be Lake. We stopped at one homestay but we decided to go to another homestay. We found a different one that was more satisfactory.

Fourteenth Day - Hang out in Hanoi 11/15/2010 6:30 PM

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 12:58:00 -0600

Hannah

So, after all of the trekking and the home stays and all, we get ONE day to hang out. Today we DID get to just relax, unlike last week. Our family went on an overnight train from Lao Cai to Hanoi. I slept very well unlike Sumner and mom. But when we got to the hotel, we found out that they had an available room for us to stay in until 10:00 AM. The minute my mom’s and brother’s heads hit the pillows, they were sound asleep. Guess they are not meant for train rides. When they FINALLY woke up, I had read about two whole books! (also I am a really fast reader, so that makes a difference.) That afternoon we went to a silk shop and got my self a fitted ao dai, (according to the north pronounce it ow zie). I got one for next year, and another one for the next 2-3 years. The first ao dai is turquoise-ish, and when you move, the little trees and flowers that are the prints, they turn different colors. The one that is for a few years to come, is a pretty white color, and has a light blue coloring to it. Now for dinner we are having some sort of snackey dinner. Don’t know what it is, but I hope that it will be yummy. Gute Nacht! (goodnight in German).

Thirteenth Day- Sapa and Overnight Train 11/14/10

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 10:49:00 -0600

Today was our last day in Sapa. Today we got up and had breakfast and then went back to the room to hang out and try to figure out what we wanted to do today. We decided to go to the radio tower. Everyone said there was a wonderful view so we went. When we got down we paid and checked out. Then we started out. We walked up lots of steps and then had to get tickets to go the rest of the way. Then we walked up more steps until we got to a Mt. Fan Xi Pan Lookout (Pronounced like: fancy pants without the “ts” at the end. Fancy Pants isn’t really very original because we met some other people that named it that also) Then we walked a little way more and arrived at a fork. We went left and got to a little covered area where we stopped and had a drink because Hannah had a headache. Then we arrived at a Europe Garden. We saw a look out on the top of a hill but mom didn’t want to go all the way to the top. I wanted to go further but mom was to tired and Hannah had a headache. So, I decided to go up a path that I presumed went to the radio tower. I went up some steps and then more steps and then into finally got to the top. It probably wasn’t as spectacular as if we went up to the other lookout but it was a nice view. In the foreground was Sapa all laid out and then behind that in every direction were mountains. After I took some photos I went back down and surprised mom and Hannah by my speed. Then we headed back down the hill. Once down we went back to the hotel and hung out in the lobby until time to get on the bus to Lao Cai.
The drive to Lao Cai was a little traumatic because our driver was a little crazy. We were thankful that we got off the bus alive. We were dropped off at a Kangaroo Cafe sponsored restaurant and settled down at a table. The man who seemed to be in charge of the place asked us for our voucher and then went to get our tickets. He told us that we would leave for the train station at seven. It was six something so we decided to have dinner. While we were waiting for our food another van full OK let me re-state that. Another van BURSTING with people. There were nineteen people in a bus that fit, oh, fourteen people? Also there was everyone’s luggage along with the people!
We ate our food and then the man came to take us to the station. We got to the station and he took us to the train. He wasn’t as helpful as Mr. Viet but he took us to our cabin and then went away. The cabin was nicer than the last time but it was basically the same. The beds were a little bit longer (mom could fully stretch out on it). The water bottles were in a basket (instead of just loose on the table). This was an advantage because when the train bounced the water bottles didn’t bounce out on the bed (not that they would, but just the small things make it nicer). Also we had a trashcan which was nice. The…

Twelfth Day - Sapa 11/13/10 8:03

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 07:39:00 -0600

Sumner

Today started with breakfast (good thing to start with). And then after breakfast we met some people who were also staying at Sapa Rooms and they asked if there would be any opportunity to buy. We laughed because as soon as you walk out the door you are bombarded by H’mong and Dau (pronounced: z-ow) women saying “you buy from me why you no by from me, you bye this, you no want? Ok you buy this..” and after they give up on one person if there are others in the group they bug them. We told them to go to the market in the square and pick up one of the things that they like and then they will have a multitude trying to sell you the exact same thing.

Eleventh Day - H'mong Mountain Retreat and Sapa 11-12-10

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 10:06:00 -0600

TODAY WAS HANNAH’S BIRTHDAY!

OK we started the day with a little trauma because when I woke up I realized that Hannah was not in her bed but I found her in mom’s bed. Obviously Hannah had been scared because of the mice and the bugs. But after we got up it was basically OK but we didn’t want to stay another night so we called Mr. Khanh the manager of Sapa Rooms and asked if we could come back. He understood our predicament and let us come back. But before we did we stayed and had a wonderful time enjoying the beautiful scenery because we were going to do the cooking class at the retreat. We had a nice time just relaxing.

Tenth Day - Trek and H'mong Mountain Retreat 11/10/10

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 06:24:00 -0600

Sumner

Today I woke up and was surprised to see that I was in a house with wood boards above me. I was the last one to wake up because the family was awake at five and mom didn’t get much sleep so she was up and Hannah just was awake. I got out of bed and went to the fire. They had already started making breakfast, so we just sat around waiting. Then our hostess got out a frying pan and got the batter she had been making and made these pancake-ish things. While it was cooking Sume (if you read the last post you heard about her) arrived, for she would be taking us back to Sapa (and we didn’t know this at the time but to take us to Ta Van). Once all the pancakes were cooked, we sat down to eat. I am going to tell you this now so I don’t have to later (pretty good reason, right?) The hotel supplied the food for us at the homestay so that is why we had all that food at dinner and why we were having pancakes for breakfast. The pancakes were not what we think as pancakes. They were, as Hannah described it, rubbery. I thought that they were defiantly not prime and mom didn’t think much of them either. We had banana, honey, and sugar to go with it. We started to eat one, but after about half of it Hannah started to make faces and looking longingly at the rice that Sume and the hostess were eating. I guess that they must have seen her doing that so they asked if we would like to have rice with them. It was just the left-overs from the night before but it still was very good. After breakfast we packed up our bags and hung out for a minute until Sume said it was time to leave. We went into the town that we had lunch in and got in a van to go back to Sapa. As we were leaving we saw big tour bus filled with people and we were very grateful that mom had planned all the transportation beforehand and that she had planned the trip so we did the trip by ourselves instead of with an enormous group. When we got back to Sapa I made that quick post, shot an email to Oma (that’s what we call our grandma) and Skyped dad. Then we set out on another trek. We were fortunate to be with Sume again for the trek. We started out down the road going to Ta Van. We had been walking on the road for about an hour when we met up with Sume’s cousin’s group (Sume’s cousin is also a tour guide for Sapa Rooms) and met a young couple and one set of parents. We went on and were a little ahead of them when Sume’s cousin called out to our guide and said that she wanted to go together so our groups merged and we made friends. After a little while we saw a truck that had overturned on the highway that in the US would be a one lane road but here in Vietnamese is a 8 lane highway! Ok I exaggerated but it actually was a highway with two lanes and could be 3 lanes if two cars were going and a motorcycle wanted to go in-between them! A little after we saw the wreck we stopped for a rest. Hannah and I ran up and down from where we were sitting to a power pole. There were step-like things that looked like they were supposed to be rice paddies but didn’t get finished. They were good obstacles but since I have longer legs it was easier for me so I won almost every time. After that we went on down and when I say down I mean *down. *We walked a little ways and arrived at a little bamboo bridge made of two bamboo poles. It was easy for our guides, the sales ladies (I didn’t tell you but we had accumulated good deal of girls trying to sell us things), and Hannah and I to cross. But the older people had some trouble making it across. Luckily for us it was at most one yard long. We walked along some terraced rice patties and then across one of the retaining walls and then down some more. We walked across one more bamboo bridge and went a little way and then arrived at a quarry. If dad had been there he would have been able to tell you what kind of rock it was but all that I can tell you is that the rocks were white. We walked through the quarry (nothing was going on) and went down a hill. About have way down we saw a big digger thingy and a car that was smashed on the treads! We were thinking that these guys definitively didn’t get the safety award for the year! We got to the bottom of the hill and went across the bridge. To the right of the bridge was the old bridge which was closed but not very well, for, you could still go on the bridge. After we crossed the bridge we went to a restaurant to eat and then headed on. The rest of the way was just small villages and beautiful views of the valley with terraced rice paddies. There was one incident that I will tell you about though. We stopped at a large shop and Sume asked if we wanted to buy anything. Mom said that we would look and see what the prices were like. Well we went in and realized that there were no prices because in Vietnam they look at you and if you look like you have a lot of money then the price goes up about two to three times! Whereas if you look poor then you get a lower price! Once they tell you a price you must bargain for it no matter what it is, chopstick, you bargain for it, little donuts that are being sold to you on the streets of Hanoi, you bargain for the little donuts. You bargain for literally everything except food at a restaurant. Once we looked we walked on to Ta Van. In Ta Van all of the group, us and the Australian/English group (I forgot to tell you where they were from) hopped into the van and went up to the mountain retreat. The other group got out to look around and then headed back to Sapa. We stayed and were directed to our room. After we set our luggage down, we explored the retreat. There were, I think, five little bungalows (maybe six) and one but H’mong house. There was also a big house that was on stilts where we would have our meals. The big H’mong house one was the one that we were going to stay in. It had three rooms and a balcony. When you went in you were in the living room it was basically a brick floor and two wood benches and a table in the middle of the floor. On one of the rafters there was some corn for decoration. On the right of that room was a bedroom with two beds and a lamp and to he other side was one big bed. After our explorations we had some rest and then after a while went to go eat. We went to the house on stilts to go eat and were directed upstairs (they used the bottom level as a relaxation place). We sat at a table that was made of logs so that it was hard to put water and food on the table. Dinner was delicious but it was way to big for the four of us (we ate with Mrs. Elsa Marie, the Danish lady).

Ninth Day - Trek and Homestay 11/10/10

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 02:04:00 -0600

Sumner

Oh my!!! I have so much stuff to tell you about!!! Ok I am going to start where the last real post stopped.

Quick Update On Our Trip

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:19:00 -0600

We made it back from the homestay safely. It was very fun but I can’t tell you about it now because we are going on another trek to Tavan to a mountain lodge. Bye

Eighth Day - Sapa 11/9/10 5:00 PM

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 10:41:00 -0600

Sumner

Read the last post (the end at least) and this will make sense. I didn’t wake up until about 5:30 in the morning on the train. I slept very well but couldn’t go back to sleep so, I looked out the window. We seemed to be stopping but I guess that we were just passing a train on a side-rail. We then sped up and went for a while. We kept on going but before we got to the station the crew came by and knocked on our door to tell us that it was time to pack up and go. So we woke up Hannah (mom was already awake) and packed up our stuff.

Seventh Day - Hanoi 11/8/10 4:32 PM

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 09:35:00 -0600

Sumner

Today was our last day in Hanoi. We started the day as normal with breakfast. Then our driver picked us up to go to class. We did class and learned more about present perfect tense (I don’t even know what that is in English so it was very difficult to do in Vietnamese.) Mr. Tan works on very complex stuff that may or may not be practical, such as present perfect tense, instead of doing things like where is the bathroom or I need a hotel but he is a very good teacher. After that we summarized what we did during the class this week.

Sixth Day - Hanoi 11/7/10 8:09 PM

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 14:31:00 -0600

Sumner

Today we had a day off from class so we did things around Hanoi. Breakfast was as usual and then we went to our rooms to work on the blog. Hannah and I were getting restless and we wanted to go do something. So we decided to go to the army museum which was about 25 minutes walk away. When we arrived at the army museum the sour faced man said that it was closed. So we decided to go to lunch we started out for a place that mom’s book said was good but when we arrived it was closed! Then we tried another restaurant but it looked like a nightmare to even get in. Next we tried another but it too was closed. Then mom said that we needed to go to the hotel that we are booking our trip to Sapa with so we headed in that direction trying to find a place to eat. We didn’t find anything so we just gave up and went to the Kangaroo Cafe. I had the same thing that I had last night, chicken and rice in a clay pot After lunch we walked all the way back to the army museum. We went to the first building and looked at the exhibits there. There were bazookas, rifles, cannon, swords, and all sorts of other weapons. Then we went and looked at some ancient cannons all rusty and old. Next we saw some anti-aircraft guns that shot down french planes in Vietnam’s war against the French. Then we saw a hunormus (huge and enormous mixed together) missile launcher that shot down American B-25’s during the Vietnam war and an anti-aircraft gun like the one that shot down John McCain’s plane. Beside those guns there was wreckage from a plane that had been shot down. After we saw that we went to the second building and saw the tank that burst through the hedge at the presidential palace at the fall of Saigon. Next we went to the flag tower. The flag tower is a tower that was constructed in the eighteen hundreds to fly the flag and I think to serve as a fortress. Mom stopped after the first set of stairs, but Hannah and I wen all the way to the top. we went up some stairs that a man dad’s height probably would have bonked his head on but there was no warning sign no nothing. You then had to climb another set of stairs that led to another level and then you had to go up some spiral staircases that in the US we would have not been climbing up because there were no handrails and very skinny steps. Once at the top we saw another way down and we went down it. We weren’t sure where it led so we decided to explore. All it led to was a little altar and a window. We headed back up looked around and then started to go back down. We made it to down the spiral staircase but and then tried to go down the next set of stairs. We were unable to because all the exits were blocked off and we couldn’t escape! Luckily we were with someone and we wandered around with them they went one way to go find an exit and we went the other way. We didn’t find an exit but finally a woman came with the key to let us out. With that saga over we headed back to the hotel because the museum was closing in about five minutes. We headed back to the hotel and were just going to settle down and rest until bedtime but when we arrived at the hotel they told us that there was a message from Miss Joy. We were going to just get a piece of bread to eat but Miss Joy wanted to go out to eat. We decided to go to get some street food that Miss Joy had recommended. The restaurant is a hole in the wall place that you go in and there are skewers that you can put in a plastic bin and then they barbecue it for you. It was very smokey because the exhaust from their grill was jetted out onto the sidewalk where we were sitting! The food was excellent! We had okra with bacon, many different meats and a few vegetables. We had almost finished when everyone started screaming and yelling and the owner of the street stall ran around like a chicken with her head cut off grabbing chairs and tables (the tables were things like pizza trays on little stools and the chairs were the little stools) we didn’t know what was happening but our food was swept away and our chairs from under us. Then the moment of truth came when the police car came into view obviously the restaurant had “been serving too many people” And had gotten busted! So the police just sat there and didn’t leave. When we left they still were there. The police here in Vietnam are most of the time not here to help, they are here mostly to arrest people that can give them money and then get their money so if someone scratched you don’t go to the police to help thy could arrest you for something ridiculous like frustrating a policeman! When the excitement had gone down the lady asked us to sit down and finish we just wanted the bill so we asked how much it was we paid and left. I think that some people just left the place didn’t pay. During that sort of confusion it is easy to do. We went back to the hotel and went to bed.

Fifth Day - Hanoi 11/6/2010 6:00 PM

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 10:57:00 -0600

Hannah:

O.K. I think that this day was the best day I have had at my language class. Why? Because usually the language class is very difficult, with all of the grammar and stuff. But today there wasn’t as much grammar so that I had fun. Before I tell about our class time, I must tell you what we did for our field trip. Our group (including the driver this time) went a pottery village. The people there made bowls, pitchers, and humongous vases, some reaching up to 8 feet tall! That is taller than our Family room! AND people at the village put the huge vases in their homes. Do you know why they put those vases in their homes? They would put water in those vases, because water, to them, is very important in their lives, so I guess they will always have water!

Fourth Day - Hanoi 11/5/2010 4:30 PM

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 10:17:00 -0600

Hannah

Oh, am I tired. Today was a huge day! Now today at the language class, we all started in the classroom for conversations and stuff. After 2 hours of sentences and phrases and words etc. our group went to a temple. The temple of West Lake. It was a very sacred temple. Actually, I don’t know if it would be called a temple or a pagoda. But it really does not matter…to me at least. After the pagoda temple thing, we attempted to go to the Army Museum. And of course, the interesting things were closed. So on to plan B. We had decided to go to the Hoa Lo Prison. If you do not know what that is, you might know a famous person who was kept there- John Macain. It was kind of cool to go there. At the museum there were SOME disgusting parts at the museum that I will not tell you about. If you want to know the details, I will tell on my own. Before all the touring and walking, we went to a local street restaurant. The food was called bun.You had to make your own variety. You could put spring rolls, noodles (vermicelli), vegetables (don’t eat the uncooked vegetables, you can get sick), pork, and pork fat, sauce and all wrapped in yumminess. So do you guys want to come to Vietnam sometime? Come along!

Third Day - Hanoi 11/4/2010 5:45 PM

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 10:59:00 -0600

Hannah

Can you believe that we have been here for three days already?! Time is flying by, so we better get our plans in. O.K. I will tell you what we did today. You probably are thinking, same old routine, eat, go to class etc. No! It is new stuff today! If you want to know what we did, go right on ahead and read on. I sure hope we always have breakfast, but today’s breakfast was exciting. The manager at our hotel told us to speak some Vietnamese to him, but we forgot, so he told us to to study last night, and if we do not say some stuff to him, we would not get any breakfast. Ahhh! I would starve if I didn’t get any breakfast! This morning I said my thing to the manager. LUCKILY! We ate this curious fruit called Dragon Fruit. It was very good.

Second Day - Hanoi 11/3/2010 6:00 PM

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 12:27:00 -0600

Hannah

What a day! You could never imagine what happened. Well first I NEED to tell you. We (my mom,brother and I) had our first Vietnamese language class. It was hard, but I made it through. What I mean is that the language of Vietnam is very, very, very difficult. It may seem easy to you if you listen to them, but really you need to do all of the right tones. In the Vietnamese language there are 6 different tones. I will not tell you them because they are hard to write out.

First Day - Hanoi 11/2/10 6:00 PM

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 23:52:00 -0600

Sumner

Today was our first day in Vietnam. We got up and went to go eat at the hotel restaurant. We ordered our breakfast. I had an omelet, a pancake, some bacon, and a little bit of Hannah’s toast. We were talking about what we wanted to accomplish today. The manager must have overheard us talking about getting a phone, and he said that he could escort us to a place to purchase a phone. We said that we would like to go with him to get one. We went back up to our room then we went back down. The manager asked us to follow this other guy. We went with him to a lady on the sidewalk who had all sorts of cigarettes and used phones. They had a conversation and then she left and got a new phone somewhere else down the sidewalk. Then she gave it to mom and they set it up there on the sidewalk, something that is not found in the U.S.

Hotel In Hanoi 11/1/2010

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 08:09:00 -0600

Sumner

Hotel

Airplane to Seoul 12:27 MTN Time

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 10:58:00 -0600

We are in the plane over Northern Japan. It has been a long ride but hopefuly wewill be landing in about three hours. We had traveled in a wierd path to get to Seoul it goes like an arch form Seattle and then goes over some of southern Alaska after that it goes through some of Russia then for the last part of the journey we go down the west coast of Japan then it goes west to Seoul. I think that the reason for this path is this: the further up north you go the less distance it is to go arround the earth. This has been a hard flight for all of us. If you have ever gone on a long flight you know the experience. Sitting up trying to sleep, noise of the your fellow pasengers, noise of the plane, and so much more that henders you from having a good time on the plane. At least there are some goood movies going on I think I have watched one thing on a soccer chanel 2 times and wached Karate Kid 2 once and the end of it a few more times. Hannah and mom heve been attempting to sleep but I think unsucesfuly. We have been following the coastline of nothern Japan for a while and I think that we are about to turn towards Seoul. We are at 38,000 feet and going at about 300ish m/h. I’m going to get up and streach my legs so goodbye

Seattle International Airport 12:08 MTN Time

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 12:08:00 -0600

Sumner

We arrived in Seattle a couple minutes ago, and we came to our gate for the next flight. It took around three hours to get to Seattle from Denver. Now it will take approximately 11 hours to get to Seoul, Korea. We are about to go get a bite to eat.