Vietnam |
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Cover photo for vietnam
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Landing in Hanoi.
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We had overnight to rest up from jet lag, and then we got a tour of the city on these bikes.
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This was the first view I had after stepping out of the hotel.
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As you can see, there are a lot of bikes.
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I've mentioned this before, but you seem to see a coke sign or products somewhere in every country you visit.
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All of our bikes are lined up like little ducks.
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There were so many women carrying these heavy loads.
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This woman was hauling all of this with bare feet! And it was so hot!
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We stopped at a park and I watched these people doing their morning tai chi.
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I tried doing some of the tai chi with them. They laughed pretty hard. When I had to leave, they waved goodbye to me.
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The next stop was pretty sad.
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This is Hanoi Hilton. It is where they kept America prisoners during the Vietnam War.
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I'm in one of the cells used for the prisoners. This must have been so awful.
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We also saw the cot, shoes and cell where John McCain was held for over five years.
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The next day we started on a tour of the countryside.
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Seeing men working the rice paddies was a common sight.
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As I watched these women work, I had to wonder if they had any back trouble. They do this for hours.
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This is a stilt house in Mai Chau. The cotton cloths are woven by the women of the village. They were so beautiful that I had a hard time deciding which ones I wanted to buy.
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The people of the village fixed lunch for us. It was quite delicious even though I wasn't quite sure what some of the dishes were.
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Outside of the village, we again saw many women picking up the rice.
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This young girl stopped so we could get a picture of her carrying the rice.
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This was our hotel for the night.
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This was the bed in my room. It took forever trying to figure out how to put the mosquito net up. Boy, I sure was glad to have it because with the windows open, tons of mosquitos came in.
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This bathroom was an experience. When you took a shower, the whole bathroom was flooded. It even ran into the other room! = ) I guess it happened all of the time.
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Now we are at one of the market villages where many of the Thai Minority people live and work. This sweet lady seemed pleased that I wanted her photograph.
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Here are two cutie-patooties that followed me around.
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Somebody in the group gave this girl some licorice. She wasn't crazy about it!
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This was a monk from the Buddhist temple in town. I was surprised to see him with a portable phone.
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We went to a village to see the traditional straw huts.
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I loved getting to see all of the children.
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These are a couple of boys from the village. I'm always amazed at how they can sit like this for such a long time.
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Here we have...........the toilet.
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This is one of the sweet families that told us goodbye when we left. We left food and other goodies for them.
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I'm getting ready to take an exciting paddle boat trip through Tam Coc Grotto.
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The grotto has breath-taking scenery and rock formations that jut out into the rice paddies.
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We passed these guys on their rafts.
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The next day we headed to Halong Bay going through the Thai Binh province, a beautiful, traditional area off of the main tourist path. That evening we stopped at this beautiful hotel in Halong Bay.
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This is the beautiful view looking at the bay from the hotel.
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I love this photo because it shows a Vietnamese woman riding her bike and also shows the boats in the bay.
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So, here we are trying to look like we are on the Titanic! = )
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Several families stopped alongside our boat to try to sell us shells.
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We are getting off of the boat to visit some caves full of stalactites and stalagmites, and this was how we got on and off. A little shaky!
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After visiting the caves, we had lunch on the boat. I think the guy next to me had too many of these drinks after lunch.
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The countryside along the way was so beautiful.
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After leaving Halong Bay, we returned to Hanoi stopping along the way to see farmers and water buffalo working in the rice fields.
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Hats, bikes and rice fields.....so picturesque.
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I was pretty sure the animal pulling this dad and son was ready to have a baby.
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This little piggy went to market.............
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This little piggy has already been to the market!
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Time for lunch, hopefully not pig!
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The cook....hoping he had washed his hands.
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I felt sorry for this little monkey because the metal around his neck was so tight.
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I had no idea what this was.
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The better to see you with, my dear.
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Now THIS was creepy!
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We were supposed to go to Hue the next day, but because of the worst floods in two hundred years, we had to alter the plans. So we headed north.
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After a very long drive, we came to this village in the north, just yards from the Chinese border. By the time we got there, it was pouring rain.
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Even through the rain, you could see that was a very unusual village. In the first place, the clothes were so different, probably because it was so cold there.
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Even the children were beautifully dressed.
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I thought she was so attractive with her beautiful clothing. They get very few tourists here, if any, but she was gracious about me taking her photo.
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We have finally made it to Saigon and go to this beautiful park in the center of the city. This is the bridge going into the park.
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When we arrived, several people were there saying their Buddhist prayers. It was the first time I had seen this so it was quite interesting.
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This was another group praying. Notice the helmet sitting there!
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This blind lady was part of the Buddhist group.
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After a wonderful night at the hotel in Saigon, we leave to explore the infamous Cu Chi Tunnels. These tunnels were the Vietcong's underground tunnel system that at one time stretched as far as the Cambodian border. Several of the parts of the tunnels were several stories deep.
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There were trapdoors, specially constructed living areas, storage facilities, weapons factories, field hospitals, command centers and kitchens - all underground. This soldier is showing how the Vietcong would pop up and kill American soldiers. This was a good example of how horrible it must have been for our GI's.
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On this tour, they took our group into the forest and asked us if we could spot the entrance to a tunnel. Eventually I was the one who found it, but it was very hard. Then they asked if we would like to try to get into one. Well, I couldn't get one leg in!
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Parts of this tunnel network has been enlarged and upgraded and this entrance takes you down into the medical center.
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The next day, we drove to the Mekong Delta. There we took a boat ride on the Mekong.
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I'm smiling but it is sooooo hot and humid!
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This was pretty much the typical scene all along the river.
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All of the huts were on stilts.
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Pushing off to go to the market.
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Old verses the new!
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Well, obviously, I wasn't really using the urinal. However, what was surprising was that for the women to get to their bathroom, they had to pass through the men's part! Now that's odd!
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This is the famous Majestic Hotel in Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh, as it is called now.
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We gathered one more time for our farewell dinner. There was only one man who wasn't embarrassed to dance, so at least I got a couple of dances in.
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There were only thirteen of us in the group, so it was a wonderful two-week tour. Since there were so few us, we were able to do a lot of things that the large groups can't do. I was surprised at the hospitality of most of the Vietnam people. I hadn't known what to expect. We were actually invited into a home where the son had been killed by the Americans. Fortunately, I was able to leave with a very good feeling about the country. I am just so sorry so many men and women didn't leave that way.
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Flying over the Mekong Delta as we left Ho Chi Mihn City for home.
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