Tuesday March 4, 2025
Charleston to LAX
Free seats on Southwest, changing planes in Dallas, takes all day.
Wednesday March 5, 2025
LAX to Hong Kong
The United flight was less than 50% full. There were lots of empty seats in the back of the plane for sleeping. But I had paid a bunch extra to be in Premium Economy, so it would have been a waste of money and actually sleep over three free seats. The flight took about 14 hours, we crossed the international date line, and arrived at about 4PM - now on Thursday.
On arrival in HK we took the airport train to Central HK and then a feeder route to the station nearest the hotel. It was quite dark when we exited the subway and the Google route was quite spooky, but we made it OK.
Friday March 7 through Sunday March 9, 2025
Hong Kong
Our room was on the 24th floor and had a great view of the harbor. The number of high rise buildings was quite amazing - although the atmosphere was very misty/foggy/wet.
The first time I visited Hong Kong was for a trade conference in about 1974. I was there for about 10 days and had the time of my life. I wanted Deidre to feel the energy and excitement of the place. I also wanted to take Deidre to and from over the harbor on the Star Line.
Our hotel was deliberately close to the Star terminal and on day one we walked down to the terminal and boarded the ferry. Oh my goodness, it had changed - bit like us, it was very old and not packed with people as I had remembered. The fare was 13 cents, so I did not feel that bad.
We love Chinese food and we wandered around looking for a place for dinner without much success, mainly because we did not find items we recognized. When I asked for Kung Pow Chicken or Sweet and Sour Pork they looked puzzled.
Since HK was previously English, Deidre suggested looking for a pub. After a steep climb we found the place and enjoyed the BEST MEAT PIE EVER!
I had brought some $HK with us but we purchased a couple of Octopus cards that we could easily use on public transport. Our favorite mode quickly became the old "Ding Ding" double decker trams.
On Saturday we took a "ding ding" across town to a bus station where we found a bus to Aberdeen. This was once a floating fishing village and a hurricane haven for boats. There were some fishing boats still there but the floating village people had been relocated to the huge high rise buildings that now surrounded the bay.
Later that afternoon we took a cab over to the Carlton-Ritz Hotel on Kowloon. It is the tallest building in the area and has a bar restaurant on the top floor. We grabbed two seats at the window ($HK1,000 minimum) and spent a fun couple of hours over some beers as the sun set in the West.
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| View from the Ritz-Carlton |
On Sunday we bought tickets for the typical tourist "hop on and off" double decker bus "around the island". We exited he bus in Stanley and enjoyed lunch at McDonalds! It was a fun ride on the top deck but I ended up with an ear ache that lasted a couple of weeks!
Monday March 10, 2025
Hong Kong to Hanoi
The flight on Vietnam Airlines took about 90 minutes, and we arrived about 4PM. We exited the plane onto the tarmac and walked into the terminal. A very low fog/smog cloud hung over the ground and the air stank of jet fuel. The arrival procedures were easy and our driver and guide were waiting for us. He explained the low cloud as a "this time of year" thing. The traffic was a sea of scooters and small motor bikes.
Our hotel "The Silk Path" was quite modern, and 3-4 star, and right in the center of town. We were on the7th floor and our view of a sea of rooftops. We went for a short walk "around the block" looking for dinner. We were quite tired and a bit intimidated by the traffic and after looking at a the few menus we gave up and ended up back in the hotel and had a pizza! The best part was that I could get a really nice Margarita for about $2.00.
Tuesday March 11, 2025
Our guide was a young Vietnamese lady who spoke pretty good English. We also had a driver and a nice Toyota to ride in. I cant remember the order of our Hanoi tour but we:
* Visited the Hanoi Hilton where American servicemen were imprisoned during the Vietnam war.
* We were dropped off for the afternoon show at a "water puppet" theatre. The stage was a pool of water and the puppets were manipulated from behind a curtain using rods under the water. The best bit was a 6 piece traditional Vietnamese "orchestra". It was really a kid show, but quite funny.
* Taken to a fancy coffee shop overlooking Hoe Bay Mau. Interesting to see two Rolls Royce cars dropping of some "cool looking dukes" and their ladies for a coffee. I asked our guide who they might be, but she declined to respond.
* We were invited to view HCM in his mausoleum but we declined and just walked around the building. There were plenty of people in the line.
* We were dropped off for lunch at a nice enough place. The lunch was a 5 course fixed lunch with way too much food. This was the case for all the pre paid lunch meals in Vietnam.
Hanoi is a very busy and quite old fashioned city. The streets are not very wide and there are lots of narrow lanes and alleyways. The number of motor bikes and scooters is just amazing. There are not a lot of modern buildings. The most prominent buildings seemed to revert back to the French colonial times. Once again we did not find a place we liked for dinner and ate at the hotel.
Wednesday March 12, 2025
Breakfast at the hotel was "included" and was rather impressive, with plenty of "western" choices. We were picked up about 9 pm and headed north towards Halong Bay.
The drive was a bit disappointing. The strip development along the two lane highway was rather shabby with a bit too much trash for Deidre's liking. But we caught good glimpses of very green rice paddies. Not much traffic, but lots of motor bikes and scooters. Some time later it was explained that males ride motorbikes and ladies ride scooters because "ladies don't change gears". We had a web connection the entire way.
Shortly before reaching the the bay we made a toilet stop. Turns out it had some nice toilets but they were way in the back of a very large cultured pearl outlet, and it was quite a challenge to navigate through the rows of counters and sales people to the facilities.
The "port" for the cruise ships was quite shabby. After 30 minutes or so in a modern waiting area we were ushered to a power launch that took us out to our cruise ship.
The crise ship was really not a "ship" but quite substantial, maybe 50m long, with two accommodation levels, a large dining room and a top deck half the length of the ship. We were greeted by service crew and taken to a buffet lunch. We had met two couples, one English and one Aussie, so we had company for lunch.
Our room was on the top level and really great. The bed was huge, the water side was all window with a narrow deck. The bathroom was also big will a full size bath in front of the window. Shortly after we settled in the ship headed further into the Bay.
The scenery was interesting, but not as good as the brochure. The sky was still very gray and sweaty, and that did not help our photo efforts. After an hour of so of "streaming" the boat stopped and anchored, and we were offered a boat ride to a watery cave.
Dinner was also buffet style and excellent. We slept well.
Thursday March 13, 2025
Bus back to the hotel where we picked up our bags. We had a few hours before the train so we wandered around the nearby Hanoi streets, using G-Maps to avoid getting lost.
The driver arrived on time and delivered us to the station. The "Reunification Express" was waiting for us. It was a very long train, pulled by a large Russian locomotive.
There are only two "classes" on the train - seating and sleeping. The sleeping compartments contained 4 bunks and no seats. We had reserved a sleeping compartment just for us, so we used the top bunks for our baggage, plus "robbed" the bedding to make some seats on the bottom bunk. There was no dining car, but some independent vendors roamed up and down the corridors selling hot food and drinks. The toilet was at the end of our carriage, and it was in rather poor shape with no TP and a sign in English declaring "NO STANDING ON THE TOILET".
The train left on time and after an hour or so it was dark. We played on our phones for a while (plenty of internet access) but soon decided to try the bed. The beds were hard, the "mattress" thin and the carriage rocked and rolled and banged and crashed. Of course I slept like a log, but Deidre had a long night.
We were up with the sun a couple of hours before Danang, and so we managed to see 100 miles or so of the country side. There is lots of rice and its very green. Granola bars for breakfast.
Friday March 14, 2025
Our next guide contacted us on the train via WhatsApp, and he was waiting for us at the Danang station. He took us north about 30 miles to our new hotel at Hue ("Way"). It was a very fancy hotel from French days and we like it, but of course our room was not ready, and so we washed up in the gym!
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| Fancy Hotel |
The driver waited for us and after an hour or so we were on our way into the countryside for some more temples.
Its at the next temple that we started to figure out that your Vietnamese girls and ladies liked to dress up and go out with their friends and photograph each other. From then on we noticed them all over the country at temples, restaurants, coffee shops and markets etc all dressed up taking photos.
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| Of course, some were cuter than others! |
Little did I know that we were really just starting the " See lots of temples" tour.
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| I was told to make a face like the statue. |
Saturday March 15, 2025
This morning we were picked up after another big breakfast to be driven to Hoi An. The drive was expected to travel over the wonderful Hai Van Pass, and it did, but we hardly noticed. Apparently we had taken the "scenic route" but we hardly noticed. But it did include another 5 course lunch.
Hoi An is rather a tourist destination, and famous (??) for its lanterns, the river walks, and maybe something else. It definitely felt like a fun town. We were taken to the lantern factory to learn how to make a lantern and how not to buy any lanterns (Sorry, they will not fit in our case!")
We were delivered to our Hoi An hotel in time for a dip in the pool. The hotel was quite modern, down by the river and rather nice. We had dinner at the hotel with a view of the river.
Sunday and Monday March 15 and 16, 2025
Over the next two days we were driven all around the area visiting very important temples and palaces, and even took a river boat to another very important temple or palace.
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| This was the temple we visited by boat. Looking at the hill, Deidre politely declined. |
Sunday afternoon we were taken to the local "market garden" area where they grow vegetables for the local city. We were dressed up as farmers and taught how to plant vegetables.
After that to a "coconut water forest" where we were served another 5 course lunch, taken for a ride in a cortical after which Deidre received a foot massage. (This is the first time anyone has touched her feet since she was delivered.)
On Monday we drove about 30 miles to the My So'n Sanctuary. My So'n is a cluster of abandoned and partially ruined Shaiva Hindu temples constructed between the 4th and 13th century by the kings of Champa, an Indianized kingdom of the Cham people.
Our guide was rather well educated (In Vietnam there is a 4 year degree in tourism) and the two hours in the car gave us a fairly thorough history of Vietnam. If you would like to hear about it, please give me a call and I will pass the phone over to Deidre.
Anyway, the best bit of this tour was that it included a 30 minute dance recital by the local ladies.
At the hotel we ran into a couple we had met on the the "Halong Bay" cruise, and we lined up a dinner with the for Tuesday, and out for a drink along the river afterwards.
but the design was a bit "home made". The rooms were either underground or not underground and we had been assigned an underground one and since the war was over that did not make me happy. We had dinner at the
