Home Sweet Home Hanoi
December 16, 2013
We have returned to Hanoi for the third time this trip and it feels like home. Long gone is the initial terror of navigating tooting cars, motorcycles and scooters. Chris’ motto: “Show no fear.” I did look up from a seemingly near fatal encounter with a scooter to see a Vietnamese man sitting on the corner laughing. I know that my facial expressions are not always cool, calm and collected. That must have been one of those times. And, though it is quite cold and rainy, it is much warmer than Sapa. When the shuttle picked us up to take us to the train station last night, there was an inch of snow collecting on the hedges in the yard of the Sapa Gardens Bed and Breakfast.
Rain
December 14, 2013
We took the overnight train from Hanoi to Sapa, a small town in the mountains of North Vietnam. From here tourists walk to villages, have home stays, experience the beauty of the area. We had plans to visit a village close by and a large market where many village people come together for trade. If I were home, either San Miguel or Coyle, I would don my rain gear and go out exploring, it is only a constant and mild rain, after all, and it is in the mid-50’s. Instead, I am taking this opportunity to rest in our Sapa Garden Bed and Breakfast, read and write and enjoy the sound of the rain and the sound of the birds and the hum of this family home turned bed and breakfast.
We walked into town yesterday. It was so foggy that we could not see across the small town square. There are Hmong saleswomen on the streets wearing traditional clothing selling mostly small purses made from local textiles. The girl who attached herself to me for the day was 16 years old. She was a beautiful young girl, the same age as my oldest granddaughter. I have experienced hard sell in Mexico, Turkey, Egypt and how many small purses did I need to buy to make a difference in her life? Maybe I am not just hiding from the rain.
Five Star Float
December 12, 2013

Have to swim if there is an opportunity. A bit chilly but warmer than Seacliff Beach. Our boat, the Prince II in the back ground
Our three days on Ha Long Bay was not what I expected in a cruise. The reason: 8 passengers and 7 crew. What were these gracious Vietnamese men going to do all day but make sure we ate too much, kayaked too much, swam too much and relaxed too much. The unknown: the other 4 people sharing the space. How about four cool new friends from Pasadena? Sounds like a plan.
Rated ‘G’ in Vientiane
December 6, 2013
A neighbor in San Miguel, when I told him I was going to be blogging this trip, admonished “Don’t be boring.” We are in Vientiane and nothing particularly is happening except of course, that we are in Vientiane, Laos and this day included:
– the best steak I have eaten in years at a Belgian Beer Bar, Chokdee, filled with happy conversation in a multitude of languages.
– a tuk tuk to Wat That Luang and had a conversation with a monk about the #5 lesson. It was written in Lau and I picked up in the temple after I played a kind of “pick up sticks” like I watched the young girl before me. The monk had a hard time translating because his English was not that sophisticated but said it was something like “you will work on a problem and it will turn out fine.” Fine Buddhist dharma.
– Stopped in a shop to buy a carved elephant, a Lao memento of a Thai elephant ride, and three year old daughter of the shop owner picked up my hat while I was paying and then posed for a picture before putting the hat on the ground, putting her foot in it and sweeps the floor with it too quickly to be intercepted.
– Ate freshly prepared noodles soup with pork and crispy garnish of mung bean sprouts, string beans, basil, mint and lime for 12000 kip, roughly $ 1.50 USD.
Life is good.
Taking in the blessings of Luang Prabang.
December 3, 2013
Cool and clean air. Children free to play in the streets. Helping the night staff in the hotel set up his Facebook account. Spicy fresh vegetables and really good coffee, hot or cold. Floral scent at the riverside. Alms to the monks at dawn. Sticky rice with everything. Croissants and baguettes.

The view from the temple on Phousy. A place to walk up, see the city and watch the sunset, say a prayer, free a bird.
This IPad is disabled
December 2, 2013
So, technical difficulties. For all my techie friends, just skip this blog post. You have probably been there before. And you survived.
I am in Luang Prabang, Laos, in a lovely guest house, Chitdara 2. There is a soft conversation in French at a table near me in the lobby of terracotta colored tile and rich wood ceiling. WWF is on the television. Yes, WWF and they do have the volume so low that I can’t hear the racket. The waiter says “Yes” in a quiet Lao accent when I ask, “You love that?” Across the street is a river flowing.
I am typing on my husband’s laptop and posting from the laptop is actually much easier than posting from the iPad where I had to use a mixture of browser and app to get the results that I wanted.
I was up until midnight last night trying to get the disabled pad to work. No go. Downloading iTunes onto this laptop, a PC, was a challenge. Somewhere around 10:15 pm the guests and staff must have gone to bed because the download speed doubled and I saw light at the end of the technological tunnel. Oooops. It was the train. Permanent disability seems to be the state of the Pad. Maybe it got a little fried in Chiang Mai? I still have not found a surge protector. I didn’t forget my passcode.
So, this is bloggers life, I suppose. I am in Luang Prabang. What do I have to complain about?
Don’t let the Nagas get you down! Photo by Chris McLane