Monday, May 29, 2017

Good Night

Hi All,

We are not home but we are done with airplanes for a while. Three on-time, uneventful flights brought us from Saigon to Salt Lake City where we checked into a hotel at 11:30 PM, more than 30 hours after we left the Saigon hotel. Tomorrow we make the five hour drive back to Grand Teton.

No complaints though. It was a fantastic trip. We hope you enjoyed sharing it with us.

Love.

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Sunday, May 28, 2017

Last Tour Day

Hi All,

At our first stop we learned how rice paper is made. A paste of ground rice is spread over a fire.


After 15 seconds it is carefully removed and rolled in to a bamboo rack.

which is then put in the sun to dry
The women who do this work from 3AM to 9AM, leaving ample time to dry the rice paper during the day. They typically make 1,500 papers per day!

Next stop was the Cu Chi tunnels. This is a 170 mile long tunnel complex about 45 miles from Saigon, where thousands of Viet Cong fighters hid and launched attacks against South Vietnam and US forces. OAT arranged for us to meet with and ask questions of a VC veteran who lived and fought from these tunnels. Very interesting and thought provoking.


Here is one of the tunnel entrances. Claustrophobes need not apply🙀.

This is one of the docents emerging from the tunnel.

We had a chance to walk down and duck walk through the 48" high, 20" wide tunnels.
Carl crawled through a 15 foot section leading to a small room. Other tunnels were narrower than his shoulders.

We concluded our tour with a wonderful dinner where each traveler was given a set of monogramed chop sticks.
We exchanged email addresses and hugs with the others in our group then went to our room to pack.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Saturday, May 27, 2017

Mekong River Delta

Hi All,

Today we drove about 90 minutes to the Mekong Delta area. The mighty Mekong starts in Tibet about 2,000 miles north.

We hiked through a native village to see how the farmers and fishermen lived. Our local guide Vinh pointed out the Jackfruit tree.

In groups of three we boarded small sampans for a paddle down the channel.

This red group was headed upstream. We thought they were locals until we saw them frantically taking cell phone photos.

After a visit to a place where they process coconuts into candy, we all boarded a larger board for a cruise up the main channel.

These are fish farms. Each building is 12' x 24' with a 15' deep cage underneath where the fish are raised.

Our lunch stop on a large island featured interesting courses like dinosaur egg (a fried rice paper ball with sweet sticky rice inside)

and whole fried giant gourami. Smaller versions of these fish are popular aquarium fish.

On the way back to the dock we passed the fishing fleet. These boats have many bright lights to shine into the water to attract squid, soon to be calamari.
Another fascinating and diverse day.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Friday, May 26, 2017

An Evening on the Town

Hi All,

First stop was the water puppet show. This 1,000 year old tradition began as children playing with dolls in rice paddies. Now it is a delightful 45 minute show with very talented puppeteers. 

There were water buffalo

Birds falling in love

and a dragon boat. Great stuff.

Back outside we boarded our "Cyclos", pedaled rickshaws.

With the passenger out front among the zooming scooters it was pretty exciting.

After 20 minutes on the Cyclo we went to a beer garden for beer and a snack. This is duck tongue. The "Y" section is apparently the ligaments holding the tongue in place. Unlike the crickets, we tried one!
Tomorrow we are off for a boat ride on the Mekong Delta.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Out and About in Saigon

Hi All,

We have seen lots of scooters and motorbikes on this trip but nothing like Saigon.

This city of 10 million people has 7 million scooters. At red lights the scooters filter up through the cars so that when the light changes, about 50 scooters race across the intersection.

To get a taste of local life, we all took a local transit bus across town to a market.

All this stuff packed into an old warehouse.

Today is a Buddhist prayer day so when we visited a 200 year old neighborhood temple the incense smoke was thick.

We are used to seeing 1/8" thick incense sticks. Many of these were 3 to 4" in diameter

The fabric section of the market had miles of ornate fabrics.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Independence Palace

Hi All,

During the French colonial period they built a palace for their governor of Indochina. When the French pulled out in 1955 it became the Presidential Palace.

In 1966 the palace was bombed and though the damage was not extensive the South Vietnamese government decided to build a new palace.

This is where the war ended in April 1975. This tank broke through the gate, the crew rushed the palace and the President surrendered.
The President of Vietnam is in Hanoi, This building is now a museum showcasing the beautiful furnishings of the Presidential Palace.





This rug was a gift from China.

This is the Command Post, usually referred to as the map room.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Thursday, May 25, 2017

Good Morning Vietnam

Hi All,

Actually it was afternoon when we landed in Saigon. On the way to our hotel we got to see the Post Office built by the French in the late 19th century.


The French also built Notre Dame cathedral about the same time.

The roof line of this old building may look familiar to folks. This was one of two buildings where the US evacuated people by helicopter at the end of the war.

On our way to dinner we passed a high end seafood store. The lobster was 3,000,000 Vietnamese Dong per kilo or $62 per pound🙀.

On a brief orientation walk after dinner we passed City Hall, built by French in 1901.

Another French building, the Opera House.

Some folks in our group remembered Red Nose Day!

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Ta Prohm Temple

Hi All,

This temple was dedicated in 1186 CE. When discovered in the 20th century, it was clear that the 200-400 year old trees had become part of the temple. Removal of the trees would almost certainly cause the collapse of major portions of the temple. As a result, it remains a fascinating exhibit of natural forces vs. man's construction.


Tree roots envelope large sections of the walls.

Many beautiful carved lintels remain.

Here the roots seem to be holding the walks together.



Some roots look like a python.

The west gate is a tower with large faces reminiscent of Bayon at Angkor Thom.

We thought we were headed back to the hotel but our local guide Jack arranged an impromptu picnic. Sitting on the edge of the Angkor Wat moat, Jack served up Angkor beer and snacks (including water buffalo jerky and dried python-yum)
What an extraordinary day!

Love,

Sandy & Carl 
Living & Traveling in our Motorhome
Volunteering across America
617-435-8502
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