Highlights

·        wandering back alleys, and also shouting/playing with some wild kids in an alleyway at night 

·        swimming right in front of a waterfall (just Yona and Aviva) at botanic garden in phong nha

·        playing badminton in the street (just Noah) of Hanoi, with some random people playing

·        eating food from floating market – sticky rice and coconut syrupy rice balls and mung bean burrito things 

·        sleeper bus – so comfortable and a nice way to travel, with cool air and adjustable reclining seats and curtains

·        crazy house in dalat

·  llearning how to make egg coffee and making pretty designs

·        first or second night in Saigon, wandering dark crowded streets in the dark and rain, looking for dinner and trying different random things, some of which we didn’t know what they were

·        generally eating unknown things, and liking them usually

·        kayaking in Ha Long Bay, getting out of the kayaks on the scrape-y sharp shell-y rocks (Noah)

·        having a 9 course meal on the sapphire boat on ha long bay (papaya salad, oysters, duck, pork, rice, fruit, soup and garlic bread, and two other things)

·        surfing in Danang, and getting to/from the lessons by scooter which had carrying rack for surfboard.

·        Going a long time without bathing (like a couple weeks), and wearing dirty clothes 

·        Swinging on a swing, wearing a harness, over a cliff

  Riding on the backs of scooters, being the driver or the second person or the third. Fist bumping each other from one scooter to the other, while driving, in the dark and the rain

·        Trying smoke ice cream balls, made with dry ice and looks like it’s emitting smoke, and then we can breathe smoke when we take a bite and breathe out

·        Climbing waterfall at botanic garden in phong nha, using a rope to pull ourselves up, but still watching where to step very carefully because we’re pretty high up and there’s a waterfall all around us

 see that little green dot at the top? that's noah

·        Seeing a menu with different flavors of crickets, and Noah tries one and says it’s good

·        Feeding crocodiles and totally weird theme park, where fishing pole = bamboo stick with a hook on the end, and bait = raw piece of red meat. It got eaten pretty quickly by one super-stelth crocodile who meandered slowly and then SNAP!!! Ate it up.

 notice piece of meat

·        Walking in the cramped, dark , long and extensive caves of Cu Chi, which were a good height for Aviva and Noah, and maybe Yona, but too short for Josh. Cramped and dark and lots of twists and turns and forks

·        Paradise Cave in Phong Nha including the green path to entrance. Huge cave, so tall and went on a long, long time, and had dripping water sounds

·        Dark Cave – approach in kayak, barefoot and head lamped exploration of narrow, dark, muddy tunnel, and ending in a mud bath. Slimy and slick and brown

·        Wet market in Hanoi where we saw produce and fish for sale and also a bag of jumping frogs and crawling crabs, destined to be eaten

·        Silk factory in Dalat where we talked with some of the workers, where they are second generation doing their exact jobs, processing the chrysalises and making silk

·        Chucking ducks, getting foot massages, knee massages, and hand massages from pecking ducks

 noah really liked to chuck the duck

SeSeeing daily life in Vietnam, with their ways of selling selling produce, moving around the city, and transporting large objects on scooters

 several huge boxes carried on scooter

 several huge bags of something, carried on scooter

·        Crossing the street in Hanoi and Saigon, as pedestrians

Eating smoke ice cream, made with liquid nitrogen and we could breath out smoke

Drinking some mysterious drinks in Danang one night with our guide. One was cold and two were hot, and there were weird things in them like one big mochi with a banana inside… They tasted good

Noah actually ate and liked something with avocado (avocado milkshakes with cream)

Fist bumps on scooters

Riding scooters, particularly in beautiful mountainous hills and on small dirt roads past people’s houses as they swept their front walkways and walked their water buffalo around the streets

Drinking sugarcane juice

Aviva wearing a Vietnamese hat, happily feeding ducks

Playing chess twice

Dipping watermelon into this salty brown fish powder

Frogs in a bag, for sale, in the food section of the outdoor market

Eating a lot of really good food, like fresh spring rolls, dragonfruit, fried tofu, and many things I can’t identify, but were good

Miscellaneous

 We're now back in Saigon. We'll go to MeKong Delta tomorrow for a few days, then back here and we'll fly home. Here are some misc. pictures and notes.

Ha Long Bay was beautiful. We stayed on a boat. To get to this boat, we took (a taxi,) a bus and a little boat. From the boat we stayed on, we got on a 7-person boat with this driver/sailor who sang to us. 

In Phong Nha we went on a little rollercoaster that was just for us (everyone had their own little cart, and you wait a while before starting, so the carts in front of you are done. We controlled the speed. Noah and Aviva wanted to go very very fast.

To get to Phong Nha, we took a train from Danang. We were told to get off the train after about 4 hours at Dong Ha, and then someone from the guesthouse would pick us up and drive us the last 2 hours. On the train, at about 4 hours, we heard an announcement for Dong Ha, so we got off the train. Then we realized we were supposed to get off the train at Dong Hoi, not Dong Ha. Dong Hoi was still an hour away from our two-hour drive pickup. Got on the next train to go to Dong Hoi. 

We went to the MiKong Delta and went on a bike ride to a temple that is inhabited by 10 monks. That's it, always. It's beautiful and very elaborate. No one ever sees it except the 10 monks and tourists on bike rides.

 We rode past many rice field