Tag Archives: asia

Halong Bay

Vietnam – Not to Miss

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(in our opinion, which we think pretty highly of)

Places we have seen and enjoyed.

All of these places can be reached easily from Hanoi. Halong is a few hours by van to get to – but sooo worth the trip.

You need a visa BEFORE you an travel to Vietnam – its easy to do this ahead of time. I found this place http://www.myvietnamvisa.com/ for visa on arrival. Quick and fast – but make sure you have it done before you leave.

Hong Kong – Sitting at the dock of the bay

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Well not really exactly what the title says…

We are actually sitting in the lounge at the Hong Kong airport and trying to catch up on some of the blogging while we wait for our flight. So I thought I would put this little note in here in case you think some of these blog entries aren’t exactly in order, cuz they aren’t.

We have been so busy that we haven’t had time to keep making timely entries. After all we have been touring around and have been joined by some friends too. So at the end of the day we have to sit around with a glass of wine or something and discuss the events of the day.

Now perhaps you can understand the grueling schedule we have been under while over here. It is hard work being a tourist…

We have had to deal with the “Mongolian Express” in Beijing. Ok I will explain that phrase.

It was about minus 3 zillion degrees Celsius the day we went to the “Forbidden City” and the wind was approaching gale force. In hurricane terms it was approaching a level 5, just to give you a scale to compare too. Everyone was dressed in as much warm clothes they looked like colorful penguins waddling around. They would have been over dressed for the Ididarod we were at in Alaska earlier this year. But not I, no I dress for what is needed, nothing more, nothing less. I had a t shirt with a long sleeve shirt over it, buttoned of course. The shirt was black and had that “Territory Ahead” look if you know what I mean. That would have been fine except for the wind. I happened to have a light wind breaker along that fit into it’s own pocket and took it out to break the wind, hence the name. But there was no need to zip it up as it was for blocking the wind and nothing more.

If bunny boots would have been available our little troop of penguins would have been wearing them for sure. But not I, no not I, for me it was sandals, with light socks of course. What a sight we were.

The group of Penguins going through the Forbidden City all huddling together waddling through and listening to a tour guide fill there heads with trivia they would never remember. As I, your roving reporter, in true Alaskan form, broke the trail for them and snapped some of the most fabulous and memorable pictures that have been ever taken in the Forbidden City.

But I digress… My main point was to let you know just a hint of the extremes that have been endured during this trip. At least now that we have a few moments to reflect on the trials and tribulations we have had to deal with. That is while sipping a glass of wine in Cathay Pacific’s First Class Lounge. They have respect and know how to treat a travel warn passenger like us

Floating Market

Thailand – Floating Market Food

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Floating Market

Floating Market

One of the places we visited was a floating market that we seemed to be about the only white people at. It was way cool. Look at this picture closely.

Just off the picture to the right were many rows of people waiting for food and eating food that was / is prepared by these boats. What I wanted to show here was the boats and what is being cooked and how.

If you look closely you will see at the bottom of the picture a lady grilling whole scallops in the shell midway up you will see a lady grilling whole squid or calamari. Another detail to take note of is, under the sign you see what looks like a plate or pan with a long, very long, rod attached to it. Do you know what it is for? Tic tic, time is up… They place the ordered food into the pan and use the stick to give it to the people that ordered it. They in turn put money in the plate for the person that cooked the food. The young lady you see sitting down facing the boats helps in that process also.

If you haven’t noticed already…on the boats are tanks of propane used to cook with or, they have charcoal for the grills to cook the food on. Think they could do it that way in the states? I don’t think so, but it is so very common here. We like it.

Shanghai at night

China – Shanghai Nights

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Shanghai at night

Shanghai at night

I know the title almost sounds like a Jackie Chan movie doesn’t it. Well it isn’t, it is a picture taken from our hotel room, and what great nights there are in Shanghai too. Ok the days are pretty good too. We even got to the highest points in Shanghai too, the Pearl Tower that you see in the picture. We will have to put in a shot or two in the pictures section when we get a chance for you to appreciate the view from there.

It stays all lighted up until 10:30 pm and if you come here – do a river tour in the evening. They are about an hour or so but there are some amazing views from the river too. We did notice that all the tour boats have more lights on them than a Xmas tree, but the local boats / ships seem to lack any lighting. Our tour boat came up on a barge that had no lights on it. Even with repeated horn blasts the barge just lumbered along. Finally the barge moved out of the way – not by much though.

So that is the short version of Shanghai. We hope to get some time to put in reviews of the hotel and the like when we get a bit more time. So stay tuned…

Tam Coc, Vietnam

Vietnam – Tam Coc

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Tam Coc, Vietnam

Tam Coc, Vietnam

OK! So the picture looks small! It is a Panorama and this was a way to give a broader idea of what this place is like. They call this place the “wet Halong bay”, go figure that one. Halong is on the ocean and this is up a river with a marsh on both sides. Doesn’t that make them both wet? Like DUH!

It was an amazingly quiet trip being rowed by this little Vietnamese lady. But, she needed an Oscar for her performance on trying to get tips. Be very aware of this on any tour there. Her hands hurt, (note she rows this same route everyday); She was thirsty, (we bought her a drink that she didn’t open and kept until the end); She had a ships container of wares to sell us, (I don’t think so); You get the idea. Just remember, no matter how sweet and friendly they are, they are searching for the best tip they can get.

It take about 2 hours to go up the river and back but it is so very much worth it. We even saw Goats up high on the cliffs too.