It's a good thing we ran out and got dinner last night when we got off of the plane, because today begins with an 8am pickup at our hotel.  We're heading out for an overnight cruise in Halong Bay.  Made up of around 2,000 small limestone mountains, Halong Bay has a long history in the Vietnamese culture.  There is evidence

We had the hotel call a taxi for us this morning, and left our beloved hotel room for the discomfort of another tiny, foreign airport.  We were too early to even check our bags, so we sat and had tea at a small tea shop in the airport.  Luckily they had wifi, so I did yesterday's blog post there while

Everyone said we needed to go to Hoi An, even though most people do not make the journey.  We're glad we came, but we know why many people don't make the trek.  It is difficult to get in and out of the city.  The only way to or from is by car, and since most people don't travel with their

Ok.  It's decided.  We love Hoi An.  The night time is beautiful; fairytale beautiful.  We agree that it reminds us of Venice, Italy, but in an Asian, Miyazaki kind of way.  Everything is close enough to walk, there's plenty of shopping and eats, and it might smell better than anywhere we've been so far, which is saying a lot since

We said farewell to the motorbike (at Rich's dismay) this morning and headed back to the hotel to pack.  Because we allocated more time in Saigon, we will be rushing through Vietnam's other cities and that includes Da Nang.  We drove over the Dragon Bridge one last time and headed south to the ancient city of Hoi An.  We hired

I woke up this morning in bad shape.  It might have been the Mắm Nêm (Fermented Anchovy Dipping Sauce) from yesterday, or it may have been the Bahn Mi that was sitting out at the airport lounge.  Whatever it was, it was a rough night and would end up being a pretty tough day.  Thank goodness Cat was patient and

First order of business today is exchanging some more cash before we head up north.  We've been told they do not accept cards at most places in the north, and now that we've found a great exchange place I figured I would just get money now in preparation.  If you need to exchange money in Saigon, go to Koicha.  Their

We're a day behind on our Saigon to-do list, but I'm glad I spent a day getting better in bed.  As today is our last day in this city (and yes, we definitely need to come back!), we had to squeeze in as much as possible.  Spending almost a week in Saigon made us quite comfortable with dealing with traffic

The jet lag seems to have passed, and we're waking up feeling pretty good this morning.  Cat has been wanting to fit in some of the weird food that we aren't going to be able to get in the rest of the country, so for breakfast we head just down the street from the hotel to have Mien Luon eel

Today's goal was to dig deep to learn more of my family roots and seeing how they might have lived.  What amazed me when asking my parents how I should find their childhood homes, they both rattled addresses perfectly from memory.  In spite of the sweltering heat, we made our way outside of our hotel's neighborhood in search of the