2014-11-24-Day5 - Travel to Hoi An

Spent some time by the pool in the morning, then off to the airport wher,e we flew to Denang, then had a hired car drive us out to Hoi An, a historic town south of Denang on the coast, also famous for having a lot of custom tailoring.

Arrived late afternoon, had a lovely dinner at the hotel with a group of travelers all staying there.

Tom snapped this pic of the hotel pool and courtyard at night, reflecting all the colored lanterns they had up:

2014-11-23-Day4: Time with Friends

Met up with our friends the Spanglers today. Went to lunch together, visited a market, toured the city a bit. Then went back to their house. Kids played together, moms went and got foot massages, and I got to ride Jeff's 1966 Vespa around the neighborhood, which was a blast.

2014-11-22-Day3: Cu Chi Tunnels

We took a boat ride up the Saigon river today, which in itself was fun.

 

 

That took us up to the Cu Chi tunnels, a huge network of tunnels used during the Vietnam war. They are now a historic site, with exhibits on the tunnels, their engineering, traps against enemies, etc. Tour starts off with the viewing of an anti-American propaganda flick.

 

 The boys posing on a bombed out American tank.

 

 

 

 

One of the examples of the nasty traps that were laid for American soldiers. 

Matthew emerging from a camouflaged tunnel entrance.

Dad traversing the length of a several hundred meter tunnel. Tight fit and these were a few that had been enlarged for tourists!

 

In the evening I went for a beer with Jon Gilkison, a friend-of-a-friend expat who's been here a couple years.

2014-11-21-Day2: Taking it easy in Saigon

Everyone pretty wiped by the travel so we took it easy today. Walked the neighborhood, checked out the pool, etc. We have some friends from Portland who moved here and we met up with them for a short lunch.

Kids had some fancy ice creams in the evening.

2014-11-19 Day 1: A long day's journey

6:00 am out the door in rental car.
3 hr drive to seatac
couple hours at the airport
11 hour flight to Narita, Tokyo
3 hrs at Narita
6 hr flight to Saigon, Vietnam
1+ hr customs + taxi to hotel

Total door to door ~26hrs

Jenny at SeaTac

and on the flight

Alisa and Jenny recharge themselves with some Z's at the airport in Tokyo while boys recharge devices

Me and Tom at the start of the flight

 

 

Me and Tom at the end of the flight

It was the 20th when we arrived because of the dateline crossing, so Day 2 is officially on the 21st.