Vietnam

We had a wonderful week with family in Vietnam during our first excursion out of our home base in Kobe. We spent a day in Hanoi, 2 days on a junk boat in Halong Bay, and then 4 days at China Beach in Da Nang. Things did not go smoothly the whole week, but we recognize that we have had amazing vacations through the years. We have always been fortunate that everyone has stayed healthy and that our weather was always very good. We also learned this week that even with the bumps,... vacation is about sharing time and experiences as a family. I will share some highlights and try not to write too much!

We left Saturday morning at 6:33am on a bus from Rokko Island. (The next 2 buses were already full, so we had to take this one.) Matthew immediately felt car sick (and the ride was 50 minutes)! We made it to the airport before Vietnam Airlines opened. I hung out with the bags, while Phillip walked around with the kids. Alas, we checked in and headed to Sky Club. Our flight was fine, and we all tried to take naps. Once arriving in Hanoi, we found that people stared at us even more than in Japan. One lady watched Jessica the entire time we were in line for immigration. She finally just reached out and touched her hair! She looked to be very "grandmotherly", so Jessica just smiled at her. A car took us to our hotel in Hanoi's Old Quarter. The chaos began as soon as we left the airport. Try to imagine busy streets with about 70% motor bikes, 20% cars, and 10% bicycles. We saw entire families on motor bikes, with 1-2 children between Mom and Dad. They never stopped. We basically had to grab our kids' hands and just run to get across the streets. The cars and motor bikes were very good at anticipating where you are going. One hesitation could be trouble. There were many, many small shops and people following us around to sell things. It was quite overwhelming. One lady was in my face and kept repeating "cheap for you baby". Yikes!! Phillip really enjoyed the constant negotiation, though. Jacob had a very bad stomach ache for awhile. When we stopped to get a Sprite, a young man walked up and touched Matthew's hair!

Our hotel in Hanoi

Center of Hanoi

Bananas anyone?

On Sunday morning, we embarked upon a 3.5 hour bus trip to Halong Bay. Poor Matthew was car sick the whole time. We stopped about half way at a big shop and met a family from Cincinnati - just 5 miles from our old house in Beechwood Farms! Crazy! We made it to the Huong Hai Junk boat. There was a couple from London on the boat with us, and then 2 other gentlemen from London joined us later. It was almost like having our own family boat ride! We saw beautiful mountains, ate wonderful seafood, walked through a cave, and kayaked to a beach where we climbed a mountain for an amazing view. The kids jumped off the 3 floors of the boat and played in the water before dinner. After dinner, we hung out on lawn chairs on the top floor of the boat and admired the full moon. I loved just laying with Matthew and talking about what a wonderful life we have and how very fortunate we are. We had fun spending the night on the boat. There was actually a shower in the middle of the bathroom!

Our view at the end of our cave tour

Who is driving the boat?

The food was amazing.

The next day we took a bamboo boat into a monkey cave. This could be the highlight of the trip! I bet there were 40 monkeys playing around on the walls of the cave. Very, very cool.

When we got back to Hanoi, we had about 30 minutes to shop before heading to the airport. The flight to Da Nang was only an hour. Matthew could not stop crying. He felt so sorry for one of the men that had followed us around. He just wanted to go back and give him money.

The Furama Resort van picked us up, with cinnamon-scented washcloths, bottles of water, and fresh fruit. Wow! The resort was just beautiful. We did get to play in the ocean on Tuesday, but after that the ocean was closed because of high winds and strong undercurrent. This was a bit of bummer. We had lots of rain, but we did manage to play on the beach, swim in the pools, go to the spa for nails and hair, and get a couple of excursions in. We went into the city of Da Nang. Not very impressive, but we stumbled upon a very cool place to eat called "Bread of Life". An American couple started this restaurant and training for the deaf who are very overlooked and isolated in Vietnam. Most cannot do sign language and do not go to school. The cooks and servers are all deaf. They come to work to learn sign language and a skill, and they are paid for their work. It was a blessing for us to be there. The next day we went to Hoi An. Very cool town. Lots of shops and bargaining, but it was cleaner than Hanoi. Also, we did not have people following us around. We discovered that many families live right there in their shops, sleeping on cots. The families would come outside to eat together along the streets in the evening. This is very tough life for Vietnamese people.

Phillip and Jacob were so bummed that the ocean was closed!

We met up with friends (Bart and Marcy Finn) from Kobe. This was fun as they have 3 kids about the same age as our 3 - the 9 year old is actually one of Matthew's best buddies. This was a great balance of just family time and friend time. During the week, both Matthew and Jessica got a little bit sick... but we made it through just fine. Thank goodness for Ibuprofen!! :)

As I write this, I am sitting in the lobby of the Furama Resort in Da Nang. Our car comes at 7:30pm to take us to the airport. We fly through Hanoi, and then arrive back home in Kobe at 6:40am Saturday. I will post pictures tomorrow.

As I reflect upon the week, I am again very thankful for my family, our health, our friends, our safety, the opportunity to see another country, and so many, many wonderful blessings that God gives us each and every day.

Peace and Love,

Tina