Kathy and I are in Beijing on the last day of our trip. Looking at this blog I realize that it has been 2 weeks since I posted, but I guess that means that we've been having a really good time and sitting down at a computer seemed too muck like work.
We managed to score tickets to last Monday's track and field events at the Bird's Nest, and had a great time sitting 18 rows up from the track and at about the 30 yard line (if there had been a football field). We had a great view of the women's pole vault competition where Elena Isinbaeva set a new world record and American Jennifer Stuczynski came in second. Note to all parents of young girls, if you want your child to be extremely fit and good looking to boot, I would encourage them to start pole vaulting. I'm not sure what it is but pole vaulters are hands down the most attractive athletes around. End of sexist remarks...
Anyway, I'll post the rest of the trip after we get home, I took a lot of pictures and we went to some great places (I cannot recommend Luang Prabang, Laos highly enough, the New York Times was right, it may be the best travel destination in the world (at least if you like bucolic, Laos doesn't exactly rock).
Speaking of bucolic, next stop, Luray.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Halong Bay
Kathy and I took an overnight trip to Halong Bay, which is in the very north of Vietnam near the China border and is a very striking place, deserving of its place as a UNESCO world heritage site (What with the stone pillars, Lijiang, Halong Bay and other, not seen, sites, UNESCO seems to have been very busy here in Asia, apparently they kept working after Ronald Reagan tried to get rid of them).
Halong Bay is unique for thousands of limestone islands, kind of bigger versions of the stone pillars in China, that dot a large set of connected bays. Kathy and I cruised the bay for 2 days on a modern junk called the Halong Jasmine. Very nice with air conditioned cabins and great food, I'd highly recommend it if you find yourselves in Vietnam.
The first picture gives a sense of the bay.
The second shows our junk amidst a bunch of islands, we had climbed 400 feet up one of the islands to get an overview of the bay (as with China, tourism in Vietnam can be a bit more physically strenuous than the American equivalent).
Sunset as we were cruising to our night anchoring point, the boat in front is the sister ship to our junk.
Sunset over Halong Bay, a beer in my hand, a tropical rainstorm coming up from behind us, life can be nice.
Halong Bay is unique for thousands of limestone islands, kind of bigger versions of the stone pillars in China, that dot a large set of connected bays. Kathy and I cruised the bay for 2 days on a modern junk called the Halong Jasmine. Very nice with air conditioned cabins and great food, I'd highly recommend it if you find yourselves in Vietnam.
The first picture gives a sense of the bay.
The second shows our junk amidst a bunch of islands, we had climbed 400 feet up one of the islands to get an overview of the bay (as with China, tourism in Vietnam can be a bit more physically strenuous than the American equivalent).
Sunset as we were cruising to our night anchoring point, the boat in front is the sister ship to our junk.
Sunset over Halong Bay, a beer in my hand, a tropical rainstorm coming up from behind us, life can be nice.
More later...
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Hanoi
Kathy and I are back in Hanoi for a few hours before heading down to the beach town of Nha Trang. We spent the last two days taking a junk cruise on Halong Bay, but before I get to that I'll give you some pictures of Hanoi.
Hanoi is a nice combination of a modern Asian city (now 6.2 million people) with a somewhat slowed-down, French Colonial overlay. We stayed at the Metropole, first built in 1901 and a favorite haunt of Graham Greene, and it feels exactly like the sort of place that Graham Greene would have liked (albeit, now with air conditioning).
Hanoi is a city of motorbikes and bicycles, there are more and more cars, but still far fewer than most cities. This first picture captures the feel of the street, as a single woman bicyclist slowly moves as as scooters flash by.
The Vietnamese like to drink beer, and every afternoon at 5:00 PM open air draft beer parlors spring up on street corners. A draft of Bia Hanoi costs about 35 cents, and everybody sits around sweating lightly and drinking a good, and cold, beer. If the police comes all the tables are swept up and put inside, 5 minutes later all returns to normal. The kindergarten sized chairs just add to the ambience.
Some images are so graven into our minds that they seem almost trite. Cone hats and the double hanging baskets are deeply embedded into my memory, this picture needs Walter Cronkite's voice in the background telling us how the war is going.
All in all, Hanoi is a lovely city, I can see why it is Kathy's favorite city in the world, I could easily see living here (now we jsut need someone to offer us jobs here...). This is a picture looking across Hoan Kiem Lake towards the Old Quarter of Hanoi, a rabbit warren of little streets and shops, selling everything anyone could want.
Hanoi is a nice combination of a modern Asian city (now 6.2 million people) with a somewhat slowed-down, French Colonial overlay. We stayed at the Metropole, first built in 1901 and a favorite haunt of Graham Greene, and it feels exactly like the sort of place that Graham Greene would have liked (albeit, now with air conditioning).
Hanoi is a city of motorbikes and bicycles, there are more and more cars, but still far fewer than most cities. This first picture captures the feel of the street, as a single woman bicyclist slowly moves as as scooters flash by.
The Vietnamese like to drink beer, and every afternoon at 5:00 PM open air draft beer parlors spring up on street corners. A draft of Bia Hanoi costs about 35 cents, and everybody sits around sweating lightly and drinking a good, and cold, beer. If the police comes all the tables are swept up and put inside, 5 minutes later all returns to normal. The kindergarten sized chairs just add to the ambience.
Some images are so graven into our minds that they seem almost trite. Cone hats and the double hanging baskets are deeply embedded into my memory, this picture needs Walter Cronkite's voice in the background telling us how the war is going.
All in all, Hanoi is a lovely city, I can see why it is Kathy's favorite city in the world, I could easily see living here (now we jsut need someone to offer us jobs here...). This is a picture looking across Hoan Kiem Lake towards the Old Quarter of Hanoi, a rabbit warren of little streets and shops, selling everything anyone could want.
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