Friday, March 20, 2009
It ain't over yet
One trek has ended but another journey has begun. Not exactly how I had hoped my first rtw would end and I'm not looking forward to the journey ahead. Let me explain. Before I began my last guided tour, the part through SE Asia, I had decided that it was time to be done. I was ready to get back and begin to assimilate back into the real world and had made my plane ticket changes accordingly. A few days before I was to depart Hanoi, I emailed my brother that I was now going to pass through San Francisco and I would wave hello to him as I flew in and out. He lives near there, you see. He emailed back that Mom had a bad turn health-wise and suggested that I deplane in SF, meet up with him and we could then fly back east to be with Mom and that's where things are at present.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
And now the end is near. . .
(singsingsing) I did it my way with some help from Intrepid Travel. Anyway, this particular adventure is drawing to a close. I'm looking forward to landing and staying put for a bit and maybe even finding a shallow rut to get into for awhile but I'm not sure I'll get to do that right away because it appears I get to hit the ground running when I get back to Corvallis and the PNW Juggling Convention group!
But before I get there, I'm still here and here is Viet Nam. We flew out of Saigon to DaNang and then took a bus to Hoi An which is a great little town. The major thing to do there is to go to the beach except since we had traveled north quite a bit we have left the hot, humid weather behind and were into more cooler, almost cold stuff now. The other thing to do there is to find a tailor. Lots of shops for that kind of activity and I went with the flow and now am the proud owner of two tailor made suits although I have no idea where I will wear such fancy duds. After just two nights in Hoi An, we hopped the bus and headed north back through Danang to Hue. Here we did regular tourist stuff-a tour of the citadel and then a motorbike tour of the countryside surrounding the city, a visit to an Emperor's Tomb and a guided boat tour on the Perfume River. Hue was two days and one night. The other night was the night train to Hanoi. I had some bad take-out on the train so my first day in Hanoi, I was driving the porcelein bus and missed the surrealistic tour of the Ho Ch Minh complex. I still have time here so I might be able to fit that in. Having mostly recovered from my tummy ills, I rejoined the group for the bus ride to Ha long Bay and an overnight stay on a boat on bay after a kayak tour to some of the found there. After the boat on the bay we bussed back to Hanoi and then had a farewell dinner as an Intrepid Group. I do gotta say that I was tired of eating by that time! Except for the bad choice of a take away sandwich (that was my bad, I'll own it) the food has been great here. A few of the places where we have had meals provided as part of our tour package don't know when to say when, though. I've had lots of 4 and 5 course meals on this trip and they've been really good, too. I still skip the bits that are too weird or not quite identified but mostly I try them.
Between the India part of my trip and this part I treated myself to a 4 star hotel in Bangkok and it was great. I had hoped to go out that way here and booked into another 4 star but I guess the stars are of different standards. It's not a bad place, it's just not as posh as the Rembrandt was. However, I'll be checking out the pool tonight so who knows, maybe the stars will align!
But before I get there, I'm still here and here is Viet Nam. We flew out of Saigon to DaNang and then took a bus to Hoi An which is a great little town. The major thing to do there is to go to the beach except since we had traveled north quite a bit we have left the hot, humid weather behind and were into more cooler, almost cold stuff now. The other thing to do there is to find a tailor. Lots of shops for that kind of activity and I went with the flow and now am the proud owner of two tailor made suits although I have no idea where I will wear such fancy duds. After just two nights in Hoi An, we hopped the bus and headed north back through Danang to Hue. Here we did regular tourist stuff-a tour of the citadel and then a motorbike tour of the countryside surrounding the city, a visit to an Emperor's Tomb and a guided boat tour on the Perfume River. Hue was two days and one night. The other night was the night train to Hanoi. I had some bad take-out on the train so my first day in Hanoi, I was driving the porcelein bus and missed the surrealistic tour of the Ho Ch Minh complex. I still have time here so I might be able to fit that in. Having mostly recovered from my tummy ills, I rejoined the group for the bus ride to Ha long Bay and an overnight stay on a boat on bay after a kayak tour to some of the found there. After the boat on the bay we bussed back to Hanoi and then had a farewell dinner as an Intrepid Group. I do gotta say that I was tired of eating by that time! Except for the bad choice of a take away sandwich (that was my bad, I'll own it) the food has been great here. A few of the places where we have had meals provided as part of our tour package don't know when to say when, though. I've had lots of 4 and 5 course meals on this trip and they've been really good, too. I still skip the bits that are too weird or not quite identified but mostly I try them.
Between the India part of my trip and this part I treated myself to a 4 star hotel in Bangkok and it was great. I had hoped to go out that way here and booked into another 4 star but I guess the stars are of different standards. It's not a bad place, it's just not as posh as the Rembrandt was. However, I'll be checking out the pool tonight so who knows, maybe the stars will align!
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