Today was another fairly early morning as we are leaving Anaheim and headed for Carlsbad, which is about an hour south.  After debating the different options, we settled on Amtrak, figuring the kids will enjoy the chance to ride the train and the station is just a few miles from our hotel (the cab driver seemed a little crushed as with all the luggage I’m sure he figured he had a lock on $50 trip to the airport). The trains depart pretty much every hour, but Ang says the absolute earliest she is willing to go is the 8am, so I settle for that as it should still get us there in time to check into the hotel and make it to the park around 10am when it opens.

At this point, the kids still don’t know where we are going, so all the way to the hotel they keep asking questions and making guesses. There is a golf course across the road from where we are staying so we tell them this is my part of the vacation and that they get to carry my clubs and hunt down golf balls for the next few days which gets a less than enthusiastic reaction.  The desk clerk at the hotel finally spills the beans when she asks the kids if they are going to Legoland, and immediately the horde is worked up into a frenzy.

This time the hotel is right next to the park, so for the next two days we are able to just walk down a short path and right through the gate. We enter about 15 minutes after it opens and are surprised (pleasantly) by how empty it seems. As we make our way through the park, there isn’t a ride or attraction that we have to wait more than a couple of minutes for.  In just one day we are able to hit everything at least once and still have time for Nick to take a Mindstorm class while the other kids build and race Lego derby cars.  Joey finds a new roller coaster that take over top spot from the one at Disneyland and is already talking about going back tomorrow.

Overall, the kids have a blast as it is the perfect place for their age group. It closes earlier than the Disney parks, so by the time we get something to eat there is still plenty of opportunity to play at the pool before turning in for the night.

Day 2 at Legoland is much of the same.  Besides the rides, we play some mini golf, get tattoos for the kids and wander through the Lego cityscapes. There is an aquarium attrtaction that is new since we were here last and we spend a couple of hours going through it.  With the last few hours, we let the boys choose where they want to finish up and I am soon on my way with Joey to ride his favorite coaster 6 times in a row.  Nick and Sam go back to the derby cars and get into a battle royale with an older kid I dubbed "King of the Dojo".  Nick finally got his car tuned up enough to beat him which made him pretty proud.  They raced over and over until Nick lost, at which point the other kid decided he needed to leave (before he lost again I presume).

We’re back on the move again in the morning. The boys have overheard Mom arranging transportation so know that we are going to Seaworld, so there won’t be much surprise this time. They are very excited nonetheless as Seaworld was one of their favorites from our last trip.

We started off the first of our two days at Disneyland bright and early, as our ticket package included one day of "early admission" and hour before the regular opening.  It was a bit of a rush to get everyone up and on the shuttle by 8:30, but we managed and at 9:00 were streaming with hundreds of other people into the Happiest Place on Earth.

Trying to take full advantage of the extra hour, we headed directly for Tomorrowland, figuring Space Mountain would be the hardest of the rides to get on during regular hours.  We made a quick pitstop at the Buzz Lightyear ride on the way as that was one all the kids could enjoy, before heading off with Nick for the roller coaster.  We followed that up with a few rides on the Matterhorn, eventually canvincing Sam to give it a try as well, and by the time 10am rolled around, we had already been on 5 rides (which under nornal circumstances would be considered a pretty successful afternoon).  While in Tommorowland we also rode the Submarine Adventure (Nick’s favorite surprisingly enough) and the Autopia.

The weekend before we arrived Disney put up all their Christmas decorations, so the Small World ride was all decked out for the holidays (which made Granny all excited) so we made a stop there on the way to Toontown.  Joey hit his stride in Toontown and after one ride of the Go Gadget coaster was hooked.  We left him there with Ang, Sam and Granny, going over and over again, laughing like a madman and waving his arms in the air.

With just Nick, we knocked off a few more of the older rides like Thunder Mountain and Indiana Jones before meeting back up (apparently 5 passes through Go Gadget later).  Sam wanted to try Indiana Jones, and while we though it might be a little scary for him, he loved it and had to take Mom on it with him. Standing in line, it was funny to hear him tell her all the tips he had for riding it.

We finished the day watching the parade and with dinner at one of the restaurants on site. The plan was to stay for the fireworks, but by then Joey had reached his limit, so Ang and Grandpa took him back to the hotel, while the rest of us took a quick walk over the Small World to see it all lit up, and then back to Main Street to watch the fireworks show.  We had seen them the previous night from the hotel, but it was nothing like being there with music playing and light flashing on the castle.  When they finished, they also have fake snow that comes down (its actually little bubbles, but they clump together and look like snow). Nick and Sam lit up when they saw it and ran around laughing, trying to catch it in their hands.

The second day at the park we were a bit short handed as Sammy came down with the flu and Grandpa was quick to volunteer to stay back at the hotel with him.  Otherwise it was a lot like the first. We spent a bunch of time with the boys on Tom Sawyer Island and then let the kids go back and do all the rides they wanted to do over. Joey of course headed back to Toontown for the Go Gadget coaster and Nick wanted to spend more time in Tomorrowland on the submarine ride and Buzz Lightyear.  We took things a bit slower which was nice for a change, but had a great day nonetheless.  Since Joey missed the fireworks the night before, we staked out a place early right in front of the castle where we would have the best view. With the music, the lights and the snow, it was a again a great show and a magical finish to our time here.

Tomorrow we leave early for our next stop, which is also a surprise.

It’s definitely been an action packed few days here, and as I sit down to write this, there are two rooms of people, young and old, still sleeping hard.  We started our first full day (after changing rooms for a second time, but I’ll skip that story) with a trip to Universal Studios.  We weren’t too sure what the kids would think since there really aren’t too many rides there, but with the City Pass tickets we bought a day at Universal was included, so we figured we’d give it a try.

Overall, the kids seemed to have a pretty good time.  They all loved the SImpson’s ride, which was a virtual roller coaster that let them feel like they were in the cartoon.  Nick tried the Jurassic Park water ride and thought it was fun, but even with his encouragement (and the offer of a cash bribe) we couldn’t get Sam or Joey to go (which is too bad, as I think Sam would have really liked it).  Nick also went on the Mummy ride, and while he liked the roller coaster part of it, he wasn’t quite sure about the special effects, so I didn’t have much luck getting him to go a second time with Mom (it was both Ang’s and my favorite though).

As it was Universal Studios, we also took in a few of the show-type attractions including the studio tour, which had a little something for everyone.  We finished up close to closing time and hit the road back to the hotel, where the kids opened up the door to their room to find Granny and Grandpa all moved in.  They arrived today from a few weeks in New York and are staying with us for the rest of the trip.

On Monday, we headed over to Disney, and decided to visit the California Adventure park first.  The last time we were here, Nick was just a little too short to ride the big roller coaster, and he has talked about coming back to ride it ever since.  Our first stop though is Soaring Over California followed by the river rafting.  The kids liked them both, but the latter was such a hit that we had to ride it three times straight.  It was good we did it early though as we all got pretty wet (Mom got soaked all three times) and needed some time in the sun to dry out.

For most of the rest of the day we split up as the smaller kids weren’t that interested in some of things that Nick wanted to do.  They went with Mom and Granny to ride the small roller coaster and the jellyfish while Grandpa and I finally took Nick to California Screamin’.  He absolutely loved it, and using all 7 tickets that we had to get Fast Passes, we were able to ride it five times before we moved on to the rest of the park.  We finished up with some time in Bug’s Life, with a small detour over to the Tower or Terror for Nick, and then watched to parade.  California Adventure closes a couple of hours before Disneyland does, so by 6pm we were on our way out the door.

The shuttle back to the hotel runs every 30 minutes, and as we got close to the pick up spot, were could see it driving away, leaving us with a bit of a wait for the next one.  We dedcided to use the time to find some dinner across the street from the park.  The nearest places we saw weren’t that appealing (Denny’s and IHOP), and we opted to try out Captain Kidd’s buffet where the kids could just pick whatever they wanted.  Sammy said it smelled weird when we walked in, which should have been a giant red flag to turn around a walk back out, but we pressed on to experience what may be the worst restaurant meal ever.  Everything aout it was bad, even the soft serve machine (which is hard for me to say given how much I like ice cream). Back on the shuttle, Sam was sure to clarify that we weren’t going to have to eat at the "place with the terrible ketchup" tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are going to Disneyland, and with our tickets we get in one hour early so have a full day planned.  The kids have a bit of pool time and then head to bead where it surprisingly doesn’t take long for them to fall asleep.

After months of keeping it on the down low, we finally left Redmond today for Southern California. To be honest, I’m not sure who was more surprised – the kids that we were getting on a plane to go somewhere, or the grown ups that we managed to keep it a secret for so long. Getting ready to leave, all we would say was that we needed to get ready for a trip, so for the next few hours there was a whole lot of guessing where we were headed. The cabin was an obvious guess since we spend so many weekends there, but some of the creative ideas included the Great Wolf Lodge, Grandma’s, and even Egypt.

By the time we got to the airport, the of course knew we were going on a plane so the end destination was somewhere far away, but they still weren’t sure where. We flew into Orange County this time (instead of Long Beach like we did the last time hear), so even when they found out where we were landing, it didn’t really mean anything to them.  We told them the surprise was that we were coming to see where oranges come from.  Sam and Joey bought it for a little while, but Nick wasn’t convinced. Finally, when we drove up Harbor Drive looking for the hotel (which turns out to not be where we thought it was), they saw the Welcome to Disneyland signs and the lights suddenly went on.

Tomorrow we are headed off to Universal Studios for the day.  When we get back to the hotel, Granny and Grandpa will be here, which the boys also don’t know about, so that is going to be another big surprise.

It seems like just yesterday that we were dragging ourselves out of bed in Redmond and heading to Vancouver for our flight to Bali. Yet here we are, sitting in the Ho Chi Minh airport, waiting to board to go home. Where did the time go?

The feeling is bittersweet, as we miss family and friends, but staring out the hotel window one last time, the urge is strong to let the flight go without us. Life is simpler here, and while we live in bigger houses, drive nicer cars, and eat in fancier restaurants, maybe, just maybe, these cultures that have been around much longer than our own, know a few things we don’t.

The desire to try and fit in a day trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels faded last night, so this morning we just slept in (some of us more than others), finally leaving the hotel around 10 am. We have worked up the courage to try another massage, and find one a few blocks away that seems worth a try. There are no short skirts (Ang and I agree to disagree on whether this is a feature or a flaw) and the price is right – $7 for 75 minutes.

What we don’t know is whether we are in for another round of the dry rub, so are pleasantly surprised early in when it actually turns our to be a pretty good massage, restoring my faith that there are good massages to be had anywhere in Asia. Once again, we also learn that foot massage really means full body massage. Now that I found a place that seems legit, if I had one more day, I’d have to try the full body massage to see what that includes that this one doesn’t (at the last place, I had a pretty good idea).

Most people here like to ask questions, and besides the common “where are you from?” and “how many children?”, a popular one is “where are you staying?”. The goal of course is to determine how much money you might have, and because we’re never prepared with the name of some run-down backpacker hotel, when the masseuse asks the question, “Sheraton” automatically pops out. This seems innocuous enough, until it comes time to pay and they tell us the tip is extra.

OK, my bad, so I dig into my pocket and come up with about $1.25 for each (which isn’t really that much, but for a $7 bill is getting close to 20%). To that we get “oh, in Vietnam, tip bigger”, and “we only get tips, no pay.” Sheraton indeed. Back into the pocket for a 100,000 dong note (about $6), which we tell them they need to spilt (50,000 each). The try to milk us for one more, but we draw the line there, and leave disappointed that what was really a good experience ended up so tainted.

For our last meal in Asia, we decide to treat ourselves a little and have the Sunday Brunch. Its not really much different than we would get at a nice hotel back home, but its a nice change and should mean we can enjoy the flight home and not have to worry about pushing old ladies out of the aisle to get to the lavatory.

The inevitable question is “how did this trip compare to others you have taken?” Unfortunately, there is no better answer to this than “they are all different”. For pure relaxation, Thailand and Indonesia are tops. Malaysia had the best food. China the most history. For me, Vietnam remains a bit of an enigma, as we saw enough to really only know that there is much more to see. Having been to both the big cities, if we come back, I’d spend time in the mountains at Sa Pa and Dalat, as well as in the Mekong Delta and on the islands in the Gulf of Thailand. Three weeks sounds like such a long time when we plan these trips, but on the ground, it is only ever enough time to scratch the surface.

Back to the grind tomorrow, and the countdown begins all over again. We have some thoughts for next year, but who knows where we’ll end up.

Our last full day in Vietnam today, and fortunately, the weather was quite nice despite the forecast for more rain. By the time we have checked in with the kids and are leaving the hotel (around 10 am), it is already getting hot. By noon, we both have a good case of the sweats, that sunscreen only makes worse.

We have no set destinations, so mostly wander around the 1st district, where our hotel is. There are some art galleries nearby, so we look a bit through those of course, but that budget is already stretched a little thin, so we come away empty handed (so far anyway).

Around lunch time, we find ourselves near Reunification Palace, where the first North Vietnamese tanks broke through the gates to mark the fall of Saigon. Apparently, everything has been left exactly as it was on that day in 1975, but we don’t get a chance to see inside as it’s closed until 1:00, and we’re not interested enough to stick around in the heat for an hour.

Fairly close by is the War Remnants Museum, so we figure we’ll give that a try. We haven’t gone out of our way to focus on the war sites while we’ve been here, but I think it would be interesting to see how the same events are interpreted from the Vietnamese perspective. This is not to be though either, as we arrive to find the museum is closed until 1:30.

Tired and overheated, we decide to just head back to the hotel for a break. I try to convince Ang to hire a motorbike taxi to take us, but she’s not up for riding sidesaddle, so we hoof it instead. The Chelsea – Barcelona game is on the TV, and while I don’t watch much soccer (little people being the exception), in an air conditioned room I find it pretty engaging.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We wandered the streets some more, and after walking a couple of miles looking for a restaurant for dinner, ended up about a half block from the hotel. The good news is that it is close to a bakery we found (and have hit a couple times already) so desert is only a few steps a way. We figured there would be more great bakeries like there were in China given the French influence, but they are actually few and far between.

Tomorrow evening we catch our flight back to Vancouver through Hong Kong, so are debating how best to spend it. There is a tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels that takes about 5 hours that is on the list, but sleeping in and doing a whole lot of nothing by the pool is running a very close second. Its hard to believe that by this time tomorrow Vietnam will be behind us. We are able to see that the weather is good in Seattle, so at least there won’t be any big shocks to the system.

We’re definitely in the home stretch now, as today we pack up for Ho Chi Minh City. In some ways, we feel like it is the end of our vacation since the hustle of the big city will feel too much like our normal, hectic lives. Aside from getting to the airport, our only destination today is My Son, some ruins from the Cham civilization that are about an hour from town.

We take special care checking the room before we leave, as the hotel has made very clear it frowns on items making their way into guests luggage. From the card left in our room:

We are very sorry to stick the notice down, it is due to damages and lost facilities which may occur. To restrict further missing, The Management would like to offer some quoted prices that our Guests will be charged directly to your personal account for any cause of missing.

Below that is a list of items and the prices they charge, including $4 for the door mat. I can’t decide which surprises me more, that a mat in Vietnam costs $4, or that they have a problem with the ugly things going missing in the first place.

With a few hours to kill before out car leaves for the ruins, we head back into the Old Town one last time. Of course, our plan is to have a last lunch at the Friendship Restaurant, but rounding the corner, we are devastated to find it closed for the national holiday. We settle on a different place a few doors down, but its just not the same.

According to our guide book, the best time to visit My Son is early morning or in the late afternoon as that is when the fewest tour groups are there. Given that, we’re a little nervous heading out there just after lunch, but the plan is to leave from there directly to the airport in Da Nang so its the time that works best. The weather is overcast with showers again, so we hope that keeps things at least a little quieter.

What we find when we arrive though, is that the place is almost deserted. There are only a few cars in the parking lot and not a single bus. As we walk through the ruins, there are times when we feel absolutely alone, which makes the experience that much more enjoyable. It rains off and on which is a bit of a pain, but you can buy plastic ponchos everywhere, so we take two for a dollar.

The ruins themselves date back to the 7th century, and regarded as one of the most important Hindu temple complexes in Southeast Asia. They took a bit of a beating during the Vietnam war (apparently the area around the complex is still has unexploded ordnance), and the jungle claimed back a fair number after the Viet people defeated the Cham, but like the Citadel in Hue, work is slowly under way to restore the site.

Finished with Hoi An, we head to the airport for our final flight. We arrive quite early and fortunately are able to change our tickets for an earlier departure (without a single fee or service charge!). This gets us into Ho Chi Minh City around 7:00, so by the time we get to the hotel and check in, it is still early enough to get out and see a bit of the city.

We’ve been told that Ho Chi Minh City is like Hanoi on steroids, with bigger streets holding even more motorbikes. Around our hotel it seems pretty controlled though, not much different than any other big city like Vancouver or Singapore. Part of that may be the holiday, as many people would have returned to their towns and villages, so we’ll get a better idea tomorrow and Sunday.

We went a little bit local today, renting bicycles for the day to get around Hoi An. A dollar doesn’t get you the sweetest ride out there, but the terrain is pretty flat so its not too bad. The biggest drawback is they are made Vietnamese size, so our legs are a little packed up, kind of like riding a bike in the circus. It definitely speeds things up though and the plan is to cover a fair amount of ground today.

Our first destination is China Beach, before the day gets too hot and also while there is still some blue in the sky (the forecast calls for rain). The ride ends up being about 10 km, which is further than our guide book says, but it gives us a good opportunity to get used to fitting into traffic where things are as busy. The general philosophy of just going where you want but doing it with conviction seems to hold as true for bicycles as it does for pedestrians, so we get the hang of it fairly quickly.

The beach itself is amazing. It is wide, white sand, and goes on for miles in either direction. There aren’t many beach hotels in Hoi An, so for the most part, the place is pretty deserted. There are a handful of restaurants, and the touts come flying across the beach like guided missiles as soon as they see you coming. There are also the obligatory trinket merchants, covered from head to toe to keep their skin from getting dark, even though it is over 90 degrees. We pick up one small gift and then pack up to head back to town.

Given that we are a little more mobile, we get away from the main tourist part of town and bike into some of the residential neighborhoods. On streets full of stores and restaurants, its sometimes easy to forget how much poorer countries like this are than our own, but seeing where they live reinforces how good we have it. Despite all that, the people always appear happy, with the little kids screaming hello and waving whenever we ride by.

Today is the start of the big national holiday, and as we return to town, we find it is much more crowded than yesterday. Fortunately, I have a cool bell on my handlebars so I can let people know they best get out of my way (in their wise judgement, the rental folks apparently determined Ang wasn’t worthy of this responsibility as she has no such bell), particularly around lunch and dinner time when we set out for our favorite restaurant.

Otherwise, it was a pretty uneventful day here. The rains came off and on, so we were able to break for a few hours in the afternoon, and then finish up finding a few final items at the market. If the weather is okay tomorrow (the forecast doesn’t look promising once again), we plan on driving out to see the ruins at My Son before going to the airport for our flight to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). We’ll be thankful to finish up our last domestic flight as we have accumulated a fair amount of luggage the past weeks.

We’re on the move pretty much every other day now, so nothing out of the ordinary to be up early for some more travel. The hotel we’re staying at in Hue doesn’t exactly meet Westin standards, but for $40, its quite nice and includes breakfast. This is the high point because it includes all the Wagon Wheels you can eat. For non-Canadians, these are like Moonpies in the US, and were the high point of any brown bag lunch in elementary school. I haven’t seen a Wagon Wheel in twenty years, so its hard to resist one now.

We leave Hue around 8:30 in transportation much more comfortable than the Halong Bay bus. We’re getting a little smarter ever year we come here, and this time, instead of just reserving a car, we also had them show us the actual one we would be riding in. The certainty cost an extra five dollars, but seemed worth it to not have a rusted out old pick up with chickens in the back pull up to the front door.

The drive from Hue to Hoi An takes about four hours (there is a shorter route, but we opt to go over the mountains and along the coast) through scenery far closer to what I had in mind of Vietnam before I got here. There are plenty of rice paddies and the occasional small village that, so far, hasn’t been overrun with new construction. Compared to Hanoi and Hue, its like stepping back in time, and even Lionel Richie signing Hello on the car stereo seems a little avant-garde.

As we near Hoi An, we pass through Da Nang and can see first hand how popular Vietnam is becoming as a tourist destination. Da Nang sits on part of the 20 mile long China Beach and is being heavily developed as a world-class resort. In one continuous strip, we see six mega-hotels going up including a Hyatt, a Crowne Plaza, and a Raffles. The economy has likely slowed things down a bit, but clearly Vietnam ten years from now will be quite a bit different than it is today.

In Hoi An, we found a hotel that is right on the river across from the Old Quarter. If we do decide to check out the beach, it is about 3 km away on a shuttle bus, but with overcast skies and periodic rain, that doesn’t look promising. The Old Town is what we’ve come to see anyway, as anyone who has recommended Hoi An says it is the place to be. In many respects, it is like the street we stayed on in Hue, but goes on for blocks in every direction. Most of the streets are closed to cars and motorbikes, which makes it that much more pleasant to walk around.

As we wander through the market, we are approached by young girl who speaks reasonably good english and asks us to come and see her mother’s clothing shop, where, of course, they have “very good prices”. Of course this is a scam, but my big-hearted traveling companion soon has us engaged in conversation with her and her friend, who surprisingly also has a shop, where they do foot massage. Now, I figured we learned our lesson in about massages in Hanoi, but apparently not, as soon we are weaving through the market stalls, headed for Dao’s place.

The good news is that when we arrive, the place is very open air, so likely not a “special menu” kind of outfit. The bad news, is that it’s actually just a 6′ x 6′ stall in the market where they normally sell silk scarves, but clear some space to put down a small plastic chair and stool for massage customers. Trying to repay the kindness Ang showed me with the smoothie, I offer to pass on this one and just let her treat herself, but she talks me into staying so they shuffle a few more things and squeeze in another chair.

Something about this whole setup rubs one of the nearby vendors the wrong way, as she goes off on a tirade, screaming in Vietnamese while doing laps around our small section of the market. The space in front of our stall quickly fills up with other vendors who have come to see the two, big pasty tourists crammed into this tiny space (I can’t even straighten my leg out) who have caused such a fuss. Without understanding a word of why or how, we find ourselves in the middle of an international incident, but emerging unscathed (and with happier feet), we move on in search of dinner.

In general, the food in Vietnam has been good, but it was definitely one of the things I was looking forward to when we came here, so felt a little let down that it wasn’t great (the food on the boat being the exception). In Hoi An though, we hit the mother lode. Our lunch was so good that, after looking at a few other restaurants, we decide there’s no point risking it, and go back again for dinner. We’ll see what happens tomorrow, but I’m guessing this won’t be the last time earlier.

With the early start, it’s been a fairly long day, so we head back to the hotel, where hopefully we’ll get some internet to check email and catch up on a bit of work. We are keeping our fingers crossed that things will clear up tomorrow since our time is short here and still a few things we’d like to see.

Since I left our arrival in Hue out of yesterday’s post, let me start there. The city (at least the part where we are staying) is pretty much everything Hanoi was not – namely quiet, and not very crowded. As we arrived quite late, we stay fairly close to the hotel, but the streets are full of stores and restaurants, and we can pretty much walk wherever we want since motorbikes and cars are few and far between. We find a good Indian restaurant just a few doors down, so have a nice dinner there before turning in for the night.

Today is the only actual day that we have set aside to see Hue. From all we have been able to gather from those that have been here before us, it is a very nice city, but with only a few must do items. Given that, we plan on cramming as much as we can into about 12 hours, and then hit the road again tomorrow to Hoi An.

Like Hanoi, there are cyclos everywhere, and we decide to take a driver (two actually, as while the seats may accommodate two Vietnamese, they only hold one North American) up on his offer to pedal us around for 5 hours for the princely sum of $5. It turns out to be a pretty comfortable way to travel and let’s us cover ground quite a bit quicker than we could on foot. Knowing how the kids like to ride bikes, I get the mental image of them taking me to work while I read the paper. Can’t imagine why they would object.

Hue is the old capital from when Emperors still ruled Vietnam, and from that time, the most notable sight is the Citadel – the walled compound where the Emperor and his court lived. Most of it is gone now, due in large part to bombing from the Vietnam War (or the American War as they refer to it here), but work is underway to rebuild it. Based on the number of workers on site, less those that were laying down sleeping, the project looks to be on schedule for completion in about 400 years.

We also see one of the old Pagodas on the edge of town and spend a little time at the central market. Both are good, but after 4 years of traveling to Asia, we find one temple blurring into the next and the cramped stalls of hanging carcasses less and less novel. The lady cutting her toenails right next to the food she was selling was a bit of a new twist though.

By the end of the “tour” we are pretty beat, so head back to the hotel for a break. We forgot the sunscreen in the morning, so a paying the price a little for that. It was mostly overcast, but the sun poked through enough to burn my nose, and I look a little like Toucan Sam as a result.

Once things cooled off a bit, we headed back out for a walk and to find some street snacks. The fruit smoothie stand seemed promising, so we pointed at a few things that looked good and let them go to work. The recipe looked pretty simple, as everything we picked just went into a dirty blender. To that, they added a shot of water from an old Tupperware jug. Ang’s eyes grew two sizes at that, so when they asked about ice, she tried to wave them off. But you can’t get a little a bit pregnant, and since the water was already in, the ice wasn’t going to do any more damage. All this they pour into a plastic bag and snap a rubber band around the top to keep it shut.

On an unrelated note, Ang is learning to be a really good sharer this trip, and she let me drink most of the smoothie.

The one stop we didn’t get to make was the royal tombs outside of town. If we had one more day here, there is a boat you can take down the river to see them. But we’re a little too beat to try and cram such a trip into the late afternoon, so add it to the list of things to see if our travels bring us this way again. Same for the DMZ and Khe Sanh, which are about an hour out of town.

We make arrangements through our hotel for a car to take us to Hoi An in the morning (a three hour drive or so), and head off for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant across the street. We’re definitely in the home stretch now, and in many ways, Sunday is coming much too quickly (although we are both very anxious to see the boys).