A Great Adventure for Bob and Naomi

We had  trip planned to Cham Island today (Feb17/20) but it was cancelled due to poor weather and rough seas.  This is typical for this time of year so we ventured out on our own. Our hotel Hoi An Boutique Resort.  They provided a terrific breakfast everyday.  We took this from a little restaurant across the road that we ate at 2 times....wonderful food. The pool is empty today but want an interesting concept...infinity all the way around. You can see how rough the sea was...it would not have been a good trip. Lots of cool electric cars in Hoi An. The market in the Old Town...lots of fish so very smelly! We saw lots of young couples getting their pictures taken before their weddings.  It is traditional to have about 500 guests who pay for their meal at the wedding plus a gift. Hoi An at night while we cruised the river Naomi standing by the path that takes you to both the pool and the beach. ...

Never thought we would be riding this mode of transport  Way to go Granny and Grandpa!! Feb 16 / 20 -  This was the day that we had our Streets and Eats tour of Hoi An. We were met at our hotel by our guide Nga (Ninja), and the 2 drivers Huy and Tam. They showed up on 3 antique and restored Vespa scooters at 5pm and worked for the company www.vespaadventures.com.  You can get more information at info@vespaadventures.com Our guides - Huy, Nga, Tam We quickly introduced ourselves and put our helmets on and off we went. Bob behind Huy and Naomi behind Tam. Off we go..it was nice out so no need for raincoats. We saw lots of leaves used as covers like our saran wrap to keep off the insects First stop the White Rose restaurant to make dumplings.  Our dumplings did not turn out like the picture above...sure was fun trying. Quail Eggs NGA laughing at Bob and I getting onto the little chairs at all the ...

Hoi An, once a major port in Vietnam, has an Old Town section with great architecture.    The Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Indian, Filipino, Indonesian,  Thai, French, British and American ships came to this port and it's treasures - high grade silk, fabrics, paper, porcelain, nuts, pepper, Chinese medicines, elephant tusks, beeswax, mother-of-pearl and lacquer. The Chinese and Japanese traders left their mark in Hoi An and our guide Huan took us to see the sights.  It has been great to have English speaking guides and this was all arranged via Enchanting Travels - the company we booked our Asia trip through. Naomi at one of the entrances to the Old Town of Hoi An. Bob at the famous Japanese covered Bridge. Bob looks so big in the doorway. The canel below and the river in the distance. The bridge lit up at night when we were on the river. Various flood lines over the yea...

We arrived in Hoi An on Feb 14 / 20 via short 1 hour 20 minute flight from Hanoi.  Our Hotel "Boutique Hotel Hoi An Resort" is great and has both a pool and sandy beach.  We do love the beaches! The beach had an easy slope for walking for Naomi's knee. These are the basket boats used by local fisherman. This shows a local fisherman's catch - he walked into the surf with his weighted net and a little life jacket to spread his netting.  He left it for about 20 minutes and went back out to pull the net back to the beach.  It was not a big catch and near as we could figure / communicate this would be bait for later when he fished from his basket boat. Many Basket boats were along the beach...ride anyone? Bob can handle the surf...Naomi not so much but her knee is getting stronger each day...it is only 5 weeks since her knee surgery so by the end of trip she will have been playing in the surf for sure. Bob trying to save himself from the dermab...

We drove 2.5 hours from Hanoi to reach Halong Bay, a world heritage site, to board our boat - Dragon Pearl 2. This is the terminal where the Halong Bay boats wait for the tourists to board the various cruise lines. Once at the terminal we headed to our boat Life jackets were mandatory for a 5 minute trip. We have arrived in our room Not a large room Now we are off.  The weather was very foggy and lots of mist and rain which is typical of this time of the year.  We were glad to have our raincoats.  The scenery reminded Bob and I of Jurassic park.  Enjoy some shots of this World Heritage site. This site would be even more spectacular had it been hot and sunny....we still loved these remarkable geological formations.  Simply amazing! One of our stops was to visit a cave on one of the islands.  One hundred steps up, a bit of a challenge for Naomi's knee as only 5 we...