John Cumbow

July 2, 2018July 24, 2018

Look, up in the sky… It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… the sun?

Blue sky and a sunny, sandy beach in Danang Vietnam

DANANG, VIETNAM – During the entire seven months Melanie and I lived in Hanoi I don’t think we were ever seriously at risk for getting a sunburn.

Most days in Hanoi the sky was sort of a dull gray. Sometimes we were pretty sure the sun must be lurking up there somewhere, and occasionally the sky might have a slightly bluish tint or a few fluffy clouds, but mainly it was just a dingy gray.

But things are a little different now that we’ve moved to Danang. Let me explain…
Continue reading “Look, up in the sky… It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… the sun?”

May 30, 2018July 24, 2018

Learn to speak Vietnamese – Mot, Hai, Ba!

Bia is the Vietnamese word for beer (Armin Hanisch/FreeImages.com)

HANOI, VIETNAM – Melanie and I finally did it… After living in Hanoi for five months we finally signed up for a Vietnamese language course – 10 lessons over five weeks (15 hours of class time).
Continue reading “Learn to speak Vietnamese – Mot, Hai, Ba!”

May 13, 2018July 24, 2018

Sidewalks are for walking, right? Not in Hanoi…

HANOI, VIETNAM – Sidewalks in Hanoi serve many different purposes… merchandise display space for shop stalls, seating for sidewalk restaurants, parking lot for motorcycles and bicycles (and sometimes cars), work room, kitchen, grazing space for urban livestock, and occasionally as a place for pedestrians to walk.
Continue reading “Sidewalks are for walking, right? Not in Hanoi…”

April 23, 2018July 24, 2018

The Life Aquatic – Vietnam Style (Watch the video)

HANOI, VIETNAM – Vietnam’s Halong Bay is world renowned for its picturesque limestone karsts jutting skyward from the clear blue sea. Thousands of these impossible islands dot the waters off Vietnam’s northern coast.

Adjoining Halong Bay is Lan Ha Bay, less traveled by tour boats and every bit as beautiful. But the bays are not just home to lovely scenery. Thousands of people make their homes and livelihoods on the waters there. Continue reading “The Life Aquatic – Vietnam Style (Watch the video)”

April 17, 2018July 24, 2018

Cambodia – Make mine champagne

Champagne - our favorite libation — Champagne – our favorite libation (Wynan Van Niekerk/FreeImages.com)

HANOI, VIETNAM – During a recent boat tour around Lan Ha Bay we met a group of women visiting from Spain. They were traveling together around Southeast Asia and had recently visited Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

In talking with them about their adventures, I was reminded of our own trip to Angkor several years back and an amusing experience that happened one evening at our hotel. Salud!
Continue reading “Cambodia – Make mine champagne”