HANOI, VIETNAM – We recently spent a day at the Japanese Culture Exchange Festival, held March 23-26 near Hoan Kiem Lake in downtown Hanoi.
Continue reading “Japanese Culture in Hanoi (watch the video)”
Japanese Culture in Hanoi (watch the video)
Nobody likes me, everybody hates me. Guess I’ll just eat… grubs
HANOI, VIETNAM – OK, I’ll admit that title isn’t entirely accurate. Not everyone hates me, and I’m sure there must be a couple people who actually like me… at least a little. And I know my wife likes me (most of the time anyway).
But I did eat a grub the other day. Several of them, in fact.
Continue reading “Nobody likes me, everybody hates me. Guess I’ll just eat… grubs”
Our traditional Tet lunch experience
HANOI, VIETNAM – As slow travelers, John and I always try to connect with the local culture, so we were thrilled to be invited recently to join a family for their traditional Tet (Lunar New Year) family lunch in a rural village just outside of Hanoi.
We really did not know what to expect, besides lots of food, so we saved the entire day for the experience, and brought a box of chocolates for our host, Khai, the number two son in the family.
Continue reading “Our traditional Tet lunch experience”
Christmas and New Year’s in Hanoi
HANOI, VIETNAM – Our Christmas and New Year’s celebrations were certainly a bit different this year. We don’t usually do much, sometimes go to a movie, usually fix ourselves a nice dinner, but we’re not big gift-givers.
We both hate that in the U.S. the “Christmas season” seems to start even before summer ends. Continue reading “Christmas and New Year’s in Hanoi”
Bangkok for the weekend? Yeah, that just happened…
HANOI, VIETNAM – Brrr, it’s chilly here in Hanoi today. Especially after spending the last three days in Bangkok, where it was sunny and 80-plus degrees (27 degrees Celsius) and we could bring our shorts and sunscreen out of hiding for a change.
Now it’s back to wearing silk long underwear and a sweater, with the hope that it might get up to 60 by the afternoon.
Three days is not nearly enough time to explore anyplace the way Melanie and I like to, but we needed to leave Vietnam because our tourist visas were about to expire.
Continue reading “Bangkok for the weekend? Yeah, that just happened…”