The day in Halong Bay

4:30 am-We woke up to dogs barking throughout the city..... John suggested “barking dog soup”--lips and tongue in broth...

We had a private Boat in Halong Bay, a World Natural Heritage site. It covers an area of over 1,500 km and is dotted with thousands of rocky islands - filled with caves and grottoes.

We took a small boat through what we called, "Bob’s Cave" -with an charge extra for a camera.

When we returned to our boat,we were met by a woman in small boat with 2 children selling coral to the tourists. We bought a small piece of coral for $1.00-- She said, “Now I can feed my family for another day”.

According to our guide, Hanoi is known for 5 things- Lakes, Beautiful women, illegal wine, autumn and pho noodles

From Hanoi to Halong Bay

We dubbed our driver, The Road Warrior. Driving in Vietnam - dodging pedestrians, bikers and animals. Nothing compares to driving with a crazed Vietnamese guy.
On the 5 hour drive to Halong Bay, we stopped in a small town. After experiencing my first "squat toilet", we were tempted by the menu of “steamed, grilled and sticky dog”-- Sticky Dog: Dog intestines with dog lips cooked in dog blood....

On the ferry, we met a beautiful little girl --tried to talk as best we could and ended up exchanging presents....
Vietnamese driving-- Kill a pedestrian-- pay the police $1000
We finally arrived in Halong Bay at the mini hotel Thu Trang--it was like living in a Barbie dream house...$25

A day in Hanoi

Lunch at the Emerald (Irish pub in Hanoi)- met 2 servicemen- in MIA unit. We talk about Hanoi driving- they said that they saw a pig hit--before the pig could get up, people were carving him up for dinner...

Street Scene:

Visited the infamous "Hanoi Hilton".

Drinks by Hoan Kiem Lake

Room Service...jet lag hit John - zzzz’ing....

A trip to the Perfume Pagoda and a walk through Hanoi

We set the alarm for 5:00-- one hour early -and took a morning walk through the streets of Hanoi.

We stopped at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum-- (John has now seen all 3 embalmed leaders--Ho, Lenin, Mao... we called him "Parchment Ho"
Note: The high cost of keeping Ho-- Vietnamese people would like to “heave Ho”....

In the complex is Ho’s home on stilts--solid mahogany but very modest.

A two hour drive out of Hanoi on the limestone rocks of Huong Son Mountain is the Perfume Pagoda, a complex of some 13 shrines, temples and pagodas. The only way to reach the temples is floating along a narrow stream by row boats. An iron boat can carry 3-5 people and a large wooden boat – up to 20 locals.

The first temple is called Den Trinh (i.e. The Shrine for First Presenting), where Vietnamese burn jossticks to inform the local deities about their presence and pray for a good trip and good luck for the year ahead.

The main wharf of Huong Son mountain is the start of an uphill climb to the Main Grotto of Huong Tich.

The uphill trip takes an hour climbing on the ancient flat and sometime slippery stones. The main pagoda is set in a huge grotto. Each stalactite and stalagmite inside, which are soaked by undercurrent, is combined with a legend about its miracle and good luck.

Notes:
Gifts to Buddha-- now he gets Johnny Walker and cigarettes
Monks -- Three rules: No marriage, no wine, no dog meat....
“Hell Market”--Vietnamese people go there when they want to eat dog....
Back in Hanoi- Dinner: Mothers Pride-- 53 Ba Trien

From Hong Kong to Hanoi

Vietnam Air: We had 3 attempted boarding “against pilots objections”--the pilot and flight attendants humiliated the man with two broken legs and an IV, claiming that he was the “source of delay”.
The Vietnamese visa—even with all your paperwork competed....can be intimidating
We had a Welcoming Committee at airport with sign and flowers. They waited 4 hours for our flight
We hired a driver with guide for 1 day trip to Perfume Pagoda: $55
Hotel- New Hotel: $ 60/night
In the bar- met a guy from Singapore-- “Vietnamese are simple people with a joy of life--no worrying about tomorrow...”

Vietnam - Map and Route

From Boston to Hong Kong

Arrived in Hong Kong - our hotel, the Shangri-La Kowloon: Harbor view--spectacular--and the bill- equally spectacular.

Photo courtesy of Flickr

Mid Bite of room service hamburger--TV Commercial: “Spaniel to go....Pets are here to be loved, not to eat”

Dominican Republic Route

The Dominican Republic

My club trip this year was to Puerto Rico. John was able to join me for the last few days so we decided to take advantage of being in PR and fly over to the Dominican Republic.
We toured the entire island and found that much of the coast was devoted to gated beach communities- not our style.

We did find the capital city of Santo Domingo to be charming. The Colonial City was the first city built in the New World by European settlers, including Columbus's brother, Bartholomeo, and his son, Diego Columbus.

We drove to the Península de Samaná – it was the perfect timing to see humpback whale. The peninsula is on the migratory pattern of the North Atlantic humpback whale. We set out with fairly overcast skies and the seas were turbulent! By the time we got further out to sea, the boat was rocking and rolling and when they put on the CD of the humpback whale calls, it was hard to tell whether it was the sound of the CD or the sound of our fellow passengers throwing up over the side of the boat.

The Bioluminescent Bay near Fajardo

One of the most amazing experiences was our evening at the bioluminescent bays near Fajardo. The microscopic organisms called dinoflagellates that live in the water glow when they dart away from movement. The entire bay glowed as we went through the water.

Ponce

Ponce, the second largest city in PR, has a beautiful 19th century feel- horse-drawn carriages, lovely main square, beautiful fountains, gardens and pink marble bordered sidewalks. The main square (Plaza las Delicias) with the Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral) is gorgeous.

We even found some Puerto Rican road dogs enjoying the park bench.

Our favorite building was the Parque de Bombas, a structure built in 1882 for an exposition and converted to a firehouse the following year. Today it's a museum tracing the history of Ponce's fire brigade

Rincon

We got to the western coast and found Rincón (“corner” in Spanish). The town is famous for it’s surf- it was the site of the World Surfing Championship in 1968.

We checked out the waves and made a stop at the Horned Dorset Primavera, a gorgeous hotel with 40 whitewashed villas scattered among tropical gardens. We just looked…..

Arecibo Obervatory

We got our rental car and headed out of San Juan. Our first stop was the Arecibo Obervatory, the world’s largest radar/radio telescope. This huge 20 acre dish was constructed in a 563 foot deep karst sinkhole. It is the largest curved focusing dish on earth- which gives it the largest electromagnetic wave gathering capacity. It’s operated by Cornell University under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.

Photos from Wikipedia

Puerto Rico Route

From Boston to San Juan

We decided to take a break from corporate life and get some sunshine and easy travel. We landed in San Juan and found the most funky inn located in the heart of Old San Juan. The owner, Jan D’Espopo, has filled the 200 year old hotel with her own art…in the halls, the staircases, and the rooms. The rooms are all unique-with hand-woven tapestries, four poster beds, curious antiques- and views of the coast from the rooftop terrace. (Gallery Inn 204-206 Calle Norzagaray, Old San Juan)

We loved San Juan- especially Old San Juan. The original city was founded in 1521 (the second oldest European founded settlement in the Americas) and they have restored over 400 building from the 16-17th century –gorgeous Spanish colonial architecture. The narrow streets are paved with blue-gray stones that were used as ballast on Spanish ships).

Old San Juan is partially enclosed by walls. Sitting on a hill overlooking the harbor is the Fortress (La Fortaleza), built in 1533.