North, South Vietnam and Cambodia

We spent the Chinese New Year's Eve (Feb 7th this year) in Hanoi, Vietnam.  We went down to the river with about a million Vietnamese to watch the fireworks at midnight. Quite memorable. 

The next morning we visited the "Hanoi Hilton" where American prisoners were jailed during the Vietnam War.  It was very depressing. 

John McCain's flight suit on display, along with plenty of anti-American propaganda.  We left there and went to Halong Bay for a couple of nights. It was much more uplifting.

We took a half day cruise there. It was very relaxing. The hills reminded us of the one's we had seen along the Li River in China.

Our next stop was in Siem Reap in Cambodia to visit Angkor Wat.  We spent two days touring the 12th century ruins. Very impressive!

On our 3rd day in Siem Reap we took a boat ride on the Tonle Sap.  It is the biggest lake in Asia. We visited a floating village about 10 kilometers from shore. What an eye opener. 

This little guy was trying to sell me some crocodile meat. Check out the size of his knife!  Yikes!

All of the food in Vietnam and Cambodia was very good and beautifully presented. 

Rick with a python. 

We had a Cambodia style gondola ride in the Mekong Delta.  Note the color of the water. The entire lake looked like this.

On to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in South Vietnam where the week long new year celebration came to an end. They bring in millions of flowers to decorate public areas. This photo shows us with Don and Janie Homer. They teach in Guangzhou also, but at a different university.  Don is Jerry Homer's cousin!

We had a wonderful time seeing the sites in Ho Chi Minh. The weather was nice and warm and we enjoyed a nice dinner cruise down the Saigon River.  The only downer was a trip to the Vietnam War Museum.  Very one-sided.  All-in-all, a very nice trip.  

We begin teaching again on Monday, March 7.  We have time for one more escapade.  We're going to Hong Kong next week. We love it there!

Beautiful SW China

We have seen many beautiful pictures of SW China also known as Guilin and the Li River. The hills or mountains are granite cliffs that stick right up in the air and are covered with greenery. The movie Avatar was filmed in this area. Rick and I were able to travel there at the end of February with a dozen other BYU teachers for a week. We took a river boat up the Li River and then spent the night in Yangshuo.

These are the mountains that are on the 20 yuan bill which is worth around $3. 

That night we went fishing on the river with fishermen that were using cormorants to catch the fish. The birds have a string tied around their necks so that they can't swallow the larger fish and then the fisherman unload the fish into a basket on the boat. 

I thought that the Himalayas on this side of the world look just like the view of the mountains in Jackson Hole. Our next visit was to the beautiful city of Lijiang. We viewed the countryside and visited limestone caves. 

We visited an embroidery school where the students and masters sell their work - amazing artwork. We bought two copies of goldfish because we loved what the picture represents - families being together, happiness and good fortune all year long with 12 goldfish representing each month of the year. 

Our guide met us in Dali in her traditional Bai outfit.

We enjoy taking pictures of the little children because they all stare at us and love to say hello and goodbye. 

This is Rick holding up one of the leaning pagodas. This area in Dali is known as the Three Pagodas and is the center of Buddism in China. The largest pagoda is 1,300 years old.  The Bai people are the majority of Chinese in this area and have their own customs and beliefs. 

Rick, Richard James and I walked all of the stairs to the pagodas and the other members of our group took the shuttle. Here we are with our Rocky stance.

This is a picture of most of our group. The Birds were already at the bottom when we took this photo. 

We flew back to Guangzhou and spent a day there showing our friends around the city before we started on our next to Vietnam and Cambodia.