Halong Bay to Hoi An, Viet Nam - January 25, 2018

It was a long day of travel. The Valentine Premium crew treated us to strong coffee, Tai Chi with Lan, our master, on the upper deck. We had for showers, packing and then brunch. The boat trip was complete. Done!

The rest of the day was spent 100% in travel. After leaving the boat about 11 am, we drove 4.5 hours from Ha Long to Hanoi International Airport.

We stopped for a few minutes at a pottery factory along the way.

While like all tour stopovers, it was a great place to find clean restrooms a place for good coffee and a big opportunity to spend a big bunch of tourist dollars on wonderful momentos of the trip. But this place was in fact, an amazing experience . . . it was a pottery factory and they produced art. Just look at the chain of ancient brick coal- and wood-fired kilns. And then take a look at the photos of and decorated bonsai pots, vases and handled jugs. We saw caged dogs there that were raised and trained to be guard dogs only; they fear everyone and are aggressive with all peoples. As we wondered about the caged animals, fat puppies came waddling out to meet us. They are the lucky ones. They are cute and will be loved and dwell-fed throughout their lives.

Then we flew to Da Nang. It was nighttime and dark when we arrived but we could tell that while travel agents do not promote this city for visiting it appeared to be much cleaner, newer and actually, more pleasant than cities we have visited so far in Southeast Asia. Someone, perhaps the Chinese, is pouring big money into this area building resort, after resort. Many streets are wide and well-lighted with appealing hotels and restaurants. Yes, there is traffic and street congestion here but not anything like that we saw in Hanoi. Just behind these wide boulevards, however, are small streets and rice fields.

When we arrived in the UNESCO city of Hoi An, Central Viet Nam, we were escourted to our hotel. We were so glad to finally be done with driving and flying. We entered our room; it is lovely and reminds us of accommodations we enjoyed on Bali. After we settled a moment, almost immediately we began to hear sound . . . a sound that could not be ignored. We opened the door to our patio and there in one of the cushy chairs was a mamma cat and one new-born kitten. The mamma seemed to be rejecting the kitten. The baby cried and cried. The mamma was curled up tight, not opening her breasts to the baby.

Our luggage was delivered and the staff introduced us to the room. We pointed out the dilemma happening on the patio. The guys took the baby to the grounds below thinking the mamma would follow. She snarled at them and did not readily follow. She ran away! It was very unnerving! Only nights ago I dreamed about finding young abandoned, lost kitten. Here it was playing out in real life.

We settled in for a little bit but then, out of the blue, mamma was back on our patio again but her baby was gone. She looked in our window. She called for the baby. No baby. She called again and again. Stan, dear wonderful soul, went downstairs and onto the grounds below and found the kitten who thank God, was still living. Mamma heard and suddenly ran down but would not approach. Stan laid the baby in the bushes. By this time, other hotel guests heard and noticed the commotion. Stan cautioned them back. Mamma came and grabbed the baby from under the bushes and ran away with her.

I choose to think, all is well.