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 potter...

Halong Bay, Viet Nam - January 24, 2018 Tai Chi is a wonderful way to start the day. After a cup of coffee, we met on the upper deck and our Tai Chi master, Lan, also chief bartender and waiter, led us through an early morning exercise. We do Tai Chi occasionally at home on the parking lot of the Sandy Springs Library. I don't know why we don't do it more often. It is led by a Chinese man who is trained in Chinese medicine and acupuncture but he loves Ta...

Halong Bay, Viet Nam - January 23, 2018 Every day is indeed a new adventure! We missed modern Hanoi. We missed it all together because our limited time here caused us to focus on the historic and culturally rich Old Quarter. We are told we only missed a city area with more modern-looking buildings and more modern, wider streets but everyone agrees it's still much like the Old Quarter, crowded and busy and offering all kinds of small shops and street foo...

Hanoi, Viet Nam - January 22, 2018 I have not talked about the smog. The air here looks as if a cloud is resting on the ground; the blue sky cannot be seen. The cloud however is pollution; pollution from burning rice fields, food being cooked on the street, exhausts from thousands and thousands of motor bikes and cars, nearby factory smokestacks and even the many, many sticks of incense that burn and smoke the pagodas, temples and small shrines at peopl...

I never in my life dreamed that I would be here or even seek to be here, but here we are . . . in Hanoi, NORTH VIET NAM, that vile, mysterious city we all we heard about and feared on a daily basis in the late 1960's. I get chills thinking this city was the headquarters of Ho Chi Minh who directed the horrible war that we called the Viet Nam war; what they call the Viet Nam Civil war; and what others here we have just learned call the American War. I don't ...