We woke up too a cool morning in Mai Chau well before the sun came up as usual.  After laying on the extremely firm mattress for several hours, we decided to get an early start to the day.  We made our way downstairs where we were met by the hostess.  She offered us a breakfast […]

Mai Chau is a delightful little town surrounded by a steep limestone karst which seems to epitomize northern Vietnam.  The people are incredibly friendly, and have surprisingly good English.  I suppose that even though this little town isn’t a big tourist destination, it is close enough to Hanoi that there is enough opportunity to interface […]

Waking up in Hanoi this morning left me with some real anxiety. Today was the day we were to pick up our scooters and ride them out of the crazy Hanoi traffic and into Mai Chau. The rental process took what felt like forever and a number of hours later, we were just getting our […]

We had read reports of the airport being hawkish and local taxi drivers relentlessly soliciting foreigners for rides.  Last night there were a few solicitors, but the “hawkishness” usually went something like this: “Do you need a ride?”  “No, were ok, thank you.”  “Where are you going?”  “We don’t need a ride, thank you.”  After […]

After a long night of pretending to sleep, we got up, checked out, and set to the streets of Saigon.  A cyclone was slated to move into the city, though the full force of the reported 50 mph winds and heavy rain had not yet hit.  Instead, we found a muggy drizzle that made the […]

There is no quick way to reach Saigon from the United States, but certainly United Airlines knows how to make it take even longer. After delays and cancellations in Salt Lake, an emergency Delta flight which required an all out sprint to the adjoining terminal which sent us to San Francisco, and a long “middle […]