GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!

Barry fulfilled one of his desires and Phyllis fulfilled one of her's when we Visited two places in Vietnam last week. Barry got to see Vietnam and Phyllis succeeded when they both concluded, there is no reason to go back for more sightseeing at another time. We wanted most of all to see the famous US Embassy which was the site where US helicopters landed on the roof and evacuated Americans and as many Vietnamese as they could scramble aboard the choppers. It was the event that the stage play Miss Saigon was written from. Below is the embassy today with armed Vietnamese soldiers guarding it. Our guide told me privately that his father and uncles fought for the South with the US and paid for it with a year in jail..probably a lite sentence. Occasionally the guide might make a reference to the war but we could have easily spent our 2 days in Vietnam without ever talking about it...it is something to most of them that happened too long ago.

This Vietnamese toddler was being used by her mother to evoke sympathy for selling post cards and other stuff for "just a doll ah"... While Vietnam is doing well, there are still many uneducated and living in shacks.

We had almost 2 hours drive into Saigon from where we docked so our guide, who was a real hoot, made a "happy stop" so we could go to the bathroom in this Walmart type supercenter. Facilites were western style and clean. Just a few years ago this kind or market store didn't exist in Vietnam.

This is the old Vietnam Palace now called Reunification Palace (something close to that). It serves as their government headquarters.

Our guide was very careful to tell us about Ho Chi Minh as the savior and grandfather of modern day re-unified Vietnam. However he was also quick to say that when the people saw socialist communism fail, the leadership of Vietnam was smart enough to open the country to normal US relations and participation in the WTO. The economic change has been outrageously successful and they will never want to go back to the old way.

Our guide said they practice several religions in Vietnam and he in fact has a brother who will be ordained a Catholic priest in May. This Mary the Virgin Church built by the French is in the very middle of downtown Saigon. It is right across the street from Ho Chi Minh Post Office which is a beautiful 19th century European influence architecture.

Phyllis and Barry Storm China Beach Da Nang Vietnam

Well maybe we didn't storm the beach like the US Marines did but we did go to a first class resort on China Beach outside of Da Nang and not far from the US Base that served as one of our headquarters during the war.

Phyllis found these bamboo fishing baskets to show you. We saw many many fishermen paddling or pushing these buckets across the water tending to their nets.

Da Nang is certainly better off than what it had been but it has a long way to go. Nice to visit once..no need to return

Phyllis found this nice material for a shawl in this indoor downtown market in Da Nang and we barterred with this 9 months pregnant Vetnamese mother and settled on a price. It makes us feel "dirty" to haggle with these people and know we are returning to the QV luxury but it is really expected and the locals like it .. like a game they play with tourists. You have to admit the sales lady looks happy.

We couldn't help but think of Bird Flu when we spotted this woman (right) buying a live chicken from the lady in the middle. Those are live chickens in the wire basket at their feet!

We were taken to a village outside of Da Nang that specializes in carving marble from nearby mountains but we were struck mostly by the ordinary citizens like the folks fishing and the ladies selling ugly fish caught in the rice paddies.

Walking Tour of Hong Kong....

We were welcomed to the Hong Kong Container Port Sunday March 9 by a spirited dragon dance and drumbeats. Ports try to outdo each other with their welcomes.

Hong Kong we were told, is the second largest container port in the world with Rotterdam number One. It is a very impressive site to see the cranes loading and unloading 18 wheeler containers. This picture doesn't do it justice and soon we will visit the #3 container port..Kuala Lumpur.

Phyllis is ready to begin our 4 hour walking tour of Hong Kong.

One of the benefits of a walking tour of the world's great cities is to see and yes, even smell how the people really live. Hanging your clothes out to dry from your apartment window is standard procedure. We couldn't help but wonder how the clothes are affected by the fumes and automobile exhaust.

Our walking tour included a street that must have had 25 shops selling all sorts of Chinese delicacies like these dried scallops..all sizes. If we are eating any of this dried food we don't want to know it. They also have dried oysters and squid.

Hong Kong is much bigger than it was when we first visited 10 years ago and their plan to make the Harbor frontage bigger by filling it in would neve have passed the Orient Code enforcer..thank God.

Check out the Chinese woman pushing her cart down a main street of Hong Kong Sunday morning.

We were fascinated and impressed with the bamboo scaffolding on this and other buildings undergoing repair or construction..good as steel, we guess.