Early Morning Temple

Wake up call, 4:30 a.m. Oh-dark-thirty as some would say. After a full day of travel yesterday, from Halong Bay, and a crazy arrival process in Siem Reap, we started our first full day in Cambodia plenty early. Our guide and driver met us at reception at 5 …

more ...

Lifestyle Reflections

Note: I wrote the first part of this post as a draft, while in Cambodia, and then forgot to "un-draft" it. So I just realized four months later that it has not been finished or published. I will finish and publish it now.

Some of my earliest memories are of …

more ...

Halong Bay

We've just finished our morning stair workout. Four hundred thirty seven stairs to climb to the top of Ti Top island. The island was named by Ho Chi Minh, and a Russian astronaut. From the very top of this island you get a panoramic view of all of the junks …

more ...

Biking and Cooking in Hanoi

This will be my last post for a few days. Tomorrow we board a Junk on Halong Bay, and I'm certain we will not have Internet for our two days at sea. The next day is a travel day to Cambodia, so I won't have access for most of that …

more ...

Out of my Comfort Zone

The following post appears on the Luther College Ideas and Creations Blog

Saturday, 12:30 p.m.: Our guide told us the best way of visiting the war museum here in Saigon is to start on the third floor and work your way down. As we rounded the staircase onto …

more ...

The DMZ Bar

Dear British Lady in the pink denim shirt:

Thanks for an entertaining evening of dining. I'm just sorry it had to come at the expense of that nice young assistant manager you abused for the better part of thirty minutes. What was it about the graffiti filled walls and sticky …

more ...

Hang Me

The name of our lunchtime restaurant today was Hang Me. "Do you know what that means in English?", I asked our guide. "Hung Mee?" he replied with a questioning look on his face. No, I said in English we would pronounce that "Hang me!" He got it, and and mimicked …

more ...

The Red Bridge Cooking School

One of the things I have been anticipating the most on this trip is to take some cooking classes. Today was our first official lesson, at the Red Bridge Cooking School.

Our day started out with a tour of the market, which was nothing new, except that this time we …

more ...

The Flood Gates of Hoi An

Throughout all our time so far we have refrained from buying anything, at the markets we have visited, despite the aggressive sales tactics of some of the owners. We kept telling ourselves "we are traveling light, everything fits in our carryon. We will not check any luggage." Until today. The …

more ...

To Market to Market

It all started with motorbike parts. Our first day on the motorbikes, we went into the market. The first street we turned down was nothing but bits and pieces of motorbikes. After all, it takes a lot of parts to keep the millions of 20 year old motorbikes running. From …

more ...