Our visit to the Hanoi Museum of Ethnology whets our appetite for visits to the countryside. In all, Vietnam is comprised of 54 distinct ethnic groups, each with their own language, traditions, arts, clothing etc. Here, 9 sub groups of…
Hanoi street vignettes, Viet Nam
Hanoi is full of visual surprises. Foot Massage parlors are EVERYWHERE! At about $10 for a 60mn reflexology session, it is hard NOT to have one every day… This building goes to more length than most to distinguish itself from…
Temple of Literature ~ Hanoi, Viet Nam
A rate example of well preserved Vietnamese architecture, the Temple of Literature, founded in 1070 (yes, 1000 years ago!!), by Emperor Ly Thanh Tong who dedicated to Confucius in order to honor scholars and men of literary accomplishments. The first…
Making someone’s day ~ Cuba
I remembered from our trip last year that people on the street (Trinidad in particular) came up to us asking for things like soap, pens and clothes. This time I took bars of soap especially to give to people when…
If we ever live in Cuba, it will be in Remedios…
We end our trip in what turns out to be our favorite city in Cuba – Remedios. Remedios is near the coast and looks like what we imagine Granada Nicaragua to have been like 20 years ago. As we write…
Beach Bums for a Night, in Cayo Guillermo, Cuba
The road has been built out into the ocean to allow access to a variety of cays and islands which make up the Jardines De los Reyes (Garden of Kings). Certainly the beach is magnificent. Powder white sand, translucent turquoise…
Casas Particulares ~ the ONLY way to go in Cuba ~ Holguin, Gibara and Camaguey
When we get off the bus in Holguin from La Habana, a young man with a sign “Benjamin”, awaits us, and takes us to his cousin’s “casa particular”. We usually try to organize accommodation for just the first night of a trip,…
Final moments in Cuba ~ New Year’s Eve ~ Welcome 2012!
By now we are immersed in reading multiple books written by Fidel Castro, Che Guevarra, and Jose Marti, the three leading protagonists in the history of the Cuban revolution. We cannot put these books down. The image that…