Of our four sons, Adam is the first one who makes the move to meet up with us on our Southeast Asia adventure. He is of course primarily motivated by his passion for food and we had talked about a…
Hanoi’s Women Museum ~ a treat! Viet Nam
Women have played an integral part in the evolving narrative of Viet Nam. As a matriarchy, the system is built around the responsibility demonstrated by women not only in raising families, but keeping the household finances together. In the rural…
Life on the other side of the Hanoi river, Viet Nam
With this last minute, surprise exchange, we once again rediscover why we like home exchange – because it takes us to places we wouldn’t otherwise go see and meet people we wouldn’t meet. Witness the bridge we cross to the…
We are back ~ in Hanoi, Viet Nam…
So what are we doing back in Viet Nam? Two reasons we are here… One reason is Ben’s consulting work which focuses around bamboo in Indonesia and Viet Nam. Second, most exciting, is to meet Adam, one of our four…
Flying from Kuala Lumpur, post Malaysian Airlines 370
A couple of days ago I find out from Ben that when we leave Indonesia, our flight to Vietnam is on Malaysia Airlines. (Yup, the same airlines which just had a plane disappear mysteriously from the sky.) We are scheduled…
You say potato, I say po-ta-to… We say tuk tuk, they say beca. ~ Yogyakarta, Indonesia
To each city, it’s preferred mode of transportation. In Jogja, it’s the Beca. (Pronounced Betcha) These 3 wheel variants on rickshaws (thus the name TRIshaws), are ubiquitous. And, since as mentioned before, Yogyakarta residents are a creative bunch, it makes…
Jogja food markets, Indonesia.
Those who know us know that markets are a favorite destination for us. Here are highlights of our Jogja market visits and scenes: A spice store with old wooden boxes filled with great smells such as anise, cardamon, fennel seed.…
The misunderstood hijab! Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Western media tends to relish the association of fully covered muslim women in dark head scarves and black full body kaftans/robes, with Islamic fundamentalism. (Such as in the photo below, taken in Iran, not by us…) NO this is NOT…