Hue was the Imperial capital of Viet Nam for centuries. A succession of ten or so emperors constituted the Nguyen dynasty. The Imperial court had extremely formalized and hierarchical societal roles ~ from high level mandarins to the eunuchs whose…
Travel by motorcycle ~ over the mountainous Hai Van Pass from Hoi An to Hue, Viet Nam
After almost a week back in Hoi An, relaxing at the Sleepy Gecko hostel, we decide on our next move. We are ready to have a new adventure. Our journey will take us in a Northernly direction towards the Imperial…
Hoi An, Viet Nam ~ ceramics, temples and seafood
Though a small town, Hoi An is a treasure trove of surprises at so many levels. Here is a smattering of Hoi An moments… and an inevitable set of culinary vignettes of Vietnamese street food culture. For us, Hoi An has…
Back “home” in Hoi An, Viet Nam ~ Organic farm, fruit and fish markets.
View from our current “base” in Hoi An ~ looking across the river. We chose Hoi An as our home, last year. Before we went back to Nicaragua, before we went on (this February, 2014) to discover Ubud, Bali. So…
Vietnamese Nest ~ first stop Hanoi
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…
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…