May 3, 2015 by carrievijil

Phuket, Thailand…Last Day in Asia

April 29, 2015

It’s hard to believe that this is our last day in Asia. Time has gone by too quickly. The past 2 months have flown by, but now it’s time to start our journey in Africa.

We had a great last day here in Thailand. We left Krabi for Phuket since we will be flying out of here. We figured it would be better to get to Phuket a day early just in case we ran into any issues getting here. The busride was uneventful, but once we got to the airport (the drop off point for the bus), the day got a little worse. We were supposed to have a hotel shuttle pick us up, but it wasn’t there. After an hour and two phone calls, they told us that the shuttle would cost 700 Baht (about $25). We thought this was pretty insane since the hotel was only about 2 km away. We decided to walk to the hotel which would have been fine if we didn’t need to walk around the ENTIRE airport! The walk ended up being about 11 km and it was insanely HOT! Luckily, a very nice family saw us walking down the road and picked us up about halfway through the walk. They took us to the hotel and dropped us off…we were very thankful!

After that eventful morning, it turned out that Phuket was awesome! We stayed at a nice hotel that had a full water park on the grounds, so Hayden was in heaven. He was even tall enough to ride all of the slides, so he was pretty excited. As soon as we got in, we spent an hour or so at the water park before going back to get ready for dinner. They had a surf and turf buffet, so Adam was in seafood heaven. I’m pretty sure there is now a shortage of lobster in Phuket! lol

Seafood dinner!

Surf and turf for Hayden

The hotel was right on the beach, which was great. We watched the sunset and it was beautiful!

Sunset in Phuket

Sunset over the pool

Sunset in Phuket

After another great day at the waterpark, we walked along the beach back to the airport. This was the shortcut that we should have taken in the first place! It only took us about 30 minutes to walk from the hotel to the airport and saved ourselves $25. 🙂

Nice walk to the airport

Now it’s off to Africa to spend a few days in Cape Town before we leave on our 6 week safari through South and Eastern Africa!!! So exciting!!!

April 28, 2015 by carrievijil

Paradise Found…

April 28, 2015

It’s hard to believe, but our time in Asia has almost come to an end. I can’t believe how fast time has gone…having already been gone for 2 months seems impossible! This past week went even faster because we had such an amazing time.

We ended up taking a flight from Bangkok to Krabi to save some time. The bus ride was about the same price as a plane ticket, so we decided to get here quicker and save ourselves 8 miserable hours on a bus. 🙂

Krabi was absolutely beautiful!!! I can’t say enough amazing things about how beautiful the water, beaches, and surrounding area are. The first day we just hung out at the hotel pool and on the beach. We got out into the town for dinner and Hayden was ecstatic to learn that Thai Pancakes are a local street food. We have been telling him that we’re only eating local food, so he jumped right on that and told us that he would be eating local pancakes. His favorite with topped with Nutella and sprinkles. lol That night there was a beautiful sunset (although it turned out that EVERY night had a beautiful sunset!)

“Local” Street Food…Thai Pancake with Nutella and sprinkles

Sunset at Ao Nang

The next day, we went on a speedboat tour of several islands along with two snorkeling stops. I have been dreaming of these beaches since we put Thailand on the itinerary, so this was my highlight. Luckily, the beaches did not disappoint. I wish that I could post a ton of pictures because they were all amazing. The water color was unbelievably blue in the deep areas and completely clear green/blue in the lagoons/shallow spots. It looked like it was straight off of a postcard. We went to Bamboo Beach, Maya Bay (where the movie The Beach was filmed) and Phi Phi Don to spend time on the beaches. After that, we went snorkeling at Money Bay and another spot, but I can’t remember the name. There were a ton of fish and coral, it was like being inside of a fish tank. Even Hayden loved the snorkeling and up until this point, he has always been terrified of it.

Maya Bay (from the movie The Beach)

Buried alive!

Beach Time!

On the speedboat tour

Time to snorkel in Monkey Bay

Successful snorkeling

Amazing water

The next day, we went on a kayaking/swimming/elephant riding trip near Ao Nang (where our hotel was located). The kayaking was very nice, even though it was a little hot for us with the sunshine. We got into the mountains and it cooled off in the shade. When we were kayaking through the mountains, we were able to see monkeys and gibbons up in the trees…it was pretty cool to see. After we finished kayaking, we had a good lunch on the beach before we took off to go swimming in a local river. The river was a little chilly, but fine once we got used to it.

Kayaking through the mountains

Our view at lunch

Swimming in the river

I was so proud of Hayden, he even jumped off of the rope swing into the river! He was nervous at first, but I told him that I would do it if he did. He ended up loving it and jumping over and over!

Our last adventure for the day was elephant trekking through the jungle. We were pretty excited about seeing the elephants and they certainly were impressive. Our elephant was very nice and friendly. The Mahout (trainer) was super nice and we took a nice long ride through the jungle. She got to stop and eat some bamboo and grass as we were going along. I had read about trainers that used hooks/pokers to train the elephants, but they didn’t do any of that. He did have a hook with him, but he totally used voice commands that they said that they only use the hooks in the case of an emergency or impending danger to either the elephant or a person. Hayden has a great time and even got to ride on the front of the elephant. It was a little nerve racking for me because he wasn’t strapped in or anything, but he did great and loved it!

Elephant riding

Elephant Riding

We will be going to Phuket tomorrow for our last day in Asia before we fly out to Africa. The hotel where we are staying has a water park on site, so that should be fun for everyone!

April 28, 2015 by carrievijil

One Night in Bangkok and the World’s Your Oyster….

April 23, 2015

OK, so it was more than one night in Bangkok, but I’ve been humming that song every since we got to Bangkok! It was quite an ordeal to get here, but totally worth it once we finally arrived.

Getting from Cambodia to Bangkok seemed like it should be easy: get on the bus, go through customs/immigration, get to downtown Bangkok, take a taxi to where we were staying. Unfortunately, the border crossing was crazy and insanely HOT! We spent about 2 hours getting through immigration and there was ZERO a/c in the fully enclosed room that was filled full of a ton of people. Hayden’s look pretty much says it all:

OMG…It’s HOT!!

Once we finally made it through (and then managed to find our bus again), we spent another couple of hours getting to Bangkok. We were very fortunate to meet some new friends while we were in Siem Reap and they live in Bangkok, so they invited us to stay with them. They have 2 kids just about Hayden’s age, so he was super excited to spend a couple of days playing. Their house was awesome, and the kids had a fantastic time. We went to a water park that was on top of a mall for the first day. Hayden was also able to take advantage of the fact that they lived on an international school campus (they are both teachers) and use a real classroom to do homework for a change!

Mall top water park!

School Time!

The next day, we went into town on our own and went to visit some of the temples inside of the city. We were very lucky to meet a “tourist police” officer who gave us the low-down on where to go and how much to pay for a tuk-tuk. He even found us a tuk-tuk for only 40 Baht for the entire day (about $1.10), which we were told was a great deal. The driver was super nice and even walked us into each of the places and helped us to find our way around. We went to Wat Pho, the White Buddha, Wat Arun, Wat Traimit, Wat Ratchanatdaram, and a couple of other places. It was a nice change from all of the temples in China and Vietnam that looked similar.

Giant Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho

Wat Pho

Water Garden at Wat Pho

White Buddha Temple

White Buddha

After a couple of great days in Bangkok and some great new friends, we are heading down to the beaches in Krabi for a few relaxing days before we take off to Africa next week! Woo Hoo!

April 21, 2015 by carrievijil

Conquering Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom

April 20,2015

Yesterday was a fun, but VERY HOT day. We spent the morning exploring the Angkor temple complex outside of Siem Reap. We had intended to spend most of the day here, but it was truly unbearably hot! I’m not sure of the actual temperature, but it had to be at least 100 degrees and much of the area is directly in the sun. After about 4 hours, we were all ready to get back to the pool.

We started off the day going through Angkor Wat. We originally thought we might try to make it there for sunrise, but we weren’t exactly early birds, so we got there around 8:00 am instead. In hindsight, we definitely should have goen first thing in the a.m. to avoid the heat and spend a little more time there. The temple itself was really cool. The Cambodian temples are much different than the Chinese or Vietnamese temples that we have been seeing, so it was great to see something different. The other difference at Angkor is that the temples are not “restored” like many of them in China. You can see where they have fixed some places (and there is tons of ongoing restoration), but you can also see the ruins and what has been destroyed over the past 1,000 years. We took tons of pictures, but it’s impossible to get pictures that capture how amazing it really is to see it in person.

In the tuk tuk

Angkor Wat

After spending some time going through Angkor Wat, we went over to the bigger temple complex, Angkor Thom. There are several temples inside of this complex that were really cool. Some are in better repair than others and some don’t allow kids, so we didn’t get to go through all of them. We thought that Angkor Thom was even cooler than Angkor Wat because you are able to actually climb around in the temple and explore the area.

World Heritage Site

Angkor Thom

Vijils at Angkor Thom

Angkor Thom

Vijils at Angkor Thom

Angkor Thom

Adam and Hayden had fun playing “Indiana Jones” inside of the temples! We did lots of exploring and adventuring during the day. Hayden had a great time finding the hidden doors and avoiding booby traps. lol

Hayden ” Indiana Jones” Vijil

Adam “Indiana Jones” Vijil

There were a few other areas that we explored before we gave up because we were SO HOT! It is really cool to see how old the building are and to see that first hand. There are lots of areas were the trees have grown over the buildings and into the walls.

Baphuon

Face Tower gate

Banyon Trees

It’s HOT!

April 20, 2015 by carrievijil

Flying High in Cambodia

April 19, 2015

Well, it has been an amazing 3 days so far in Siem Reap, Cam. Although we had to cut our time short here (due to the Visa incident stranding us in Hanoi, Vietnam), we still got to do just about everything that we had planned and tomorrow we will explore the Angkor complex. We did miss out on Phnom Phen where we wanted to visit the Killing Fields, but we decided to spend more our time in Siem Reap instead. We had also already done quite a bit of learning about wars in Vietnam, so Hayden would probably be a little overloaded learning about more fighting/killing. After a 14 hour bus ride (yes, 14 HOURS!) from Ho Chi Minh, we made it to our hotel at about 9:00 pm on Friday night (4/17). We spent Saturday hanging out by the pool and Hayden made a few friends while we were down there.

While we were checking into the hotel, we saw a brochure for “Flight of the Gibbon” and told Hayden about zip lining. He’s not normally a super adventurous kid (never been a fan of rollercoasters or scary stuff), but for some reason he was super excited about the idea of zip lining. We have been working to get him to try new things, so we jumped on the opportunity to try something new that he was excited about. We went first thing the next morning. The facility is inside of the Angkor park, surrounded by jungle. We got there first thing because we knew it would be hot later in the day.

They started by suiting us up and getting ready to go!

The Flying Vijils

Ready to zipline

I kept thinking that Hayden may get a little nervous, but he never even flinched! We went through the first few lines and he went all by himself! Here is a video of him going: (for anyone that is not a fan of Back to the Future”, the “they found me” reference is from the first movie…lol

There were a total of 10 zip lines and 4 suspension bridges that were all a ton of fun. We had a blast and Hayden is already pumped for another zipline trip!

Ready to go!!

We were able to get some really cool videos with the Go Pro camera…here is Adam on the longest zip line (about 900 feet)

At the highest point (where the video above started,), there is a treehouse that had awesome views of the jungle. We stayed up there for a while to cool off and relax before we went down the last three zip lines.

Up in the treehouse

View from the treehouse

Checking out the treehouse view

At the end, we repelled down to the bottom and took a group picture before heading back to the hotel

Group picture

Tomorrow will be a full day of visiting the Angkor complex to see all of the temples.

April 20, 2015 by carrievijil

Cruising Up the Mekong Delta

April 17, 2015

Yesterday we took a great boat trip up the Mekong Delta into a couple of local areas. It was neat to see the river from the point of view of the small, man powered boats. I’ll tell you what…those ladies that maneuver the boats like nobody’s business! Adam, Hayden and I each took a turn helping to paddle, but I’m pretty sure we caused more grief for her than we actually helped with the paddling. We’re not really sure how deep the water was (although I suspect pretty shallow) because it was so brown and muddy. Lots of trees and plants grow right on the side in the water, so it must not be too deep. There were several houses right along the banks as well, I guess it must not really flood all that often.

Vijils on the Mekong

Mekong Delta

Cruising on the Mekong

We paddled down to two different places; the first was a honey farm where we could hold the bees. Adam held them, but Hayden and I were too wimpy. I get a big puffy sore if I get stung and Hayden just didn’t want to do it, so we left that up to our bravest family member. lol After the honey farm, we went to a local “factory” where they make coconut candy. It was actually just a shed with the work equipment under a canopy, so it wasn’t exactly a factory, but they sure could pump out those candies quickly! Of course, we had to help support the local economy and stock up on candy. At the same place where they make the candy, they had a “pet” Python that we could hold. Hayden was a little hesitant at first, but got brave and held it on his own too.

Bee Keeper Adam

Making coconut candy

Hayden and I with the Python

Kissing my new snake friend!

Hayden with the Python

The last part of the trip was cruising up to a local Buddhist temple and statue area. On the way there, we passed a local fishing village where they were just lowering the nets into the water. After the boat ride for about 30 minutes, we made it to the temple. The temple was very pretty and the Buddha was HUGE! unfortunately, it was getting seriously hot by this time, so we were basically snapping a few pictures so that we could jump back on the bus with A/C.

Local fishing

Buddha statue

Tomorrow comes the LONG bus ride to Cambodia. We have heard that the road is terribly bumpy, so it should be an adventure!

April 17, 2015 by carrievijil

Exploring the Cu Chi Tunnels

April 15, 2015

For our first full day in Ho Chi Minh City, we decided to go see the Cu Chi tunnels. The bus ride took us about 2 hours outside of the city where they have an area set up for tours of the tunnels. Once we got there, the first thing that they go through is all of the different types of traps that the Viet Cong set up to fight the Americans. I have to say, I would NOT have wanted to be caught in any of these traps! They are very basic, but certainly effective…reminded us of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom type of stuff

Booby Trap

Booby traps

Whew…it’s hot out here

Tank climbing

After going through the traps and seeing a little bit of the daily life of the soldiers, we got to go through the actual tunnels. In the first spot, we could try getting into one of the hidden entrance holes, it was tiny. They could slip into these holes really fast and cover their tracks so that they could pop up and down around the area undetected. The next part was going through the actual tunnels. The tunnels have been widened and raised to accommodate tourists. After climbing 100 meters through the enlarged tunnel, I cannot imagine getting through these at actual size…those guys had to be tiny.

Cu Chi Tunnel

Hayden in the tunnel

Invisible entrance

Coming back out…

Adam in the tunnel

Adam going in the tunnels

The craziest part is that they lived in these tunnels for years. Not only the soldiers lived here, but village people too. They had sections for families, hospital areas, cooking areas, they even had a “honeymoon” area for newlyweds. For the most part, the local people would live in the tunnels during the day and come out at night to tend their farms and take care of their homes. At the end of the war, most of the people that lived in the tunnels and stomach parasites and many were actually mostly blind due to the lack of sunlight.

Tunnel entrance

After the tunnels, we came back into town and went to the War Reminenents Museum. In the same way as the Hoa Lo Prison, it was very skewed to anti-Americanism. All of the propaganda posters talked about beating the American aggressors and told how the rest of the world is against America. I guess it’s true that history is written by whoever is in control. There was no reference at all to the Vietnam Republic Party fighting against Communist Vietnam. We went through about 2/3 of the museum because it got a little graphic for Hayden to see. There were sections about the effects of Agent Orange and other chemical weapons that were used…pretty nasty stuff. We went through some of it to give him the gist of the info, but stayed away from some of the really gritty pictures. I guess I didn’t pay good enough attention in history class because I really didn’t realize how many people died at that time…sad stuff.

After a bit of a heavy day today, we are heading out to the Mekong Delta tomorrow to go on a boat and to see some of the local area.

April 15, 2015 by carrievijil

Homestay in Mai Chau Valley

April 13, 2015 Since we were stranded in Hanoi for an extra couple of days due to issues with our Egyptian Visas, we decided to take advantage of the extra time and get out of the city. We decided to go on a 3 day visit out to Mai Chau Valley to do a homestay in a village in the mountains. We thought this would be a great opportunity to get out of the city and to see the countryside and how the people in the villages actually live. We were not disappointed in the scenery, that is for sure! It was about a 4 hour drive to the valley and we stopped on the road above the village to get some great pictures of the view.

Mai Chau Valley

Once we arrived to the village, we had lunch at a local home. It was fabulous! I think that when we get home, I need to learn how to cook Vietnamese food. From there, we too, bikes into the house where we were going to be staying for the night. Luckily, they had a perfect bike for Hayden to ride on. (He hasn’t gotten the hang of bike riding again following surgery). After a few minutes (and a VERY rickety bamboo bridge), we got to the house where we would be staying. It was a stilt house where you sleep on the second level on a bamboo floor with a mattress on it. It was a little unnerving to step on the floor for the first time, because it’s just pieces of cut bamboo and you can see right through the floor! The bottom level of the house (ground floor), is used for eating, hanging out, etc. The area was absolutely beautiful…the pictures don’t do it justice. Hayden also made a new friend, the local dog which he named Fluffers (the dog didn’t have a name according to the people at the house).

Bicycle built for two!

Stilt house

Sleeping in the stilt house

View of Mai Chau Valley

Hayden’s new friend, Fluffers

The next day, we got up and started to head up to the mountain via motorbikes (which we had to learn to ride before we took off). It was a little nerve racking to start, but we got the hang of it. On the way up, we made a quick stop at a chopstick factory which was very different. Basically a big covered area with a couple of machines that split bamboo into smaller pieces to make the raw chopsticks (they also made icecream bar sticks). It took about an hour to get to the starting point of the trek up the mountain. It was a beautiful climb and we had a great group of people. We met 4 really nice girls (2 from Germany, 2 from Holland) that we talked to much of the way up and back down. We did lots of walking up to the top and even got to do a small river crossing. It was actually pretty funny because there was a bridge to cross the river, but the guy that built the bridge sits next to it and if you cross his bridge, you have to pay him 5,000 VND. We opted to walk through the water to save the money. Up to the village were many terraced rice fields, it was a beautiful walk up. Once at the top, we met 7 kids that were in the village while their parents were working in the fields. One of the older kids (about 10-13) watches them along with a grandmother. Hayden got to play ball with them and they were all jumping off of the rocks, it was a really neat experience. On the way back down the mountain, we stopped to skip rocks for a while at the river before getting on the motorbikes and heading back to the house for dinner and bedtime.

Ready for the motorbikes!

Quick stop on the motorbike tour

Chopstick factory

Trekking up to the village

River Crossing

Got a little wet on the water crossing!

Trekking up to the village

Terraced rice fields on the mountains

Met lots of kids in the village

Playing in the village

Playing with kids in the village

View of Mai Chau Valley

Skipping rocks at the river

That night, we had a BBQ dinner, which was great! They had a dance show after dinner where the local people did the traditional dances. Hayden, as always, was a hit with the girls. He was the first to volunteer to get up to do the dances. It’s so funny that he is so outgoing in a foreign country, but gets so anxious about these types of things at home.

Hayden and the dancing girls!

The next morning, we got up and took the bicycles and went to the 1,200 step cave. This cave was used during the bombings as a shelter for the local people. It was a VERY long climb to the top. Hayden counted each step and got to 1,148, so he felt a little cheated that he didn’t actually get to do 1,200…I was OK with the missing steps. After finally being able to breathe again at the top, it was a beautiful view. After getting back down, we stopped at a local market and had a pineapple on a stick! We figured it was a “real” pineapple popsicle. lol

100 done…only 1,048 left to go

View from the 1,148 step climb

Beat to the top by an 8 year old

I just about died…

Adventuring in the cave

Next, we’re on to Ho Chi Minh City for a few days before we move on to Cambodia and Thailand.

April 14, 2015 by carrievijil

Ha Long Bay Cruise

April 10, 2015

After a couple of days in Hanoi, we are getting out of town to go out onto Ha Long Bay. We have heard great things about the area, so we decided to make it a 2 day cruise. It’s also a pretty long bus ride (about 4 hours) out to the bay, so this would be much less rushed than doing it all in a day.

Once we got to the harbor, we took a little tender out to our boat. We were certainly glad that we chose the boat that we did because some of the ships on the water looked like they could sink at about any time!

Royal Palace Cruise Ship

Catching some rays

We got all settled in and had lunch on the boat as it was departing for the cruise. After about 3 hours of cruising, we got to a fishing village in Ba Long (little dragon) Bay where we went on a kayaking trip. It was really cool! Hayden said that he thought they all must be millionaires in Vietnam because they had houses on the water. We had to explain the difference of having a house on the water for enjoyment and for necessity. We got to take a nice 45 min trip around a mountain and see different parts of the village. It was very cool to see.

Kayaking on Ha Long Bay

Tiny mountain…lol

Ha Long Bay

Floating village on Ha Long Bay

Kayaking on Ha Long Bay

Unfortunately, it was a little cool and misting outside, but that didn’t stop us from jumping in the water when we got the chance. It was brisk (to say the least), but the water was warmer than the air, so it wasn’t all that bad. After that, we got back into the boat and started to get ready for dinner and the party/karaoke night. We got to dress up in traditional clothes which was fun.

Dressing Up!

The next morning was another day of sailing around the bay. We certainly had a nice view to wake up with!

Ha Long Bay

Following another couple of hours of sailing, we got to “Surprising Cave”. It was discovered a couple of years ago by a student studying geology and turned out to be a huge cave area. We had fun walking through the cave and pointing out different shapes that we could find inside with the rock formations.

View from Surprising Cave entrance

Surprising Cave

On the way back out of the cave, there were some ladies on boats selling everything from fish to squid to Oreos! They will actually drive their boats up to the windows of the cruise ships and you can buy stuff out of your window…pretty awesome!

Selling fish

Selling EVERYTHING!

We made it back to the hotel that same evening after returning to the harbor and taking another 4 hour bus ride back. Next on the agenda is a trip out to Mai Chau Valley to do a homestay in a local village…definitely a cultural experience!

April 13, 2015 by carrievijil

History in Hanoi, Vietnam

April 8, 2015

We have now left China and are currently in Hanoi, Vietnam. Getting here was uneventful which is always good! The flight from Hong Kong was very nice. The airlines are much different than in the US…on a 2 hour flight, we got a full lunch service! Once we landed, got through customs, and made it to our hostel, we pretty much just stayed in for the evening…we were pretty tired.

After a good night’s sleep, we started the day running over to the Egyptian embassy to apply for our Visas to travel there in June. Since we left last month, the Egyptian Visa regulations have changed and now we need to have them prior to entering the country instead of just getting them in the airport. Luckily, we are able to get them directly from the embassy here in Hanoi.

From the embassy, we took a short taxi ride to the Ho Chi Min mausoleum and Palace grounds where he lived while in and out of office. The mausoleum was a very cool place; you walked through and there was an actual (wax, I think) likeness of Ho Chi Min in a coffin. It was very quiet and somber. There were quite a few school groups there and I think it was the biggest line that we3 have encountered in Vietnam! After going through the mausoleum, we went through his living area, which was really neat. He had a few different houses that you could look into. We also saw his cars and walked through the gardens; it was a beautiful area.

One Pillar Pagoda

From there, we went to the Temple of Literature. It was a quick walk through the park, but interesting to read the history. Students used to be tested after completing their testing, if they were successful, they had their names etched into a stone with all of the successful testers for the year. (Kind of like the first yearbook!)

Temple of Literature

That afternoon, we went to the Hoa Lo Prison (Hanoi Hilton). It was certainly eye opening!! It was certainly not a place that I would even want to be kept involuntarily. We saw the remaining cells, the women’s prison, solitary confinement and death row.

Hoa Lo Prison

Hoa Lo Prison Main Cell

Hoa Lo Prison Women’s Cell

Hoa Lo Prison Solitary Confinement

Hoa Lo Prison Death Row

There was also a section on the American pilots kept during the Vietnam conflict. Wow…talk about seeing information from a different side!! They had a bunch of pictures showing the prisoners playing basketball, eating Christmas dinner, having a BBQ, and made it look like it was a resort. There was even a section in the short video that told how the Americans enjoyed their stay and that they were glad to be captured in Vietnam instead of another country and how they now saw how Vietnam was in the right and that the US was totally wrong to invade. Regardless of everyone’s personal political views, it was certainly set up to make it seem like we were pretty terrible. It’s strange to read the placards referring to the US as the “American Aggressors”, etc.

Hoa Lo Prison…American’s Clothing

Hoa Lo Prison…John McCain’s Flight Suit

Hoa Lo Prison… Pictures of American Pilots

The last section of the prison contained some pieces of sewage pipes where some of the Vietnamese prisoners escaped early in the century when Vietnam was controlled by the French. It was crazy how tiny the pipes were and how they managed to fit…goes to show how insanely skinny the prisoners were to have been able to get out that way.

Hoa Lo Prison Tunnel Escape

After a very serious afternoon of history, we went to the Water Puppet Theater for a show in the evening. It consisted of wooden puppets that are used to act out a play on a pool of water and are controlled from behind the stage by the puppeteers. Musicians play along with the show…it was very cool. Hayden enjoyed it very much. After the show, we had a great dinner on the roof level of a restaurant near our hostel with a great view of the lake in the center of town.

Water Puppet Theater

Dinner View

For the next two days, we will be going out on a cruise in Ha Long Bay. We have heard great things about it, and are looking forward to seeing the Bay for ourselves!

Vijil Family World Tour

Our Amazing Family Adventure

Backpacking in SE Asia

Phuket, Thailand…Last Day in Asia

Paradise Found…

One Night in Bangkok and the World’s Your Oyster….

Conquering Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom

Flying High in Cambodia

Cruising Up the Mekong Delta

Exploring the Cu Chi Tunnels

Homestay in Mai Chau Valley

Ha Long Bay Cruise

History in Hanoi, Vietnam