Golden Lotus Hotel Ii Hanoi

... to fill out a form detailing exactly what was in the box, then tediously fill out my details about a million times. Finally the box was sealed and I was given a receipt plus an online tracking number, and told that I should received the parcel back home within three weeks. Lovely.

Back at the hotel I did some blogging and photo uploading until it got to 4pm, when my taxi arrived. I got my stuff and was soon on the way to Da Nang airport. Once there I checked in at the ...

... and economics and have nice things and essentially become more Western. And at the same time the majority of Westerners here are all looking to escape the west and the way it ties you up - people just want to be free and enjoy life as it comes and yet are living in the least free thinking country that I’ve ever been to. It’s a strange mix. And so I sat above it all for a while in Highland Coffee today observing it, filling out my UCAS forms and contemplating ...

... to Halong Bay

This trip was delayed from yesterday as there had been a typoon in the area. Fortunately for us the day was fine although the remnants of the strong winds left the sea in a state unsuitable for kayaking which was on the agenda.

Even so, the bay is magnificent with its massive limestone rocks rising out of the Gulf of Tonkin.
An unmissable sight.

4th Day

Today has been spent booking hotel in Hoi An, which is not easy ...

The World Famous Water Puppet Show.
This was a treat - (sarcastic)
The puppets danced around in the water - a little bit like Punch and Judy and it was funny but for the wrong Reasons.
Went to the show with Emma and Katie, Emma fell asleep, i just wanted to know when it finished ( there is no leg room ...

... to once again take in the breathtaking scenery, meet some more people who had come to the island on other tours but had decided to stay on for a few more days, and maybe go kayaking around to other islands or, in the case of two guys travelling with us, to go visit a local fisherman who spoke no english but who offered them some honey wine and showed them the tools of his trade in exchange for a couple of beers. While tubing, waterskiing and wakeboarding ...

... They knew some American Sign Language (ASL) and some Vietnamese sign. She had said a deaf person from America came over and taught them ASL. She said that there's around 20-30 deaf people who make these bookmarks and cards in a shop not to far from where we were. She showed me some of the local signs for towns and talked about the area of Hoani. She told me that the government does not help people who are deaf so they are forced to come up with another way of ...

... had made their own way across to the island, as we had planned to. They cheered us up by saying that they had to pay 45 dollars for a room as the island was packed full. Also that the boat they came over on, full of standard package tours, was overbooked. There were 24 people on the boat and only 14 beds, so our tour didn't seem so bad after all! We had planned on staying on a few days but decided to head back top Hanoi with our tour group. No more tours though.

... resorts of Nha Trang in central Vietnam, Phu Quoc Island off the southern coast, and Cat Ba Island east of Hanoi. Duong Mai Lan, head of research and development Division for Vietravel Hanoi also said that most of his firm's tours for the May holiday have been fully booked. Lan said that Vietnamese travelers now tend to go abroad on holiday. This year the number of travelers registering domestic tours has ...

... dirait M. Lecavalier. Elle a réussi a convaincre Vin de nous accompagner pour les 3 jours de notre voyage a Halong. Vin parle un excellent anglais. Je me promet de l'interroger sur les us et coutumes des gens du pays (culture, éducation, santé, problèmes sociaux, etc). C'est vraiment ça qui m'intéresse! Je vous promet de mettre des photos de la gang bientot! Salut, Pat

... and a whole mess of other things. The new position placed me at Le Van Huu, a center that both Dan and I had worked at in the past. I continued teaching at HQV, but worked at LVH -- at least through the end of October. Dan's transfer would come later, but eventually, we both ended up at LVH -- something we both were very happy about.