Flower Man in Saigon
Hi friends,
We have had some challenges getting our postings out in Viet Nam, due to some government censorship of social networking sites. Until John hooked up with an international provider that gets around the ip address (he’s such a wiz!), I thought we were going to have to wait until we got home to post the rest of our trip. I would have thought Cambodia or Thailand would be the worst about censoring material, but we didn’t have any problems there. However, one poor British bloke in Thailand has just been sentenced to 18 years for criticizing the government on his fb page!
Anyhow, we left hot, humid Saigon yesterday. We stayed 2 nights in the fabulous Majestic Hotel (the same hotel referenced many times in Graham Greene’s, A Quiet American). We were having drinks with a couple we’d met traveling out on the veranda of the hotel, when a huge, tropical downburst occurred, complete with torrential rains and lightening. An hour later when we walked out to dinner, the streets were dry!
- Fondly called “Uncle Ho” by the Viet Namese
Anyway, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) is mostly about shopping, so we did a bit of sightseeing before we caught a plane to the mountain town of Dalat (pronounced “da lot”). We got off the plane and felt like we were in a different country. The temps here range between 60 and 80 degrees F, and the humidity is low. John was stationed here 40+ years ago, and it was so poignant for me to hold his hand walking around the old square last night, and hear him say, “Yes, I remember this”. Dalat is one of the towns that both the north and south Vietnamese left alone during the war, although there was some major staging that took place out of here.
We are taking a gondola up the side of one of the mountains today, and perhaps an Easy Rider motorbike ride (with guides) to some of the outlying areas before flying back to the coast tomorrow. Hopefully, censorship skirted, we can continue posting through Hanoi, Halong Bay and Sapa–the highlights of our Viet Nam journey!
View from our Dalat hotel room
Teresa Van Haalen Ventures 
some relief from the weather here, right? bet your photo file is bulging with gorgeous images…and your stories precious. traveling mercies. xo
How is the Vietnamese food? and those trees in Dalat look like fir trees, not tropical like I would expect. I hope you are able to continue posting your trip without hassles. Have fun!
The days you were unable to post were like a void in my morning, so wonderful to be traveling with you xo Maidy
as you sleep in Dalat, we are hearing President Obama announce US combat troop withdrawal from Iraq by years end. xo
Some things we just take for granted (like fb). Reading about the floods in Thailand. Glad you’ve been able to skirt around them. The pics are awesome!
I feel so badly for those people in Thailand and Cambodia. We were just on the periphery of the flooding when we left for Viet Nam. We take SO much for granted in the US! See you soon.