Hanoi!

We only had a couple of days in Vietnam, but we had heard such good things about Halong Bay, that we wanted to make a trip to it.  Our decisions turned out to be a good one, as we felt we got a decent picture of Hanoi in the other two nights and full day we spent in Hanoi.  Halong Bay was very pretty BUT there was a hard-to-describe guilty feeling occasionally - Halong Bay is SO overcommercialized as of today that at times, we felt like we were looking at something that was 'once' beautiful, but now has boats everywhere and trash in the water, etc.  Even so, it was still very pretty!

Here you can see just how many boats were out on the water in these pics:

 On this island, there was a really pretty cave.  It was funny because the tour guide kept telling everyone that one rock looked like this, and . . . we didn't see any of it.  The cave was very cool though!

 More pretty scenery!

 A fishing village.  We spent some time kayaking around this area.  It was really unbelievable but actually reminded James about some of the cajun boat living that occurs/used to occur in the swamps of Louisiana.  One of the buildings was a school with about 10 desks and "school".  As we paddled past, there were many young children sitting at the desks with a teacher teaching at the front of the room.  CRAZY!

 Here is the entrance to Ho Chi Minh's house on stilts  It's debated how much time he actually spent there.  Oh, and everyone in Vietnam calls Ho Chi Minh, "Uncle Ho"

 Here is his mausoleum.  We were a bit disappointed that he's in Russia getting "fixed up," as he does for 2 months every year.  I mean, the guys been dead since 1969 . . . but I guess the Russians have the most experience (Lenin has been on display since 1924).

 This is one of the few places you can get a picture of the Vietnamese army without getting your camera taken away!

 The CRAZY streets of Hanoi.  7 million people, 4 million scooters!

 We visited the "Temple of Literature" which was a really pretty park with a temple at the back.  There were a lot of young women dressed up the day we visited, evidently for a party or graduation, etc.

 This picture has probably only 50% of the girls who were taking pictures everywhere!  LOTS of posing going on at the Temple.

 Back to the streets of Hanoi.  People still used the "scales of justice" set up for carrying EVERYTHING!  We saw fruits and vegetables, eggs, LIVE CHICKENS, souvenirs - anything that needed carrying.

 Possibly one of the most meaningful trips you can make in Vietnam is to see some of the places where American POWs were held.  Here is the Hanoi Hilton, where a good bit of American soldiers, including John McCain, were imprisoned during the Vietnam War.  It was a French Colonial prison - originally used to imprison Vietnamese, but then used by the Vietnamese during the war.  It was a somber sight, but definitely worth seeing.  The Vietnamese propaganda and stories about the American POWs were laughable -- everyone in the prison was mistreated but the Americans, who had church and turkey dinners.  But, if you were willing to do some pre- or post-reading, you really gained a respect for the men who spent up to 5 years in the conditions at the prison.

 One of the cells.  The legs shackles totally immobilized the people inside.

 This is supposedly John McCain's flight suit.  McCain visited the prison at one point and said he thought the boots were not right.  He also laughed at the Christmas dinner picture -- he wasn't in it, because he kept flipping off the camera and shouting obscenities.  He was severely beaten for it - but gotta love that guy.

 Pretty church!

 Tiffany with her groceries . . .

 Rooster on the street in a city with 7 million!

 O.M.G.  This is snake liquor.  That's a real cobra inside.  The bigger one has a Cobra AND a scorpion inside.  And we southerners think moonshine will mess a person up . . .

LOTS of crazy stuff in Vietnam, but all in all, it was a BLAST!

Beijing Day 3 - Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace and Lama Temple

Day 3 in Beijing was packed: 3 sites to see!  Here is the Temple of Heaven from a distance.  It was where the emperor went to worship for a good harvest between 1420 and 1914 (or so).  It's a big park, and lots of locals spend time there in the morning.

One of the exercises that people were doing was a "game" with a racket and a ball.  The moves they were doing - spinning, flipping, etc., were pretty impressive.  It was MUCH harder than it looked.

 Tiffany worked it out a little better than I did!

Then, we rocked out some Tai Chi

 With one seriously awesome Tai Chi master

 Check out Tiffany following those moves

 By this point, she was pretty much leading the group

 And then . . . a little hackeysack!

 Looks like we made it!

 As usual, the building was ornate and beautiful

 Inside the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest

 Here are the side buildings

 Sometimes without a picture showing the perspective, it's hard to imagine how HUGE these places are

 BIG TIME!

 Some of the trees in the park were marked as between 300 and 600 years old.

 The Temple of Heaven was constructed completely without nails

 After the Temple of Heaven, we stopped for a hotpot lunch.  What you see in front of us is the hotpot, which is split between a curry sauce and a hot sauce.  It's kind of like the Melting Pot, except with asian foods.   REALLY tasty.

 What's that sign say?  OH STARBUCKS!

 Entrance to Starbucks - just kidding . . . pretty door at the Summer Palace!  The Summer Palace was built in the 1100s, after the capital was moved to Beijing, as a place for the emperor to go during the . . . summers.  It was most heavily used by the only female "empress" known as the Dragon Lady.  She was one tough cookie and ruled by having very young emperors appointed that she could control.

Here is the North Gate of the Summer Palace

Here is an old chair used by the emperor to travel

 And an open sedan chair here (up to 16 men would hold the rails).

 The first electric lights in China!!!!!1

 Here is an old man practicing his caligraphy in the park.  Very pretty!

 Uh oh!  Who was the girl who the man handed the caligraphy brush to?

 Learning how to write "Heart"

 After Tiffany's caligraphy lesson, we tried these candied treats - which I think were crab apples.  (If you don't know, we have crab apples in the States too, but typically do not eat them because they are so sour.)

 the Summer Palace is on the water

 Here is where the Dragon Lady "imprisoned" the emperor.  It was a courtyard surrounded with smaller buildings.

 I was not kidding about "imprisoned" - here is a brick wall that was built just inches behind a glass door.

 A bricked up wall and doorway.

 You can really see how this used to be a beautiful building that was open . . . not after the Dragon Lady!

 The Summer Palace had some of the most detailed work in the buildings we had seen thus far.  Here are a few paintings just on the ceiling beams.

 Nice Lantern!

 The Emperor's phone . . . installed in 1904 or so

 The water was really pretty

 The summer palace from the water

 One of the emperor's built this Long Corridor for his mother, so she could enjoy the outside even when it was hot or raining, etc.  It is 780 METERS LONG!  Seriously. Long. Corridor.

 Working it!

 Summer Palace boats

 This one is a marble boat - it hasn't ever left the harbor

 Before our boat ride!  (It was a whole $1.25 for the trip!)

 And then we headed to Lama Temple!  pretty entrance

 The first of several 'layers' of the temple.

 We've seen a LOT of Buddhas in our 2 months in Asia

 the innermost temple

 Here's the boutique hotel we stayed it.  It was a traditional courtyard house that was converted to a hotel by the owner.  All the rooms were very nice and located off of this courtyard

 Tiffany liked the doorways!

 Breakfast every morning in the courtyard!

 The courtyard was open to the elements until the hotel conversion, where it received this big sunroof!

 I mean, the girl liked the doorways!

Next up - VIETNAM!