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In Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) at last count, there were 47 million “motos” and 3 million cars. Incredible. We saw everything being transported, and even families of four balanced on one small motorcycle. And they rule the road, so you’d better get out of the way. This is a blurry photo, taken as we zipped by in a bus, but I just had to include it as an example of… Read More

The image of locals bicycling around Vietnam is a thing of the past – now they are on motor-scooters. Sometimes as many as 6 people, an entire family, are on one; mothers are bottle-feeding children, workers are making deliveries; lots of riders are hauling large plants for the New Year. Well-behaved children smile and wave, geese try to escape, riders don’t seem to worry about their often-precarious loads. Some look like students,… Read More

Today was a confluence of sights, sounds and impressions. The highlight of the day was a bicycle ride through a rural area in the settlement of Cam Thanh. It was a lovely, lush area and actually seemed pretty affluent. Preparations for the New Year were evident as we saw people cleaning their property, special signs and traditional chrysanthemum and kumquat plants everywhere. Some of the paths were paved, some were dirt and… Read More

A picture is worth a thousand words – this is Halong Bay. Halong translates to “Descending Dragon” and you can see how this UNESCO site got that name. Many of the limestone formations have also been given names, such as “Heavenly Gate” pictured here. The Bay is located in the Gulf of Tonkin within the South China Sea. Fog and haze surrounded our morning trip on a re-imagined “junk,” as we journeyed… Read More