Phnom Penh, Cambodia

March 10, 2011—Our bus trip to Phnom Penh started out on a little rocky. The front desk at our hotel told us to be down at 6:30 a.m. for our taxi ride to the bus. We decided that it was safer to be there earlier so we went at 6:10. We checked out and waited for our taxi, but about ten minutes later we found out that they had not called the taxi, so they took us outside and hailed a taxi for us. The driver took us to the pick-up point and dropped us off. Unfortunately, he dropped us at another bus stop, but we didn’t know it at the time. When we showed our receipt for the Phnom Penh-Sorya Transport Company to the guy at the bus, he said that he didn’t know the company but offered to sell us tickets on his bus. We started to, but then Steve refused. We started to walk away when a local told us that the place we wanted was just down the street. We thanked her and walked that direction. Everything was closed so we were a bit confused until another local guided us to the right spot. Neither of these two people asked us for a thing, which was really nice. We were finally at the right spot so the man gave us our tickets, and we climbed in the van. We were now sure that the guy back down the street knew exactly where we needed to be—amazing.

It was now 6:40, and our bus was supposed to leave at 6:45 so we were a bit stressed. We tried to relax when the driver told Steve that the bus would wait. We finally got everyone picked up and drove to the bus, where we all piled on and took off. We were pleased to see that this bus was much nicer than the last one. The drive to get out of Saigon took us almost an hour because of the horrible traffic. Also, at one point a power line had come down so our bus had to cross traffic to the left lane and VERY slowly creep under another part of the power line. A little further down the road, we could hear the overhead power lines scraping against the bus. It was all a little unnerving.

The rest of the Vietnam drive was through the usual countryside filled with beautiful, green rice paddies for mile after mile. When we reached the border, we stopped and had to take our luggage in to be scanned. Our guide had collected all the passports in order to expedite the process at the border so we stood in line to wait until they called our names, and then we picked up our passports, gave them back to our guide, and got back on the bus. We drove a few hundred yards to the Cambodian processing center and again got out of the bus, without luggage this time. We went into the center and had a seat. We had also paid our guide $50 for our visas for Cambodia so he took care of everything. All we had to do was sign the visa application and then pass through Immigration and Customs. It was all very well coordinated and took very little time, and it was the first time in Vietnam that we felt we got what we paid for.

A few minutes later we stopped for a quick lunch; however, Steve and I were short on cash. Thankfully, we had eaten something for breakfast so we could wait. The last part of the drive took about three hours. At one point we had to cross the Mekong River on a ferry. The driver took the bus down an uneven road and pulled it onto the ferry, along with two other large tour buses and a truck. One family in the truck beside us had so many people crowded in that we took a picture.

When we arrived in Phnom Penh the bus pulled into the central bus station, which was a pretty busy place. We grabbed our bags and began to walk. It didn’t take five seconds before a taxi driver asked if we needed a ride so we told him no and said that we already had one. He actually followed us to see if we did. At one point we thought that we had lost him, but he then appeared from another side. We just kept walking until we found an ATM where we got some money, and we were surprised that it was U.S. currency. There was a hamburger place next door so we went in to eat lunch.

We finished lunch and grabbed a remorque-moto, which is a trailer hitched to a motorcycle, and went to the Silver River Hotel¸ where we checked in and went up to our room. The room was small but very nice, and we again have a balcony that will be great in the afternoons. We took a break and then went down to schedule our bus to Siem Reap on Friday.

Today we left with our guide Mr. Thay for a day of sightseeing in his Tuk-Tuk. Our first stop was at the Royal Palace. The grounds were beautiful with flowering trees and shrubs, and the buildings were spectacular. Unfortunately, we were limited to just two areas, but it was well worth the time to walk around and to see all the artifacts from the royal families.

After the Royal Palace Mr. Thay drove us to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, formerly known as Security Prison 21. This facility was Tuol Svay Prey High School before it was transformed into a security prison by the Khmer Rouge where political prisoners were interrogated and tortured. We walked through the cells and through rooms filled with photographs of the many prisoners who were tortured and murdered. It was a very moving experience, and everyone there was very somber. We are pleased that they have created a museum to memorialize the victims.

After the museum we felt that we needed a break so we asked Mr. Thay to take us to a restaurant for lunch, where we enjoyed a sandwich and a Caesar salad. Next we drove through Phnom Penh and headed for the Killing Fields. The drive provided us with a great view of the people and how they live and work in Cambodia. We love riding in the Tuk-Tuks because we can see all around us, which is not the case in a taxi. It was about 10 miles so we just relaxed and enjoyed the view. The best part of the ride was when a man on a motorscooter passed us with two pigs strapped on the back of his cycle--and Steve got the picture.

We arrived at the Killings Fields of Choeung Ek. Rising above the 129 mass graves is a beautiful white stupa or religious monument that serves as a memorial to the some 17,000 men, women, and children who were killed here. Encased inside the stupa are almost 9,000 human skulls found during excavations in 1980. It was overwhelming.

From the stupa we walked through the fields where large craters remain from the excavations. Every now and then we could see pieces of clothing or bone coming through the dirt. It is so hard to fathom what happened here, and we left feeling sad.

We returned to Phnom Penh and made a quick stop at the Russian Market, which is much like the Central Market. We picked up a few items, including some “Panasonic” batteries. We did not want to pack our recharger for batteries, so we figured that we would just buy them along the way. Well, we bought eight batteries yesterday, and when Steve used them today, four batteries were good for about 10 pictures—then nothing. Thankfully, we have the small camera that we can charge, but we are still going to buy a lot of “Panasonic” batteries for the next two days.

We were tired and hot, so we had Mr. Thai take us back to our hotel. We thanked him and shook his hand, and then we paid him his fee plus a tip because he was an excellent driver and a very nice man.

Now it was time to cool off since it had become quite warm in the afternoon. We relaxed in the room for awhile and then left to walk to the river. On the way we passed the National Museum, which is spectacular building. Unfortunately, it was closing in 30 minutes, so we continued on to the river where there is a very nice river walk.

Tonight we will pack up so that we will be ready to leave early tomorrow for Siem Reap—another glorious bus ride. This ride will be with the same company as the last bus trip, so it should be fine. Also, it will give us a chance to see more of the Cambodian countryside.

Saigon, Vietnam

March 8, 2011—Ngoc Huyen, our tailor, delivered our clothes to our hotel at 12:30 and showed us all the items. They were all very nicely done so we thanked her and paid her the balance. We ate some lunch and then waited for our driver, who picked us up at 3 o’clock. We had to drive back to Da Nang, which took about 30 minutes. Da Nang is an international airport, and we saw a new airport being built adjacent to the old one.

We checked in for our flight and had to wait about an hour before we could board our flight. The plastic seats in the boarding area were not exactly comfortable, but it was, as always, interesting to watch all the people. The boarding attendant called our flight so we gave her our ticket and boarded a bus, which then transported us to our plane. The plane was a nice new Airbus 330. We boarded the plane and got comfortable in our seats with plenty of leg room this time.

We took off on time and headed south to Saigon. We were on the right side of the plane, and we could see a very large and very dark thundercloud off to our right. The pilot was making a slight turn to the left in order to go around the thunderhead. As we traveled along, we enjoyed an absolutely stunning sunset behind the dark clouds. Along the way we also saw lightening in the clouds, which made me wonder if this leg of our trip through Vietnam would also have an element of excitement. Alas, nothing happened, and we landed safely at the Ho Chi Ming City airport.

We had asked our hotel, the Blue Diamond, to send a car to pick us up, but when we exited the baggage claim area, no one was there with a sign for us. We found the hotel number and called them, but they just suggested that we get a cab. We had read that the taxis here were difficult to deal with, but we walked up to the taxi warden and told him where we needed to go. He signaled a taxi for us and off we drove—at the slowest pace imaginable. Usually these taxis are flying by, and here we are in the slowest one I have ever seen. Later we discussed that we had read something about the traffic being so congested that they now meter on time instead of distance, which might have been why he was driving so slowly.

We finally arrived at the Blue Diamond Hotel so we paid the taxi driver, who tried to get more money from us, but we held firm on the meter price. We checked in, and they informed us that they were overbooked so we would be put in the VIP suite for the evening and then moved to our reserved room the next day. Wow! Now things were looking up. The room was on the top floor and very spacious. We quickly changed clothes and headed out to dinner as it was now 8:30 p.m., and we had not eaten any dinner. We walked around the block but saw nothing that caught our interest so we decided to return to the hotel and just order room service instead. We ordered sea bass and baby-back ribs and waited for about 30 minutes. Finally, our food arrived, and we sat down to eat it. Unfortunately, the food had cooled off, but the bass and the ribs were excellent. We relaxed for the rest of the evening in our luxurious surroundings.

This morning we decided walk to the bank to exchange some money because we need U.S. dollars at the Cambodian border; however, the bank would not give us U.S. dollars. Next we went to the post office to mail a postcard, and we were amazed to see the post office filled with souvenirs for tourists to buy. Across the street was the Notre Dame Cathedral. We walked over to look at the cathedral but did not go inside. We have read that the government is taking a more relaxed position on religion in the country.

Our next stop was the Independence Palace. Formerly South Vietnam’s Presidential Palace, the war ended on April 30, 1975, when tank #843 crashed through the gate. A replica of the tank is now parked on the lawn outside. The building has been restored; however, everything else is original vintage 1960s—the furnishings, the radios, the phones, the kitchen, etc. There were many photos, and also the requisite educational film. We left about 2 minutes into the showing.

We returned to our hotel to move our things to our new room; however, it was not ready. They said it would be just a few minutes so we decided to cool off and relax for a bit. At one o’clock we gave up and went down stairs. We asked when our room would be ready and if was a deluxe room, which we had booked. The young lady said that since we had the VIP room last night, we would get only a superior. We took issue with this as they had overbooked their rooms and upgraded us without our asking. We said that we expected a deluxe room, and the young lady said that she would speak to the manager.

We left to have some lunch and walked around the block several times before deciding on a restaurant. We noticed that several shops had generators outside their doors, and while we were having lunch, we found out why—the power went out. It took just 15 minutes before the restaurant was stuffy and hot.

Afterward we walked to the Ben Thanh Market to look for some souvenirs as we are always the tourists. The market was filled with fruit, vegetables, meat, clothing, and, of course, the usual souvenir trinkets. It was a huge market, and we could only stay for a short while before the shop keepers got to be too much. Steve said that this market was not any different than any of the other markets we have been to—too much stuff and most it is made in China.

We retreated to our hotel and finally got into our new room. It was quite hot this afternoon, and we are trying to pace ourselves in order to get to Cambodia. Steve still has a cold, and my foot is still on the mend. We decided to go to dinner at the Barbeque Garden Restaurant so we walked the three blocks to find it without any problems. We ordered our skewers of meat, and then we cooked the skewers on the grill at our table. It was really delicious, and the place had a very nice atmosphere.

We decided to stay just one day in Saigon. Obviously, we could spend many days here; however, we need to finish up the travels so tomorrow we leave by bus for Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Hoi An, Vietnam

March 6, 2011—Our bus trip to Hoi An began at 8:15 on Saturday, March 5. The bus arrived on time, and we loaded our bags and climbed aboard. The bus looked fairly good on the outside, but the inside was well worn, and the seats were very close together, which left very little leg room for Steve. We moved to about four different seats trying to find a good one for the four-hour drive. We finally settled in about three rows from the back on the left side.

It then took us another hour to pick up all the passengers who were scattered in about five hotels. Riding in the full-size bus down the narrow streets with cars and motorcycles everywhere was quite interesting. Finally, an hour later we were on our way with a completely full bus. There was an assortment of nationalities on board—Australian, German, French, and Russian. The air-conditioning system was not working, but it was a cool and overcast day, so opening the windows worked fine and the rain made everything look so clean and very green.

About two hours into the trip, the driver made a right turn, and we entered a small town. Now this is where things get interesting. Our bus suddenly swerved hard to the left, and a young Australian lady sitting on the high back seat let loose with an expletive. Ahead of us we saw trees approaching the front windshield of the bus, and then we came to a stop. The young lady told us that when we swerved to the left, a truck in the oncoming lane was headed right for us. At that time, someone said that we had hit a pedestrian. There was an EMT with the Australian group, so he ran out to see if he could help. The local man was carried across the street, and the EMT examined him. When he returned to the bus, the EMT said that he appeared to have a broken ankle. Someone loaded him up and drove him to the hospital. We think that the bus just missed hitting him but did hit his foot.

Now the police arrived, and all the passengers got off the bus. A few of us walked across the street to use the restroom, and then we waited. About an hour later, the police were finished so we got back onto the bus and resumed our trip. I swear that not five minutes had passed when, once again, the driver swerved the wheel. The young lady in the back told us that a car in the on-coming lane was passing, and our driver had to swerve to give the car room. At this point I was hoping that our life insurance premiums were up to date. Everyone on the bus was now a bit edgy.

We stopped for lunch at a small restaurant where we had just 30 minutes so Steve and I ate an ice cream and a small baguette—what a nutritious meal. We were back on the road, and now the bus was climbing a two-lane mountain road. We were approaching a hair-pin turn, and Steve and I looked up at the road above us. We saw a medium-size truck that was transporting pigs coming down toward the turn. At that point another truck of about the same size passed the transport truck, which meant that right at the hair-pin in the curve, there were three of us spread across two lanes. There was complete silence on the bus as we all held our breaths. Everyone made it through the turn, but now I had truly had enough. Unfortunately, we really didn’t have any options so we just hung on and prayed.

We passed through Da Nang, which was the area of China Beach during the war. We were amazed at the number of five-star resorts that are built or are being built all along this stretch. We arrived at Hoi An around 1:30, and as soon as the bus stopped, we got off and caught a taxi to our hotel to check in and eat a decent meal. We have a large corner room with a balcony, and we enjoyed the afternoon sitting on the balcony. Steve told me that he thought he was getting a cold and didn’t feel well, so we ordered a pizza to be delivered to the room and just took it easy. My foot was still sore so the rest helped it feel better.

This morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and then left on a motor scooter that we had rented. The drive through the streets was challenging but not nearly as bad as in Hanoi or Hue. We drove down to the Central Market and parked on the sidewalk. A woman was sitting in front of her shop and asked us to look at her designs. We agreed, and the next thing we knew, I had bought a pants outfit and Steve had bought a shirt. When we were done, we walked around for awhile, and we stopped to see a temple since we had not seen one in Vietnam.

Next we decided to drive out to the beach to have lunch. We found a lovely restaurant right on the beach where we enjoyed a meal of prawns and cold beer. There was a cool breeze coming in from the water, and it was so relaxing and beautiful.

It is interesting here because people use round boats, actually large baskets sealed with tar, to fish. One man brought in jellyfish and was cleaning them.

We decided to drive a little further out of town to enjoy the country side. Hoi An is a lovely town on the shores of the South China Sea. The area seems to be handling growth much better than the other cities we have visited, and we really liked it here.

We returned to the hotel for awhile and then went back to the tailor shop to check on our order. We tried on our clothes and they needed only minor adjustments. Steve was so pleased with his shirt that he ordered two more. She promised to deliver the clothes to us tomorrow before we fly to Saigon in the afternoon.

We are glad that we stopped here in Hoi An.

Hue, Vietnam

March 4, 2011—Our train boarded on time, and we found our berth in Car 7, Berths 19 and 20. We were traveling in “hard sleeper,” which meant six berths, three on each side. Our berth mates were three Vietnamese women, but, luckily, our berths were on the bottom so it was easy for me to get in and out. We put our bags away and waited to leave. Since there were only bunks in the berth, we had to lie down all the time. Our train left Hanoi at 7 p.m.; unfortunately, it was too dark to see any of the countryside.

We went to tried to go to sleep early, since there was nothing to do, but our berth mates were having too much fun talking until late in the evening. Our sleep was marginal that night, and at 6 a.m. our ladies decided that it was time to get up, so we had no real choice in the matter.

We decided to go to the Dining Car for some coffee. We had to go through about five cars, but the reward was a place for us to sit down for awhile. We ordered coffee, Vietnamese coffee that is made from a syrup, and enjoyed the very green and lush countryside. It had rained the night before so everything looked nice and clean.

We returned to our car to find that the ladies had put up the two middle bunks, so it was possible for us to sit, almost. One of the women picked up their plastic coffee cups, so we were happy to see that they were conscious of trash, but that came to an end when she dropped them out the window. That was disappointing because we knew there were trash bins on the train. Then the oldest woman started asking us question such as where we had come from and where we were going. When we answered her, she gave us a hard time about our pronunciation and continued to do so throughout our conversation. We just kept smiling and even gave them “Albuquerque” to pronounce, which was quite interesting. If we had it to do over again, we would not take this train.

We arrived in Hue at 8 a.m. and found a taxi to the Romance Hotel. It is a new hotel, and the room was very nice. Yen, the front office manager, welcomed us and gave us tour information. We booked a tour of the DMZ for the next day, and then we went to the room so that I could rest my foot.

In the afternoon we walked around the block looking for a place to have lunch, and we found a small, local restaurant that served hamburgers. After lunch, my foot was becoming sore so we headed back. We relaxed during the afternoon and then ate dinner at the hotel restaurant on the top floor. Our server was the most delightful young woman named Pha. Her English was quite good, and she was very happy to talk with us. The next morning she was back at work so we chatted again during breakfast.

When we booked our tour of the DMZ, we decided to take a private tour, mainly because of my foot. The public tour could have included up to 50 people and would last 12 hours. I couldn’t see climbing up and down the bus steps all day long. Our driver Tien picked us up at 8:30, and we began our two-hour drive to the DMZ. We drove through small towns and a country side full of rice paddies. When we arrived at Dong Ha, our guide Mr. Tahm joined us. He is 57 years old so he was 15 in 1968, and he shared some stories about the area with us.

On our way to the tunnels, we stopped at a monument to the couriers during the war. There was also a statue dedicated to the women in the south waiting for their husbands to come home.
We drove to the Hien Luong Bridge on the Ben Hai River. This bridge divided the north and south from 1954 to 1956, when reunification was to take place. This did not happen and, for a number of reasons, America was eventually drawn into the war after the withdrawal of the French.

Our next stop was the Vinh Moc Tunnels. We had to drive quite a distance on a dirt road through the country side. Mr. Tahm took us to the museum on the site, and then we walked to one of the entrances. The tunnel went down about 36 to 40 feet. We saw alcoves off the main tunnel where families lived. The alcoves were about 5 feet high, 4 feet wide, and 10 feet deep. There was a maternity alcove about the same size. There was also a hospital, a nursery, and a kindergarten. The tunnels were on the shore of the Gulf of Tonkin so they had fresh air coming from the sea that funneled through the tunnels. We went down to the second level, which was about 47 feet. The tunnels were dark but illuminated by lights every now and then. The tour was very interesting; however, I was happy when we exited the tunnels.

After the tunnels, our tour seemed to fall apart. Mr. Tahm and our driver drove us by the beach on the Gulf of Tonkin and then back to Dong Ha where we ate lunch at a nice restaurant. After that Mr. Tahm said that he needed to leave, and our driver would take us back to Hue. Tien drove us back by another road so at least we had a chance to see new scenery. We did get caught in traffic when we came upon a traffic accident. Tien just drove past the backed-up trucks until he pulled up right at the wreck. Then it was only a few minutes before we were able to squeeze on the side of the road to get past the wreck.

We returned to Hue around 3:15 and Tien dropped us off at our hotel. We were very disappointed in our tour and regretted booking the private tour. We felt that Mr. Tahm and Tien were rushing us through so that they would be done early. We continue to learn as we go.

Today we went out on our own and walked across the river to the Citadel, which houses the Forbidden Purple City. The construction started in1805 under the reign of Emperor Gia Long and was completed in 1832 under the reign of Emperor Ming Mang. We saw a model in the palace that showed the complete layout. It was square in shape, was almost 7 miles in circumference, and included around 140 buildings. We enjoyed walking around the grounds and looking at the remnants of different buildings, some in better shape than others. This was well worth our time.

We walked back over the river and ended up eating lunch at the Hot Tuna Restaurant, which was just average. My foot was beginning to ache so we returned to our room. Later we enjoyed dinner at Little Italy Restaurant where we had ravioli and lasagna.
We leave in the morning on the bus to Hoi An. It is supposed to be a 4- to 5-hour bus ride—we shall see.

Hanoi, Vietnam

March 1, 2011—We took off from Vientiane right on time. This time we flew in a bigger, newer turboprop plane. We even received a nice little snack and a drink on the way. We landed at Hanoi Airport and were transported in a bus to Immigration where we turned in our letter authorizing a 30-day visa. One is not allowed into Vietnam without either a previously applied for visa or a letter authorizing a visa. It took only a few minutes and our visas were ready. We paid our $50, received our passports, and headed to our baggage claim.

As we left with our bags, we met our driver, who took us to his car. As we pulled out of the parking lot, we were amazed at the traffic. There were cars and motor scooters everywhere. We drove for about an hour to get to our hotel. The most amazing site on our drive was a man on a scooter with a small cow on the back of the seat. The cow was alive and hogtied with its back against the driver, and its legs were hanging off the back. Steve tried to get a picture, but our kamikaze driver was going too fast. We did, at one point, get a picture of this man with a tree on his cycle, and a family of four sharing their scooter. If we thought that Thailand was bad, Hanoi is even worse.

He stopped on the street, and Sun, from our Especen Hotel, met us. He helped Steve with our bags, and then we followed him down an alley, made a left into another alley, and there we were at the Especen Hotel. We checked in and were shown to our room—on the fifth floor, which meant climbing 80 stairs because there was no elevator. The room was large was pretty basic. It was clean so it was fine.

We put our things away, relaxed for a little while, and then headed out for dinner. We found a nice restaurant in our alley and enjoyed a delicious meal. The city at night is vibrant. There was still traffic going in all directions. Red lights apply only to cars, usually. Motor scooters don’t seem to pay attention to them. We walked along just enjoying the sights and watching the people. People were out on the sidewalks eating or just enjoying a drink. They sat on child-size stools sitting at child-size tables.

We walked along for quite awhile and went into several shops to browse. We stopped at a bakery and bought some tiramisu for dessert. The people were not as friendly as in Thailand and Laos, but they were not unfriendly either. They were just a bit standoffish. After about three hours, we decided to call it a night and returned to our hotel.

The next day had to spend some time dealing with hotel and airline reservations for our trip to Hoi An. We then walked a few blocks where we found a nice coffee bar so that we could get a caffeine fix. The coffee here is quite strong so I usually need to add some water. Steve, on the other hand, loves it.

We continued down the street to the Hoa Lo Prison Museum, better known as the “Hanoi Hilton.” We walked through the museum. The French built the prison during the 1880s but was used in the 1930s to imprison the Vietnamese revolutionaries led by Ho Chi Minh. There was a section on the American POWs with pictures and written documents, and we found that part quite biased. The pictures of the POWs eating Christmas dinner, decorating a Christmas tree, playing basketball, and shooting pool were hard to take. We had read about the bias, so we thought that we were prepared; however, it bothered us more than we expected. It did, however, cause us both to feel a tremendous amount of pride in and respect for the Americans who were held here.

We left in a somber mood and decided that we should eat some lunch. We ended up at a local restaurant close to our hotel and enjoyed noodle soup with beef brisket and shallots. From the restaurant we walked around Lake Hoan Kiem to the post office, where we bought some post cards and stamps. We continued around the lake to the market district where there were too many stores to look in. Steve did find a baseball cap for $4. We stopped to have a cold beer at Legend’s Brew Pub on the second floor of a building. From our table on the balcony, we sat and were entertained by the traffic chaos that was occurring in the street. There was a roundy-round, but the traffic ignored it. It turned out that the only thing it was good for was parking spots.

Now it was time to return to the hotel for a few hours. We had decided that we would climb those 80 stairs twice a day. Once in the afternoon and once at night—it’s all our bodies could take. Around 6:30 we left to find a street-side food hawker that we had seen the night before. It took us a little while, but we finally found it and sat down at a miniature table on miniature stools. Steve went up and ordered chicken, beef, and prawn shish kabobs with bread for us. A young lady soon delivered the skewers and bread spread with honey and grilled. It was very good food, and we were stuffed when we left.

We needed to walk off dinner, so we just strolled around the streets for awhile. I wanted to find some orange juice, but after looking up and down our street, we gave up. Steve stepped off the curb to cross the street, but I stopped to check for traffic. When I did step down, I rolled my left foot on the curb and went down—hearing cracking as I went. The curbs here meet the street at an angle so it is easier to fall. Steve came running back toy see if I was alright. I was able to get up, but I could not walk very well. We managed to get back to the hotel, where I had to deal with the 80 steps. We immediately put ice on my foot, and I took Ibuprophen. We decided to wait until morning to see how it was.

I had an uncomfortable night and in the morning my foot was swollen and very sore. Steve went online to check the U.S. Embassy site. He was able to find a medical clinic listed there, so we called and were told to come in at 9 o’clock. We had packed the night before, so we left the room and made our way down to the lobby. We had scheduled a city tour for the day so we had to cancel it. We checked out, and Sun, the manager, called a taxi for us. We were driving in morning rush hour, so it was again quite entertaining. The motor scooters would go by the taxi, scraping the handlebars as they went. What’s really amazing is that we have seen very expensive cars—BMWs, Mercedes, Audis— on these streets.

We arrived at the clinic early, but the doctor came to look at my foot almost immediately. He ordered an xray and then called me in. Luckily, I had not broken any bones. He felt that I had a severe sprain and perhaps a pulled tendon. He gave me a long-acting anti-inflammatory and the nurse wrapped my foot in an ace bandage. He said that I should stay off the foot for two days, and after that I should take it easy for a week or two. I thanked him for the excellent care and went to pay the bill, which was $149 USD.

Our next step was to find a hotel where we could hang out for the day since our train did not leave until 7 p.m. Once again, Steve got online and found one close to the train station. We were able to get a room for the day at the Eternity Hotel, which turned out to be a lovely hotel. I worked on the pictures and the blog. Steve was able to soak in a large bathtub—what a treat.
The train to Hue will take about 13 hours. We should arrive around 8 o’clock in the morning. We have read contradictory information about this trip, so we will just have to wait and see how it goes.

I hope you enjoy this video. I was not able to edit it, but we got a kick out of it.