September 14th:

Beginning on September 11th we started our journey, leaving Stowe to Burlington a forty five minute trio, then one hour to JFK, five hours waiting, seventeen hours from JFK to Singapore, 5 AM arrival, waiting until 9:30 AM for our plane to Hanoi, two and a half hours to Hanoi, one hour to our hotel, thirty-one hours in total, we arrive exhausted on September 13 at 1:00 PM. Lunch at 2:00 pm, and then our driver said he had plans to take us shopping. I looked at him like he was a creature from another planet. Seriously? Apparently, the purpose of this excursion was to acquaint me with the clothing shops that featured Vietnamese style clothing. Imagine my enthusiasm, as I could barely put one foot in front of the other. Why could this not be put off until the next day when I was rested. Answer: I was the tour guide for the rest of the group who would arrive on Monday the 14th. So off we go, me and three men who had not the slightest interest in this endeavor. Imagine a shop that is 12 feet wide and 100 feet long filled with beautiful silk and linen fabric all hand embroidered. Now imagine the clothes all hanging on various racks with the aisles being maybe 1.5 feet wide, add in three men standing waiting for you to decide what you may like. After about three stores I called it quits, stating that I could not stand up for one minute longer. Nor could I take 3 men standing and yawning.

It was an early night, as we wanted to get up at 6 AM to go to the lake to see all the morning activity. Taking our lives in our hands, we crossed the busy streets with scooters and cars aiming for us. The word was. “Do not run across the street” as the cars and motor scooters steer around you and if you run they cannot judge how you plan to go. Once you get the hang of it, it is not difficult. The park around the lake wakes up to many activities. I joined a ti chi class of older people figuring I could move as much they were. What fun. The instructor smiled, gave me the thumbs up and was quite enthusiastic to have me as a pupil. After a bit, I bowed my good-by to him and continued on my way. A bit farther around the lake, I found a group of men and woman dancing. Again I joined in and had such a good time laughing and dancing with 5 women. All of them dressed to the nines and me with my “tourist” clothes.

Shap meanwhile was missing, so I traced my steps back and found him playing badminton with three young girls. He definitely kept up his end of the game. And he was so happy to have found them. Hours later we headed back to the hotel.

The rest of the day was spent taking some of the woman shopping, a much different experience than the day before. Woman are so much more fun to be with when picking out clothes. Back to the hotel to meet the rest of the group, off to a fabulous lunch, then for a slide presentation by David Julian our instructor. This gave us a taste of where we were going and many ideas to mull over for photographing. Lastly we all trooped in the pouring rain for a half hour walk to “Train Street.: This is a street that is so narrow the train takes up the entire street. People line the sides crowding into a cafe, waiting for the train. When it is about to arrive, a whistle is blown and everyone is shoo’d off the tracks and told to tuck all feet under a chair. The whole event is quite spectacular and despite the fact it has become a tourist attraction it should not be missed.

Up at 5 AM, another day of pouring rains, we all have these enormous raincoats that envelope us so we look like blobs with feet,