Previously…
After a wonderful day in Halong Bay, we woke up the next morning ready for our next adventure. Our guide, Mrs. Phuong, was originally from Halong Bay and she knew all of the most picturesque places. She took us to a fishing pier that was truly amazing. We saw beautiful displays of [...]

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Tired yet?
We arrived in Hanoi on the night train from Lao Cai. It was still dark when we arrived at a mini-hotel where our people fell into bed for a couple of hours of sleep before breakfast and departure from Hanoi. That morning, unlike others, I made [...]

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After the market in Bac Ha, we went to a village named Pho. No, not Pho. Pho? What? You’re confused? Welcome to Vietnam.
You see, Chinese (yes, I mean Chinese– bear with me) is a tonal language. People who try to [...]

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Early Sunday morning we packed up and left the hotel. We set out for Bac Ha, about 3 hours away, where the largest market for the ethnic minorities in northern Vietnam is located. We drove along roads that had huts and banana plants and rice terraces and lots [...]

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Which is, in fact, appropriate, since the seventh part corresponds to our first shabbat away.
The kabbalat shabbat service that began our shabbat together was really very beautiful. All of our travelers were dressed in their nice clothing and the women ranged from lovely to elegant. The table [...]

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We arrived in SaPa at the Chau Long Hotel. The hotel has a feel not unlike that of a German or Swiss ski lodge. There’s a fireplace that usually has a burning fire in it and we are usually greeted with hot apple tea. Of course, since [...]

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It is Thursday night. Hanoi. A porter laden with suitcases and boxes arrives at the door of the train and as my travelers settle into their cabins, two at a time, he delivers three large and two small suitcases to my cabin. In addition, there is my [...]

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Having been sufficiently stunned by news of impending doom (i.e., our suitcases could be confiscated along with all we’d packed for shabbat and for other important parts of the tour), I entered the Temple of Literature compound and tried to relax. I thought of all sorts of alternatives to [...]

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Although I was of college age when the Vietnam War was taking place and people were demonstrating, some of them obsessing about every day’s battles, I was oblivious. I remained oblivious even when I got married and moved to Fort Knox, Kentucky, where my husband was serving as a [...]

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So we were airborne. Of course the luggage could not have made the flight. We had run over, under, around, and through and the baggage simply could not have been identified and transported that fast. It was all right. There would be another flight that [...]