Our guide: Ten

This picture was taken from our speed boat as we cruised the canals on the way to the floating market.

A snapshot of our upcoming destination

The forecast for Central Vietnam does not look good!

Week-long flooding in Vietnam kills 67, officials say

HANOI, Vietnam - Disaster officials say the death toll from floods that have battered central Vietnam over the last week is up to 67.

Seven more bodies were recovered Monday, bringing the death toll from weekend flooding to 40. Those floods were the second to hit the area in just one week. The first round of flooding killed 27 people.

Eight people were still missing and hundreds of thousands of people were still living in flooded neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, a violent storm is baring down on the region.

Tropical Storm Peipah is gathering strength and has now been upgraded to a typhoon with winds of up to 133 kilometres per hour.

Authorities distributed more than 907 tonnes of rice to flood victims, but local officials said they needed 4,989 tonnes more, the Flood and Storm Control Department said in a report Tuesday.

The typhoon is expected to unleash heavy rains that will lash central Vietnam later this week.

Vietnam is prone to floods and storms, which kill hundreds of people each year.

The Grand Palace

In front of the Grand Palace, a major tourist attraction loaded with Europeans.

Bangkok Map

We are heading up river today from the hotel to take a look at Chinatown and the temples. The river traffic is intense with all kinds of boats on it.

Late night scotch with Brian

View from the hotel window

First Day in Asia

Bangkok: Day 1

The airport is only 2 years old and looks very modern. Riding over on an A330 with a capacity of 300 people, I was surprised that there was no jet way for the plane to pull up to so we could disembark. Instead, they wheeled up the stairs and put us on busses to take us to the terminal. Not sure what that was about. Customs was a breeze and they had plenty of staff considering it was midnight, which was a relief. The Asians were very formal both here and in Japan from what I have seen. In Thailand when they thank you they put their hands together and give you a little bow. How pronounced this process is depends on what your social status is relative to them. Since I am a Farang (American / westerner) I am not sure where I stand yet.

One of my first purchases on the trip was a bottle of Aberlour 10-year at the duty free shop. They had a great selection of Scotch including some cask strength MacAllen which I took a pass on. Having a bottle with you for those moments when you need a taste of the refinements that only the Scottish highlands can offer seems like a great way to take the edge off a foreign city.

The metered taxi took us through the city to our hotel for 500 Bhat. Bhat is the national currency and is 34 bhat to a dollar making our ride about $15. At night pretty much all cities look the same from an interstate style highway and Bangkok was no exception. We stayed up until 2:30 sipping whisky looking at night view from the hotel window.

We are staying at the Sheraton Orchid Hotel on the river. The rooms have great views of all the long boats and river activity. The river is central to most of what is happening here with the barges overloaded with cargo and the long boats overloaded people.

I was able to get by with a few hours of sleep last night. After snoozing on the Tokyo – Bangkok leg of the flight I only needed a couple of hours. Right now I am enjoying a cup of Thai coffee and am paging through the local paper which is the Bangkok Post.

Today we are going to look for a river boat and check out the city from the water to start since the traffic make 494 look like the autobahn. Likely destinations will be the temples and Chinatown. More details on that later.

 

Tokyo Airport

In the Tokyo airport waiting for the connecting flight to Bangkok in the World Club lounge. Great place to hang out rather than the gate.

Flying in, the view was not what I expected, lots of farms and rice fields. I assumed it would be the stereotypical packed urban center that you read about.

Rode the first leg on the upper section of a 747: quite nice. Next leg will be a A330. Will be the first time on one of these.

This is a lot of time in the air. It was 12 hours in the air to Tokyo over the pole, 2 hour layover, then 8 hours to Bangkok. Next leg will be a breeze compared to the flight. Movie choices stunk, but the food was great: went with the tenderloin and Burgundy with a Single Malt chaser.

It's about 5:30 at night at the moment and we are a day ahead. As I write this it is 2:20 AM Minneapolis time.

Map of SE Asia

Trip Shots and immunization

It's 3rd world and you need all sorts of injections so you don't drop dead of some disease. For people that have visited Africa and the Amazon, you know what I am talking about.

For this venture we needed:

• Tetanus (good for 10 years)
• Typhoid (good for 5 years)
• Hepatitis A (good for 30 years)
  
• Hepatitis B (good for 30 years)
  
• Malaria pills taken 2 days prior and for 7 days after you get back

It's mostly about the mosquitoes and the food. Basically you bring enough deet to take a bath in, warding off all the infecting biting critters. Being from Minnesota should help me be used to these pests. The food is about being careful much like visiting Tijuana and having a good supply of drugs that will nuke anything that messes with you. 

SE Asia Travel Itinerary

Travel Itinerary

Tuesday 11/6 Day -1 Leave Msp – 1:00 PM

Weds 11/7 Day 0 Arrive Tokyo (4:40 pm); Fly to Bangkok (6:30pm - 11:45 pm)

Thursday 11/8 Day 1 Bangkok (rest and city tour)

Friday 11/9 Day 2 Bangkok (possible River Kwai tour)

Saturday 11/10 Day 3 Bangkok tour (possible canal tour); Fly to Angkor Wat (4:25 pm – 5:40 pm)

Sunday 11/11 Day 4 Angkor Wat tour

Monday 11/12 Day 5 Morning in Siem Reap; Fly to Da Nang (1:30 pm – 6:30 pm); drive to Hoi An

Tuesday 11/13 Day 6 Hoi An & My Son

Wednesday 11/14 Day 7 Drive to Hue in morning (use Kim Travel?); City tour of Hue in pm

Thursday 11/15 Day 8 (DMZ tour), return to Hue

Friday 11/16 Day 9 Drive from Hue to Da Nang in late morning; Fly to Saigon (1:40 pm – 2:50 pm)

Saturday 11/17 Day 10 Saigon (Chu Chi Tour)

Sunday 11/18 Day 11 Saigon (City tour)

Monday 11/19 Day 12 Fly to Bangkok (11:35 pm – 1:00 pm)

Tuesday 11/20 Day 13 Bangkok to Tokyo (6:00 am – 2:00 pm); Tokyo to Portland (3:05 pm – 6:55 pm; Portland to Minneapolis (9:00 am – 2:19 pm)

SE Asia Hotels

This is the Majestic Hotel in Saigon. It was the hotel of choice for the Generals during the war. I see a Cuban Cigar in my future.

This is the Angkor Waht Resort and Spa in Cambodia. It is a little know resort very near the temples (meaning we were able to get a good price). Their web site is worth a look.

EP Vietnamese Restaurant

I thought it would be a smart move to visit a Vietnamese restaurant before actually going there. Although I have an ample supply of power bars and a small jar of peanut butter, I will still need to jump into the local food faire to get the total experience.

This place is run by a family where the dad got out of Saigon in 1975, 2 days before the April 30^th fall, and settled in Minnesota. He then brought his son, our waiter, over in 1983. Located in Eden Prairie, it had an extensive menu (actually too many choices in my view) with Minnesota versions of dishes and then a dedicated page for people looking for more of a local venue. I opted for the latter, hoping that the beef designation did not mean snake, cat or some other species variety. It was great and I chased it down with a couple of Chinese beers.

When asked if there is anything we could bring back, he requested 2 cartons of branded "555" cigarettes. I had never heard of these before and looked at a pack that appeared identical to a box of Winston's. I guess he wanted to get a taste of the homeland but in assessing his age, he has probably spent more time in Minnesota than most of my friends so I am not sure why he needs the nicotine fix from the homeland.

He, Daniel, asked if we were going to play golf. I hate golf and would rather burn 4 hours and $200 dollars in local watering hole but was interested and impressed with his knowledge of the Vietnam golf scene. There are 7 courses in the country all designed by Americans or Japanese. A little trivia.

Departure countdown is at 3 days and counting.

Universal Studios

The Pier

LA: A day at the pool

Santa Monica: Day 1

View from the Pier looking towards Malibu

Dinner at Bubba Gumps

Movie set on the beach of a yet to be determined film

Santa Monica Pier Amusement Park

Santa Monica Sunset

It's MEA week which for those that are non-parents is what we used to call parent/teacher converences. I am not sure I even know what MEA stands for, but for us it usually means head out of town and visit somewhere fun.

This year we headed to LA for the week with a dual purpose. First, my father in law was receiving a lifetime achievement award later in the week in Thousand Oaks and we wanted to be there with him. Second, our kitchen is going through a major remodeling. With appliances getting ready to depart to the graveyard, day to day living was about ready to migrate to plastic cups and wall dust.



We were able to find a hotel by the Santa Monica pier with a decent view and slightly short of a house payment. The picture above is from the room window; not too bad shot.

Upon arriving late yesterday afternoon, we hit the pier making our way to the Bubba Gump shrimp joint for beers and all things shrimp or in the kids case, mac and cheese. Good beer with a great view of what looked like some kind of movie making on the beach. Will check that one out later this afternoon.

Harlow Kitchen

Before

After

Lauren's Birthday Outing

At the Mall with Maggie, Josie and Rachel

It wasn't Fast Times at Ridgemont High but rather Fast Times at Ridgedale Mall. First time when one of the girls in a pack roaming the mall was related to me. All had cell phones (on loan) and raced through the mall for 2 hours before dinner at Champps. Kind of a new era for this kind of activity. Frightening.

Dinner at Champps