Well, here we are (first three photos) at Halong Bay, just north of Haiphong, the major port city of Vietnam-about 3 hours drive from Hanoi. Halong Bay has thousands of small (but high) islands made of limestone with caves galore- we toured one of the largest caves and it was quite amazing- touristy, for sure, but amazing. This trip was part of the Fulbright's 3 day Orientation- we are now home and preparing for work (sort of)-tomorrow we get cell phones, open a bank account and shop for some household items like a sponge, a towel, tape, a wall clock for Eric, a frying pan, etc. Speaking of household- you're looking at it. A one room efficiency and the hall on the left takes us to our bedroom/bath. The upper floor has a large guest bedroom and bath for visitors. I have my back to a large window that looks out on Truc Bach Lake, about the size of Lake Lansing. Our address is 11 Truc Bach, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi.

Today, our second day in Hanoi, we walked for miles! For some reason, I am fascinated by the utility lines- an exposed  bramble of wire that lines street after street--with a variety of signage, products and services- very narrow shops/homes that seem to retreat forever. Apparently there was a time when property taxes were calculated using the width (not the length) of store frontage, which explains the narrow frontage. We walked by Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum ( Eric took this picture for you, Dad), the one pole pagoda (pagoda's everywhere-like churches in the US), the botanical gardens, the presidential palace, etc. Halfway home it started to pour and a guard invited us into his little shelter house to wait out the rain. We haven't been food shopping yet (we are clueless about food shopping-another thing to discover later this week). The next 3 days we will be at a Fulbright orientation. Another good day. 

First Day in Hanoi

We left LAX and 12 hours later, landed in Narita Tokyo airport- we then sprinted (led by an airport helper) to our next flight and made it in the nick of time- arriving in Hanoi at 9:30 pm. We were met by a van which took us to our new home- 11c Truc Bach Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi. The top picture is facing the front door looking left, the next picture is me looking right and the last picture is our front entrance to the apartment complex- 6 apartments, one on top of the other- we are in apartment 6. I'll take some photos of the inside tomorrow. It's an efficiency with a bedroom and bathroom and another bedroom upstairs for any visitors (Trish and Alexa- you're going to love it). Today Eric and I explored the streets around our neighborhood, ate Pho, bought a towel so we don't have to use Eric's T-shirt after our shower tomorrow morning. We practiced saying hello to everyone (chao) and when offered things on the street, replied with 'khong cam on" (no, thank you). So far, so good.

Arrived in Detroit at 6:30am- it was great having both girls with us! I promised not to cry, but that didn't work out so well (I'm sure they were happy to wave us goodbye). So here we are in LAX waiting to board the next flight to Narita, Japan- a 12 hour flight and then from there we board another plane to Hanoi- this time, only a 5 hour flight. Stay tuned...

Eric and I will be departing for Hanoi on August 22nd-an adventure awaits! Visit us from time to time to see what we're up to-and if if you want to REALLY visit us, come on over! We have an extra bedroom/bath for visitors..