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When Judy and I were planning this trip and I told her I wanted a place to do a writing and yoga intensive, she suggested the Avani resort. I trust Judy and her tour planning implicitly, so I said yes. But aside from a couple of pictures on the website, I hadn’t seen the place […]

Our first morning waking up in Ha Long Bay, we were gifted with our first sunny day of the whole trip, and people happily scrambled for tank tops, sun screen, hats, and sandals. After early morning yoga on the deck and omelets made to order in the galley, we set out on a morning outing

This morning, we left Hanoi and are now on a three-day, two-night cruise of Ha Long Bay, on a traditional junk, a beautifully appointed ship with sumptuous seafood meals, comfortable cabins, decks open to the vast Vietnamese sky, surrounded on all sides by the giant limestone structures this bay is famous for. Sunsets. Sunrises. Writing

The 86 million people living in Vietnam come from 54 distinct ethnic groups. The largest, the Viet, make up 86.4 percent of the population. The other 14 percent is distributed among 53 different ethnic groups, many of whom live in the mountainous regions of the north. These groups share certain similarities, but have distinct dialects,

After writing class, I just couldn’t resist bringing Karyn and Eliza to what I’d started to call the Pink Massage Palace. Allison and Kevin and Linda joined us. The six of us were all lined up getting our massage in the same room, the five women in pink and Kevin in black and white striped

Judy Slattum, tour leader, Danu Tours. Surya Made, Danu Tours, Judy’s husband and partner in their great boutique tour company. Yesterday we picked up our travelers from all over the world: Australia, Mexico, Canada, California, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Judy and Surya went to meet the first batch and our Vietnamese guide, Quynh, picked me up

Before our group arrived, Joanie and I decided to check out one of Judy’s tips to us, sent in an email before we left the U.S. “One of my favorite streets in Hanoi is Au Trieu street. Go there. You’ll see why.” So the same rainy day we toured the Hanoi Hilton, we headed in

The first thing we noticed while we were eating breakfast on the 11th floor of our hotel this morning was that the tiny people down below on the street were all wearing ponchos or holding umbrellas. It was raining. We dressed for the weather, grabbed umbrellas and headed out on foot. The second thing we

Doesn’t this couple look happy? Aren’t they beautiful? Well, I’m not. Apparently while Joanie and I have been savoring the sounds, smells (yes, even those) and tastes of Vietnam, the weather gods have been interfering with my son Eli’s arrival in Vietnam. He’s stuck in the Midwest–ice and snow. After all these years of leading

When we left the Vietnam Women’s Museum, we mapped our way to the foot massage parlor, about a mile or so away. After half an hour of swimming through streets filled with traffic and honking, we found our second destination of the day: Dai Cat foot massage. No one at the counter spoke any English

This morning, our first in Hanoi, Joanie and I woke up from our respective twin beds (with very nice down comforters, I might add), remarked on how well we’d slept, and starting kicking around what wanted to do with our wide open day. I got on Trip Advisor and read about Women’s Museum, a likely

We made it….14 hours in the air and now we’re in Tapiei and the airport is full of some of tackiest art ever. Lots of fake scenes of nature. And…we arrived at the airport on the 25th and it’s now the 27th. Whaaa? We are definitely not in the US anymore. With my propensity to

Wouldn’t you know it? My first blog post practically wrote itself before we even checked into our Eva Air flight to Taipei. Joanie and I chatted our way through the check-in line and as we approached the front, we reached into our respective purses for our tickets and passports. I grabbed mine and when I

It’s Christmas morning and I’ve come out to my office to write this inaugural Virtual Vacation blog post for my trip to Vietnam. Tonight, after Christmas dinner at my son and daughter-in-law’s house, I’m being picked up at 8 PM, by my friend Joanie, to head to the San Francisco airport for our 1 AM