Hanoi

Another long exciting day! It started in Luang Prabang with an early wake-up call as we joined our innkeeper in his daily morning ritual of giving alms, or food, to the monks. It's a beautiful procession as there are about 3,000 monks living in over fifty temples in the small town. They all walk barefoot and carry a bucket with a tin pan lid on it which they constantly open and close (with a bit of a flourish) to receive rice balls and cookies and other food items. When the procession ended we went to the closest temple where Von gave the monks there a bucket of rice. Any extra food from the monks goes to the very poor on the outside of town.

Then off to the waterfalls outside of Luang Prabang in a van shared with a couple from Switzerland. Beautiful waterfalls, kids swimming, bugs chirping, and butterflies. Bit of a mixup timewise as Von thought our plane was at 1:30 instead of 3:00. No wonder our driver was so anxious and drove like a crazy man!

And now we are in Vietnam and Hanoi! Wow, a very busy, intense, crowded, and interesting city. And you thought New Yorkers honk their horns a lot! Went to a little local hole-in-the-wall and had some pho, the local noodle dish. All three of us ate for $5 and it was good.

Tomorrow off on a boat for two nights, so no electronic communication till Tuesday probably. Stay tuned!