Day #1 March 10-11: Honolulu to Saigon

We arrived at the Honolulu International Airport at 10 PM and met Jane, our tour transit leader.

We also met several other tour members who lived rather close to us.  That was a pleasant surprise.

Unfortunately most of them would belong to a different group.

Evan, the organizer for the tour company, Vietnam Travel split us into two groups, #1 (19 people)  and #2 (13 people).  I have no idea why he made the two groups so uneven.  We were in separate buses with separate guides, traveled to the same places, but ate at different tables and were pretty segregated to our own groups.  I was disappointed about that, but truly enjoyed the people in our own group who learned to care about and for each other along with the other group.

Our China Airlines flight to Taipei was over 11 hours, but pretty painless.  We saw three movies of our choice and had dinner and breakfast onboard the aircraft.  We arrived at 5:53 AM Taipei time.

Then came the two hour layover in Taipei and another flight to Hanoi with a meal.

In Hanoi we met our Vietnam tour guide, Hoa (pronounced wah).

A four hour bus ride to Halong Bay was exhausting but the lunch break helped to alleviate the travel weariness.

We all received our daily supply of water bottles.

Hoa peppered us with facts about Vietnam.

• Vietnamese drive on the right side of the road.
• Rice fields are distributed to families according to the size of the family.
• Duck is eaten more than chicken.
• You must be 18 to drive a motor scooter or motorcycle.  There are helmet laws and no more than three people can ride on one motorbike.
• The president of Vietnam serves a maximum of 2 terms, 4 years each.  It is a one party rule (Communist).

Our bus took us on Highway 1 which stretches from Hanoi into China. 

Although we hadn't really slept in a bed yet since the evening before, we had eaten five meals... or was it six?

We really appreciated the clean rest stops that were provided by these tourist craft shops.  This shop had handicapped young people doing embroidery work.  We were sure tempted.

Our dinner was HUGE... and delicious!

I ate so much on the trip but lost 4 pounds! I should travel more often.

We all collapsed in our very lovely Saigon Halong Hotel rooms that first night and prayed we wouldn't wake up at 3:00 AM because of the time change.