Northern and Central Vietnam

Hello, my dears!  I've had a few lovely sea days, and made some stops on the way down to Saigon.  It was a pretty lazy time, as "Les Girls" and I had been here before, and we opted to take it easy.

So we took the shuttle in, had a walk around and enjoyed the scenery.

Thanks, Ada for sharing your pics....of Barbara and yours truly walking across from the mall...

So I returned the "favor" and caught Ada.

If you've never been to Vietnam, peeps, and are hankering for an adventure, please visit this beautiful country.  The people- oh, the people are amongst the most kind, warm and welcoming people on the planet.  And the land...oh, the land is beyond lovely.

(There's a political discussion just lurking under the words of my last statements... but this is not the time nor the place.  Chat me up sometimes..) Let's just say that Vietnam has recovered, has healed most of her wounds, and could not have been more welcoming.

We found the local market a LOT more interesting than the very new, very modern shopping mall.

I wish I had caught the smile that broke out on this lovely lady's face just after I took this photo.

Also notice the creative and decorative way the Vietnamese and Cambodians cut out the "eyes" of a pineapple- I've never seen it done this way any where else.  And we eat with out eyes as well as our tastebuds, right, peeps?

The area around Hong Gai is growing exponentially.   None of these city blocks of shops and flats were here when I visited half-a-dozen years ago. Don't you think you could blink and be in a street in France? 

Moving onto Chan May.  This is the port of call to visit the ancient capital of Hue, Da Nang and the US Army's famous R&R destination, China Beach.   I visited here in 2012 and, as I was feeling lazy  it was threatening rain and the bus to Hue was 90 minutes,  I decided for a little girlfriend visit morning.  

The lean to tents  shops had all the stuff we had just left behind in the finer street markets of Hong Kong- real glass made to look like jade, real Chinese-made "Rolex" watches, real silk scarves made of polyester.  You know it's a bad shopping day when Elisabeth's shopping bag comes back EMPTY.

Up on Lido, we had the pool area to ourselves.  It was quiet lovely.

I would love to use this for a "Make A Caption" contest.  Elisabeth, she is full of mischief (must be the name)... And there is no telling what language she is reading..it could be Danish, English, German, or a handful of other languages...

Actually, she's probably reading of shopping opportunities coming up in the Middle East!!