February 2026 – Page 3 – On the Road with Don and Paula

**Sorry! I couldn’t help it!**
**I got so many comments about the traffic that I just had to drop this one here!**

Yesterday could be one of those days that are so completely satisfying that we could have left and came home and all would be good.

I’ll explain in a bit, first an apology for something that I have no control of and that is the weather. While the lack of sunshine and the abundance of photo-starving cloud cover is natural, the photo-guy inside me is as frustrated as can be and feels the need to just mention something about it!

OK…. now I feel better!

**These mountains and the fields at their feet are so pretty…. imagine how great they would look with some sunshine!**

Another mentionable item…. While we are visiting several of the indigenous peoples that have lived here for a long time, please don’t think that they are primitive. We are not on a remote island somewhere off the coast of another far-flung place that no one has visited and the tribes have not had any contact with the outside world.

Quite the opposite.

While these areas are definitely agrarian in scope, and some “beasts of burden” are still being used, there is ample evidence of a more modern technology being utilized. Take for example, this Travel Post. Without a really good wi-fi connection I would not be able to upload all of the photos, access the website utilities and then publish this mess.

Yes, they do have electricity 🙂
While most of the timber of any length has been already used elsewhere, they have formulated a solution for the poles that hold up the wires. Concrete!

**But….. they still use bamboo for water pipes! Especially out in the fields. Here is one with a modern twist to it…. the end has been fitted with a length of PVC for its final eight feet or so.**

That’s just one example. While clinging to traditions remains a central part of these folks’ lives, they are not backward in any way and as they become more acquainted with some of the more modern ways and technologies that do make life a little easier, well…. who could blame them for taking full advantage of them?

Not me! My argument would be if you really have a problem with coming here and not being able to see people sitting around a fire and chanting some guttural language while skinning a water buffalo for dinner, then I suggest that YOU come over and live that life!

It’s like when people would come to me when we were selling the Chatterbox and would complain that it was going away. I would explain that no one came forward to purchase it as a restaurant and so the property was going to be something else. They would still go on and on until I suggested that they could purchase it from us and keep it the same.

Their reaction was always the same…

“What! Do you think I’m crazy!!!???”

I rest my case and digress…..

I hope that I’ve made a point about expectations when visiting unique places around the world. What we do look for is the people themselves and their outlook on their lives and where they see themselves in this ever-shrinking world that we live in. Homogenization would be an appropriate word to use here; it is pervasive wherever you travel and it is getting worse (depending on your outlook). Maybe that in itself is a good reason to travel as soon as you can! I’ll quote Captain Woodrow Call in Lonesome Dove who realized back in 1876 that things would not remain the same for long….. saying, “I wanna do it Gus, I wanna see that country before all the bankers and lawyers all git it.”

Hence their cattle drive to the wilds of Montana.

**A few Muscovy Ducks diving for some snacks**.

At the start of this Post I mentioned that it was a good day, and it was rather fulfilling. We went on a three-hour walk through the countryside and its villages, meeting people along the way. Friendly would be an understatement the way that we were always greeted. We spoke to all of the farmers and tradesman that we encountered, all adding just a little color to this palette of life that embodies this region.

**Corn is another very important crop.**

**I’m not sure if his name is Wilbur and I didn’t see any spider webs around but did greet us nicely with whatever it is pigs say when being photographed.**

**Now this is interesting!**
We encountered this lady plying her wares several times along the way. She is a traveling grocery store complete with vegetables, spices, raw meats, and sundries. (And we’re all excited because our grocery stores started *“Shop from Home”*!)

**That’s us traveling the roads between the rice paddies and villages.**

One of the main destinations was the home of a local Veteran of the Vietnam War. (Just for perspective, they call it the “American War”.) We were invited to all come into his home where we met his family and we all had tea. Phil gave us an overview of Mr. Hein’s life, how he was affected by Agent Orange and his other military experiences.

Being able to put politics aside and have a meaningful discussion about a mutual past was quite exhilarating and sobering at the same time. Being able to hear the “other side’s” perspective was rather satisfying. Listening to someone who once was the “enemy” talk about fighting for independence and protecting their homelands rang a little close to home. Boiled down, the Vietnamese people have been subjugated for thousands of years under the Chinese, Japanese, and French, way before the USA became involved. We were there to stop the threat of Communism, which at that time was so diametrically opposed to our ways that there was no “seeing” the other side.

**Every home has a shrine for their immediate ancestors.**

I am not going to stay on this topic and defend one way or the other, but the fact that we were sitting in this man’s home, drinking tea with him, speaking about a horrible subject and seeing him smile at describing his life and family make us realize that there is always another side to a story.

**Mr. Hein and his granddaughter bidding us farewell.**

I left there quite moved by the simple fact that this opportunity was dropped at our feet and we elected to pick it up and run with it. This kind of travel may not be what everyone is looking for, but it is available if someone were interested.

And don’t get me wrong here, I am totally looking forward to the next cruise that drops us in port for a few hours and we get to come back aboard for a nice steak and lobster dinner!

**This is Paula’s photo, she titled it, “Sunset Over the Rice Paddies”. It is a good way to open this series up!**

The ‘free time’ on this trip is not anything like being on a Cruise!

We are on the go (so far) most of the day, but then, we didn’t come here to just sit around. Hence, my ‘reporting’ time to work on this Blog is much smaller than usual! Forgiveness please!

The day before yesterday we spent at a museum in Hanoi dedicated to the 54 different ethnicities that exist here in Vietnam. Phil recommended that we experience than before venturing up into the Hills for the next few days when we would visit several of those ethnicities or tribes. Thankfully Phil was there to interpret all of what we saw in the museum, being able to put it in context and then compare them all to each other learning their differences and similarities, which depended on where the particular tribe traced its origins to.

**At the entrance to the museum there is a wall with people, each one an example of their particular ethnicity, grouped by their origins.**

**Here is Paula with a bowl of the traditional soup called *Pho*, which has a billion ingredients and is quite satisfying!**

**Yes, this is the size of our group. That is Phil on the left giving us a rundown of what we can expect from the next four weeks.**

Here are some of the rules having to do with driving/walking/or being run over on the streets.

A. There are no rules

B. If you try and follow any rules you will be run over.

C. The horns work just fine over here.

D. The one with the loudest horn wins.

E. Swerving is an artform.

F. There are thousands of “Artists” here.

G. Sidewalks are for the parking of scooters.

H. Streets are for the parking of larger vehicles, wherever you want to.

J. Pedestrians are moving targets that are to be avoided, but only by enough to cause heart attacks.

K. Intersections are high-speed free-for-alls to be navigated with horns and accelerator pedals only!

If you can adhere to these guidelines then you will survive nicely!

**This is a five-way intersection…. no lights, no stop signs, nor any yields…. just gun it and go for it!**

**This is basically a one-lane street. Please note the three sets of vehicles, plus the parked one.**

**The red cars are parked, the white one is inching forward, and the scooters are all vying to be first through that narrow gap between the red and white ones.**

**Oh, and street vendors are all over adding to the organized confusion.**

**YAY !!!!! The kids were finally delivered!**

Overland to the Mai Chau Valley and Pom Coong

Now we’re talkin’!
Rice is not only a staple of the diet, it is a HUGE part of their exports

Yesterday we ventured out of the city, headed way up to the north and west of Hanoi, into the Hill Country to have the opportunity to visit some indigenous folks and experience their customs. Now, I believe that a clarification is in order here…. we will not be gathered around a fire with a boiling cauldron over it wondering what (or who) is in the soup! No different than our own indigenous peoples, modern times have infiltrated their daily lives, but still, they try their nest to cling to some of their traditions and customs, keeping their heritage alive. And turning that Heritage into a very sustainable form of tourism. The issue for anyone would be to try and sift through these experiences and separate the wheat from the chaff and not get bamboozled and then end up buying the plastic dinosaur made in China. Here is where our Tour Group comes in as Overseas Adventure Travel excels in this kind of experience as we and you will soon find out!

**This fellow is carrying some seedlings from his patch across the road to the field where they will be planted.**

On our way to the village, we stopped at a broom ‘factory’ on the side of the road. Each broom sells for about a dollar. The average income of a Vietnamese worker is about $600.00 per month.