This is the last entry of our great adventure. Filled with great impressions and 100 of stories it is difficult to get back on track - the question always comes up: do I really want to get into the normal stressy chaos? This will remain to be solved.

But here is what happened the last days:
everything went smooth flight Hanoi - BKK no trouble and finding a place to stay easy. One good thing to know for families: kids don't pay riding the airport express bus into Khao San which saves 150 B per person. In the evening we strolled around finding a park where people did aerobics and a fireeater practised, also a group of breakdancers. After sitting down watching them do their most artistic exercises they offered to teach us the basics. Soon Robin and Megan were trying hard - this is why we got invited to the next days B-boy competition in Bangkoks biggest shopping mall. This was an extraordinary day - surrounded just with local people. They picked us up from that park - we walked and waited then we rode a cab (8 people) to end up at the place 3 hours early. Nobody spoke English and we communicated with hands and feet. We spent the whole Sunday with them. At the end Megan was suddenly in one of the competition groups and without knowing she was on stage in the middle of hundreds of Thais screaming and clapping for the dancers. Even she was almost paralized she did well doing her handstand - of course nothing comparable to the boys but considering the situation it was quite brave and I was pretty proud of her.




And now watch what they do:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvN_mFZzEgo&feature=related

At night we rounded our trip with a foot massage for mommy (ahhhh) and a fish nibbling for the kids (lots of laughter)




And here a short statistic:

lost items: 2 books, 1 knive and 1 pair of sunglasses
left behind: 3 pairs of stinking hiking sandals, 2 worn-out pieces of underware
used: 2 bottles of mosquito spray, one bottle of sunscreen
pharmacy visits: 4x buying 3 bottles of cough sirup, 4 bottles of lice treatment (yeah!!!), 1 pack of cough drops
painful: 1 sunburn
amazing: drinking of 4x 1.5 liter water in only 6 hours and only 1 time going pee the whole day (sweating took care of the rest)
bus rides: 11x (4x in a sleeper bus)
boat: 8x
car/jeep: 5x
minibus: 2x
taxi: 13x
train: 1x
plane: 6x
bike: 2x
motor bike - xe om: 2x
tuk-tuk: 15x
cyclo: 2x

days: 40
distance travelled: 4900 km - 3050 miles

After resting our butts from the motorcycle ride we started the next morning for our last adventure: Halong Bay --- this is what everybody has already seen on TV, in a magazine or in a brochure: Pictures of boats cruising the bay with it's beautiful mountains sticking out of the sea straight up a couple hundred meters.




It was only 2 hours later in the bus that I realized that I didn't even get a receipt - not very Berit like. I was so lulled into the homey atmosphere and having already done 2 trips organized by that guesthouse I completely trusted.
So this is what our deal was: Halong Bay 2 days one night - all meals included. Drive from Ninh Bing with a bus from the hotel and returning to Hanoi by bus. Kayaking and cave tour, swimming and karaoke included. 65$ pP Since I saved on time and money going to Hanoi and organizing the tour from there I took the disadvantage of not being able to compare the price (running from 50 to 85 for the same deal)

So here we were: in the bus of course a public bus even though it looks cramped



we had plenty of space and after all not bad. NO receipt - NO contract nothing only the knowledge that we paid 195$ and the trust that it will work out - somehow. 4 hours later we got thrown out of the bus in the middle of a highway in blistering heat. Soon we were surrounded by people who wanted to help -> of course it's more like earning some money from us. Since I paid for the whole trip I started explaining my situation. Needless to say that
first nobody cared
second nobody understood us.
One taxi driver offered to call a friend who spoke English and he called the number of the guest house 160 km away to ask about the deal. Really nice. He even called back 3 minutes later and suddenly from the middle of nowhere a guy came and explained us that he was already waiting for us. And so it was: we drove with the cab - no additional pay - to the harbor got transferred on a boat then again onto another boat. All went smooth, even the biggest chaos turned into something that was actually organized. Great.
We just had a good time: the cabin was nice - water for the shower not enough - but who cares. Food was great, nice people from Australia, Belgium, France and Switzerland. The kids also made friends with always smiling Quan, a trainee for a tour guide on the boat, and they learned a new card game called: Bullshit. Of course they loved it.
Jumping off the boat from all the top (about 6or 7 m) and kayaking was fantastic and so all in all a perfect 2 days - we neglect the crazy and uncomfortable ride back to Hanoi in the minibus.
Quan guided us last night through Hanoi and pointed out this ladyman - I wouldn't have guessed ... thank you for a nice evening, Quan - Megan already wrote you an email.

Yesterday we arrived Ninh Binh (100km south of Hanoi) at 5:30 am with our sleeper open bus (11.5 hours) and it was raining. Not very pleasant but that's part of the deal - we took our "Holy Planet" - this time not for a reading session but for finding out where the hack we got dropped off and where the hell to turn - quickly ... as I mentioned it was raining and our rain coats were very well hidden in the packs.

Megan in the sleeper bus - as usual a little advantage her short size...


20 minutes later: We negotiated the hotel price from 25 to 12 without air con after we woke up the owner. The room wasn't available but since all Vietnamese are big hearted when it comes to children we were able to sleep in one of their rooms for another hour and a half.
After breakfast we finally did it: Motorbikes. The kids have been eager since a long time to rent them and I could talk the lady into having Megan and Robin on one and I took another one. When you rent them with the driver they are called XE OM.



Since we didn't want to see any pagodas or temples anymore we only went to Mua Cave. The cave itself was not terribly impressive but the panoramic view over the so called dry- Halong Bay was terrific. 500 steps up on one of those funny shaped mountains... the 3 Austrian girls from Upper Austria were already there (we met them in the sleeper bus).


Then back on our xe oms we drove through backroads inmidst of rice paddies and buffaloes to the boats that would get us through 3 grottoes called Tam Coc, the heart of the dry Halong Bay. This place has already turned into a tourist spot with vendors wanting to sell you silk sticheries or T-shirts or drinks or whatever during the boat ride. Interesting is the part that when you ask them a question before the usual "No English" is replied, but the most important words for selling all that crap are well known. We didn't have a problem since we are already proofed and trained so our driver only ruined his tip at the end - he shouldn't have asked for it because if I feel forced into tipping then I just ignore it.
The rowing technique is great instead our backward paddling here they mainly row with their legs going forward:



Why this here is called the dry Halong Bay - beat me! It was rather wet...



People working next to the Tourist drive:



After a hearty dinner with the obligated fried rice and fried goat (a local speciality - we even saw them climbing the hills) we called it a day.

Today - OK we did it again - first they laughed at my suggestion of maybe taking motos to the National park: Cuc Phuong NP. Last night they came and offered 2 xe oms for the 130km drive. I can only say - we are back healthy but my butt: it hurts. Finally some kids stuff was on: after tons of "dead" stones and holy buddahs something "alive".We went to see the Endagered Primate Rescue Center and the Turtle Conservatorium. The first place was founded by a German so you find all the monkeys named in German like Heidi, Knut und Schlappi etc... It holds about 140 creatures from 15 species of gibbons, langur and loris. What an effort they take to release them into the wilderness - some kinds are raised here so they won't extinct...monkeys make wonderful medicine in China - well worth 200 - 1000$ each.


At the Turtle farm the kids learned a lot about the why's and what of turltes and that they serve for soup ingrediences as well.
Then another 20 km into the jungle with our motos to see the 1000 yr old tree. It was a pretty strenous loop (on an easy path) 3km in and 3 out --- but it seemed very long -- We came back after 1.75 hours pretty much worn out - no food, water bottle empty BUT it was great. We were walking through swarms of 1000 of butterflies all colors all sizes - just amazing - with the motos we drove through another millions...incredible. (Unfortunately the butterflies don't show on the pics)





Another short climb up 300m to the Cave of the Prehistoric Men was well worth it since the cave was huge--- (we were thinking of you Doris! got the hick ups?) We explored with flash light and camera until Megan almost fell apart being sooo hungry. Fried Buffalo was on the menue - again local food in one of the tiny villages surrounded by the rice paddies.




And that's the guy we ate =)



It was another super day with lots of exercise - just what we needed.

Day 1:

This again was a fascinating place but completely different by what we have seen so far. Unfortunately as I already wrote before I busted my memory card through a virus and I had a sleepless night over all my missing pictures.
After all the story had a good end: I decided there must be solution and after 3.5 hours walking in the morning through the hottest city so far, talking to at least 8 people in 3 shops I found my "hero": he was a computer science student and recovered all my pictures! This little adventure cost me 40 $ and tears in my eyes, but I guess I would have paid anything. This is the shop you can trust:



So we had an afternoon till sunset for visiting the old town (citadelle old Hue). This was the emperors castle and yes, it was built for one. This area is soooo big and the parts that weren't destroyed through the different wars are great to see. It's good that there is a TV show that tells you a little bit about it in advance along with computer animation because parts are completely overgrown and hard to make out. You can see the efforts in renovating the place but don't expect European standards because you would be disappointed. All in all no matter where you turn around you have another perfect picture. I am glad that the days of filmrolls are over and we are all digital. The problem only is that you can't catch the wideness on a foto. =(
So this is just a building for the University of Arts (back then)



A cyclo driver brought us back to our hotel and he sweated quite a bit since we shared one bike. Megan always feels so sorry but when she realized that he got paid 3 times more than usual and the idea to bike instead of him calmed her down.
Oh ah, and we even met the emperor and the princess of course:



Since we are not afraid of anything we also tried the local speciality: CHE a mixture of one tablespoon of 14 ingrediences we all didn't have a clue what was in there besides banana and beans:



needless to mention that it rather looked like it was already in somebody elses mouth once it was mixed up - Megan resisted, we gave up after a bit.

Day 2:

We packed all our stuff and headed out early. The day was planned with biking to the emperor tombs and so we left our luggage at the open bus stop travel agency. This was a little challenge since my heart literally was stuck at every corner when I watched Megan with the big bike and the traffic and this all WITHOUT helmets, but since I trust my kids it all just turned out fine.


At the beginning a lady on a motorbike drove along with us talking to me about her family and lead us the way - I checked my map a couple of times and decided she didn't fool us so I started trusting her believing we will owe her to buy lunch at her restaurant. Coming out of the city the scenery was beautiful - ricefields all over and little villages with farmers living in small but nice little houses and kids "helloing" us from every corner. The lady BTW had decided to leave us in the middle of nowhere alone after I made clear that I won't pay her for guiding us since I wasn't actually looking for a guide.
I am sure most of the people we saw couldn't read or understand my map and there was many "Solly no English" but lots of friendliness and happiness and relaxation. (As I have mentioned before cardio vascular pharma products won't find a market here. =) )
We even managed all this and visited Tu Duc's tomb - hearing that he had 103 wives and many concubines and no offspring didn't make me empathetique knowing that he forced thousands to build his 1000m2 tomb area in 1864 and then when he (only 153cm tall!) died he didn't even get buried there instead the 200 servants who buried him elsewhere were beheaded.


The pagoda was only reached after another 16 km (including a little odyssey of 4 km) and a crazy railway bridge crossing (all the usual traffic: bikes and honking motos were pushing me from behind when I took this picture one-handed while biking....)



Pooped we ended up in the first and only sighted COOP supermarket and we rewared our ca 30km outing with dinner and ice cream.

Leaving Hoi An was sad but necessary. This town really ruins your bookkeeping - there is too much shopping to do and too much nice things to eat. Calories or galleries both were needed to be left behind: We have one big piece of luggage more after I found the same artist of Hanoi who I fell in love with in HCMC and I have my souvenir to bring home! You have to visit me to see this piece of art in our dining room.

This trip today earns the name rip-off a little but it was well worth it. A private car took us the 12 km to the marble mountains. The mountains consist of 5 ball shaped hills about 500m high each named for the natural element: water, wood, fire, metal and earth. We climbed about 350 stairs with some hands-on climbing through caves and were thanked with a spectacular view overlooking the 30km white sand China Beach. Quite a few pagodas and temples consumed some time, the water bottle was soon empty and the T-shirts soaked by at least 40 degrees.
At the bottom of the mountain is a village specializing in marble sculpture. There he was Mr happy Buddha, but I left him in Vietnam thinking that he only might have gotten homesick in my garden.

But now to the rip-off: the driver who was supposed to wait for us at the bottom of the mountain with all our luggage in the trunk left us waiting for an hour because he got another customer. Ok he showed up right on time for us to get to the train in Da NAng. There the train was 2 hours late - our train got moved to 5 o'clock considering the 3 hour ride to Hue and sunset at around 6 I changed the already overcharged tickets (ticket price 56000 Dongs=2.5 bucks - we had paid at the hotel 7 $) for the earlier train (which also was 2 hours late) paying an additional 4 $. Oh well, the views were great. We saw hidden beaches (reachable only by boat) and rice fields over the pass which is the climate divide between North and South Vietnam. All in all awesome!

Arriving at Hue's train station the next scam are the taxi drivers who want to bring you without the meter to the Hotel for 5 bucks - pls keep in mind that about 50$ is an average month earning. But the Amigo hotel (info also for Susi and Ingrid!) is nice only the room in 5th floor requires another shower right away.

Picture load up problem -- the new card reader doesn't work ! damn..

We travelled a lot yesterday. First an 5 hour ride in a (sleeper) bus from georgeous Mui Ne to Na Thrang right on the coast and then we had to switch bus into another sleeper (Megan just loves them since her size is just perfect!) for an over night trip to Hoi An in Central VIetnam (10 more hours) - we arrived hungry but not so tired this early morning with a beautiful sunrise and perfect weather. After an omlett breakfast we got bikes and we are touring this small though exciting little French town.


Everything is about Yin Yang - even the slightly bowed roof shingels are laid in rows concav and convex.



There is a tour to Old Houses and the Museum of traditional ceramics - we also went into the Assembly hall of Fujian Chinese. Half an hour ago we jumped into our pool and will go on at 3pm. This little town offers excellent shopping and lovely food (when we spotted our first pattiserie we couldn't resist)



- we also want to take a cooking class. Unfortunately time is rushing and so we will have to split up since Susi and Ingrid have 3 more days than we.

Today the 5 of us rented a JEEP. We went to the white and red sanddunes and went sand surfing on them.



It's called the Sahara of Vietnam and it really looks like it only that a lake with Lotus flowers is nearby and you can even take a foto with the sea in the background. Breathtaking! The only downside was that Ingrid's camera seems to have gotten sand in the shutter =( and is busted.



In the morning we got to see the fish market which we never would have approached because we've seen many markets so far. But it was completey different. The boats anker 500m and with huge baskets they ship their goods to and from the boats in order to load them on to Motos - the most important vehicle to transport things - and yes you can transport anything from 2 queensize matresses to 10 cases of beer or computer monitors plus 3 people.



At the end of a strenous 5 hour tour we hiked up the Fairy Stream. Since the little stream runs on a comfortable sand bed we walked barefoot. At the end of the day snakes seem to be around - we didn't spot any. The valley was just terrific reminding me of Bryce Canyon. Every other nation would have turned this area into a National Parc - I wouldn't be surprised if this happens in the near future.



Megan can't hardly wait to go to her gym trainings camp so she is practising wherever she can...



and Robin climbs the rocks if he is not online playing the computer somewhere

Yesterday mommy had to organize a lot of tickets for traveling for bus and plane. ALso we have a tour for today to the Cu Chi tunnels which are about 60 km from Saigon. This is the place where you can see how the Viet Cong (guerillas who were communist friendly with the North and fighting South Vietnam) were living under the ground in order to hide from the US troops who tried to control HCMC. At the site of CuChi were 16000 Viet Cong hiding also women and children in the 200 km wide tunnel net. They cooked also underground and produced bombs out of old not detonated US bombs - all in all it's amazing to see how smart they were - seeing all the traps with spikes makes you sure not ever wanting to be in a war.



This is Robin going into a tunnel and camouflaging the entrance.



We walked in the first and second level underground for about 80 m (80cm wide and 120cm high) quite scary to get stuck, hot, dark, cramped...... and this already was the touristic version - so a little bit bigger than the originals - no wonder it was hell for the GI's to enter a tunnel:



Tomorrow a tour is planned to see the floating market - unfortunately instead of seeing this places on a selfmade trip we had to book a tour since first the weather wasn't so nice so that we decided to not travel through the Mekong delta by ourselves. We will need a little drink in the morning in order to survive the traditional dancing performed for the tourists .... oh well better than not at all... and maybe it won't be so bad after all.

Tomorrow night we will hop on the bus to Mui Ne and the next stops will be Na Thrang, Hoi An, Hue and Hanoi. Realizing how little time is left we had to skip a few stops...=( our flight to BKK will be on Saturday 14th which will give us one day shopping in BKK before we will be heading home.