December 26, 2024 Hanoi, Vietnam

Today we had organized a tour so we were up early (in addition to fighting jet lag). After breakfast and several calls to wish family a Merry Christmas (we are 12 hours ahead of the east coast), we met our guide for today, Hung, in the lobby. The tour was of Ninh Binh, also known as Halong Bay on Land. We are going to Halong Bay as part of our OAT tour. The area we went today has limestone mountains, similar to Halong Bay but here they rise up out of rice paddles.

Ninh Binh is 2 hours south of Hanoi. We peppered Hung with questions about Vietnam the whole way. Hung has a 1 year old daughter so we talked a lot about education. The Vietnamese have to pay for school for their children. The first 5 years of school is mandatory but secondary school is not mandatory. The cost of school varies by location. In a village school costs about 2,000,000 VND or about $75 at current exchange rates per month. In a city like Hanoi it costs 5,000,000 VND (approximately. $200) per month. There are private schools and the one that Hung’s wife works at costs 11,000,000 VND (approximately $430) per month. Many people of child bearing age move to the city to find work. Often they send their children back to the village to live with their grandparents and to go to school there because it is cheaper but of course that means the parents and children are separated. Hung’s wife will receive a 50% discount at the school she works at so they plan to send their daughter to private school. Hung’s family is unusual in that he and his brother and sister all have college degrees. So education is important to him and his family.

After our 2 hour ride we arrived at Bich Dong (Green Pearl Cave) Pagoda, a Buddhist temple. Originally constructed in 1428 during the reign of Emperor Ly Thai To, Bich Dong Pagoda used to be a small pagoda nestled in Ngu Nhac Mountain.  In 1705, two Buddhist monks discovered this pagoda and re-constructed it into three levels (we only visited the lower two levels). The middle level is constructed in the mouth of a cave.

Here are some pictures. The arch pictured below is unique because on one column it has Chinese characters and on the other it has Vietnamese characters. It’s indicative of how often the Chinese invaded and how strong the Vietnamese pride and culture is that their language didn’t get lost.

Next we went to Tam Coc where we got on a small metal boat that was rowed by a lady using her feet. We enjoyed the limestone “mountains” (they aren’t very tall) and passed thorough caves. Here are some pictures

After our boat ride we went for lunch. We had pumpkin soup, chicken stir fry, goat with lemongrass and fried eggplant.

We wrapped up the day with a visit to Hoa Lu, the capital of Vietnam in the 10th and 11th centuries. It was chosen to the capital because it was relatively far away from the northern border with China (China had been a regular invader of Vietnam) and because it was fortified by the mountains. Here are a few pictures.

The traffic was terrible on the way back to Hanoi. We didn’t get back until about 5:30. We relaxed in the room and Rick promptly fell asleep while I blogged. We didn’t end up going out to dinner, instead we snacked on food we had in the room.

December 25,2025 Hanoi, Vietnam

Merry Christmas 🎄🎅🏻🎁🌟

Not surprisingly we woke up early this morning. It was quite hazy this morning due to the pollution.

We had breakfast at the hotel. It was a buffet that had American, European, and Asian breakfast foods. They had some interesting fruit. I had something that I initially thought was cantaloupe. It was the color of cantaloupe but it had the consistency of an apple or a pear. We also tried longan which is related to lychees. Delicious!

The wait staff were all wearing santa hats but it was more for the hotel guests. I don’t get the impression that many people here celebrate Christmas. About 20% of the country are Christians. The rest are mostly Buddhists, hence not much of a Christmas celebration.

Rick’s foot is hurting. We are guessing that his foot swelled up as a result of the long plane ride and then it was aggravated by a long walk in the Tokyo airport. So after breakfast we relaxed in the room while he elevated and iced it.

Eventually we decided to walk to the Hoàn Kiém Lake which is close to the hotel. There were lots of people out, many street vendors selling everything from fruit, vegetables, meat, prepared food, to flowers. We also saw a street based barber giving a man a shave.

After about a 15 minute walk we arrived at the lake. It was fairly small and the water was very green.

Here is the story of the lake—According to legend, a local god gave Emperor Lê Loi (in the 1400s) a sword that he used to defeat the Chinese. A Golden Turtle God surfaced while Lê Loi was boating on the lake and asked for the sword back. The emperor renamed the lake to Hoàn Kiém Lake which means return sword to commemorate this event (before it was aptly called Luc Thuy, meaning green water). The turtle tower stands on a small island near the center of the lake

Near the northern shore of the lake lies Jade Islet, on which the Temple of the Jade Mountain (Ngọc Sơn Temple) stands. The temple was erected in the 18th century. It honors the 13th-century military leader Trần Hưng Đạo who distinguished himself in defeating the Mongol invasions of Vietnam thrice. Jade Island is connected to the shore by the wooden Thê Húc Bridge, painted vermillion red. The bridge’s name is poetically translated as “Perch of the Morning Sunlight”.

At the lake we saw a lot of mostly young women dressed up, mostly in red having their pictures taken. We thought it might be related to Christmas but we asked at the hotel and they told us that it was just people having their pictures taken.

We returned to the hotel to review our lunch options. Our guide had sent us some restaurant suggestions. We decided to try a relatively safe option which turned out to be a steak place. Neither of us was really interested in that and Vietnam’s not known for it’s steak so we tried another place. It ended up being street food which seemed a little dicey for our first meal out so we just came back to the hotel and took a nap. Our nap lasted a little longer than planned.

We got up around 6 and went to dinner. I was a little nervous because the menu on google showed only dishes with small turtle and pigeon. I had pigeon in Egypt and didn’t really like it. As for small turtle, NO WAY! But luckily the menu had plenty of other stuff. We had a nice dinner, returned to the hotel and promptly collapsed. Overall a good day for starting to get over our jet lag, resting Rick’s foot, and exploring a little.

December 24, 2025 Hanoi, Vietnam

Not much to write about since we arrived in Hanoi at 10pm. We flew 13 hours from Boston to Tokyo, had 1 hour 45 minute layover in Tokyo, and then flew another 6 hours to Hanoi. Hanoi is 12 hours ahead of Boston so we are completely flipping our time. We slept some on the plane but were feeling pretty groggy an upon landing in Hanoi. Customs was easy; they didn’t even look at our visas. We exchanged some money and picked up our luggage.

The driver to take us to the hotel was outside the exit. He didn’t speak any English and communicated with us through google translate. It was about a 45 min drive to our hotel. There seems to be a lot of air pollution and it smelled quite smoky. We noticed that most of the street food cafes were still full of people at 11:00 at night. We aren’t sure if that’s because it’s Christmas Eve or if it’s always that way. Also there were lots of motor bikes.

We arrived at our hotel, May de Ville Corner Hotel. The hotel is decorated for Christmas but we didn’t seem much evidence of Christmas on the drive to the hotel. Our room is clean but a little basic. We got a little settled and promptly went to bed.

December 23, 2024 Boston to Hanoi, Vietnam

We are off again.

This time to Vietnam for about a month. We are on an Overseas Adventure Tour but are going to spend a couple of extra days in Vietnam at the beginning and end of the trip. Our trip starts in Hanoi, go north to see the hill tribes then we return to Hanoi and travel south along the coast. We hope to be blogging everyday.

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September 1, 2023 Newport, RI

Our last day on the boat. 🙁 We took the boat to the fuel dock, gassed her up, refilled the water tanks, filled the dinghy, and pump the waste. Then we loaded the rest of our stuff into the dinghy and headed out.

We decided to stop at the Herreshoff Museum in Bristol, RI on the way home. We know a boat design called Herreshoff (there’s a racing fleet of them in Edgartown) and that’s what we expected to find at the museum. The museum was focused on the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co which was founded by 2 brothers in 1878. Nathaniel Herreshoff, one of the brothers, was a genius boat designer. He designed five sloops to defend the America’s Cup and all five of them won. Rick spent a lot of time with the tour guide who was very knowledgable and went into great detail about the boats and their history.

He recommended we go to Quitos for lunch where we had a nice lunch in a beautiful setting.

After lunch we went home. All in all, it was good to be back out living on the water but it did seem like we spent too much time in Newport. Hopefully, next year, we can find a boat to rent in Long Island so we can explore someplace new.

August 31, 2023 Newport, RI

We woke up to white caps in the harbor. The white caps are a reflection of the wind speed in the harbor and the fact that the wind was coming from the North and traveling down the length of the Narraganset bay. The radio reported that the waves outside the harbor were 4-6 feet. All of this turmoil was the result of a category 3 hurricane called Franklin, located off the coast. While it didn’t hit land in the US it created a lot of agitation in the ocean.

Our friends, Randy and Karen, were supposed to go out for a sail with us however based on the early conditions we told them not to come. It was so rough that Kathryn didn’t feel safe dinghying to shore. The jib let go on the boat moored behind us and it got ripped up by the wind. Here’s a video from that morning.

By mid morning things in the harbor had started to calm down. We decided to drive to Point Judith see if there really were 4-6 ft waves. We dinghied into the car without incident. The seas didn’t look that bad so maybe NOAA was exaggerating. Here are pictures from Point Judith.

The Block Island ferry leaves from Point Judith so we drove over there just to check it out. It was running. There were also a lot of fishing boats including one named Anne Kathryn, named after me and my sister, Anne. HaHa. We saw some guys coming off one of the fishing boats so of course Rick started talking to them.

We were hungry by this time so we ended up at Iggy’s Doughboys, which I think is a RI landmark and had a good lunch.

After lunch we went to Jamestown and had a look around. Here’s a picture of the Newport bridge from Jamestown.

We went back to the boat and relaxed until dinner. We had made reservations for the us and Randy and Karen at Mamma Luisas, a great Italian restaurant in Newport. We had a wonderful dinner, except we missed Randy and Karen.

August 30, 2023 Newport, RI

A quiet day on Summer Star! We generally had a lazy day. 

We woke to a very foggy day.  We could barely see the boat next to us.  Then to add insult to injury it rained.  We did a little boat cleaning and pumped out the dinghy. The rain stopped and the fog lifted around 11:30 so we went into town for lunch.  We wondered around a bit and ended up at The Lobster Bar where we had a nice lunch and watch some of the US Open tennis. 

Then, we went Onne van der Wal’s gallery.  We always go there when we are in Newport.  He takes beautiful sailing and marine pictures.  We often think about adding one to our collection but never have.  Here are some of his photographs.

There was a lovely young woman working there who was in college studying documentary photography.  We had a long conversation about her studies, hers and our travel, and a mutual picture show and tell.  It was nice to briefly get to know her.  

We were going to go to Rough Point, Doris Duke’s house but we were both feeling kind of lazy so we returned to the boat.  It was raining as we dinghied back but by 5:00 the clouds had moved on and there was plenty of blue sky.  Hopeful this bodes well for tomorrow, our last full day on the boat. 

Rick cooked the rack of lamb for dinner. 

August 29, 2023 Newport, RI

We woke up to heavy fog.  We couldn’t see our hands in front of our faces.  It was also raining lightly.  Again we felt relieved that we had made it all the way back to Newport. 

We packed up some of our stuff this morning since we want to get as much as we can off the boat before it starts raining.  Moving heavy duffle bags into a wet dinghy in the rain is miserable.  Kathryn also spent some time looking for things to do in Newport. 

We went ashore with the packed up stuff and loaded it into the car.  Then we went to West Marine.  When we were figuring out the GPS problems we bought some marine maps that we didn’t use and wanted to return.  After our West Marine stop we went out to lunch at a Thai restaurant and it was delicious.  

In the afternoon we went to the Sweet Berry Farm where we made several purchases.  As we were driving around, we saw a lot of grape vines, so we wanted to go to a winery.  We ended up going to Greenvale Vineyards. They make mostly white wines, and we had a flight of four different wines.  While enjoying the wine, we learned that in Middletown there is a grape friendly microclimate, and the soil is gravely which grapes like.  Grape roots can be as much as 20 feet deep and many of the grape varietals have been grafted to these deep roots.  Of the four wines we tasted we really liked the Vidal Blanc which we found to be crisp and light.  We don’t drink any white wine so we didn’t buy any. Here are some pictures from the winery.

After the winery stop we went to a glass blowing shop in Newport and Kathryn wanted to buy everything but we didn’t need anything so we just enjoyed looking. 

We returned to the boat and relaxed.  In the evening Rick had a Lake Lashaway meeting and then we had a dinner of leftovers. 

August 28, 2023 Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard to Newport, RI

Rick woke up at 4:30, thinking about our trip back to Newport.  Our plan was to go to Cuttyhunk and spend one or two nights there and then go back to Newport on Wednesday. Rick listened to the NOAA weather on the radio and it didn’t sound good.  There is a hurricane, Franklin, off coast of Florida which will be generating waves and wind for us as early as Wednesday.

Our fearless captain, looking his best!

We talked about our plan.  It would be a long passage back to Newport, maybe as long as 10 hours if the current wasn’t with us, so at 8:30 we needed to make a decision quickly (the charter contract prohibits sailing after sunset).  The downside was the forecast said fog, thunderstorms and scattered showers were possible today.  But the weather could be worse tomorrow, depending on what happens with Franklin. If we were going to Cuttyhunk we couldn’t leave until 11:30 because we need to time to trip with slack tide at Quick’s Hole.  Kathryn didn’t think Rick could sit there until 11:30 worrying about it so we decided to go.  The duration of the trip ended up being far shorter than 10 hours because the current was in our favor and contributed about 2+ knots to our overall speed, yet again.  We didn’t put up the sails because the winds were less than 5 knots, very light, coming from behind us, which would have contributed nothing to our progress.  We made it to the mooring in Newport by 4.  We relaxed that evening.  When we listened to the forecast upon our arrival we were glad we had made the return journey.

We are working on finishing our leftovers so we had dinner on the boat. 

August 27, 2023 Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard

Having decided to spend another night in Edgartown we were looking for something interesting to do.  We decided we wanted to have lunch in Menemsha and were considering various options to get there.  In the end we determined that renting a car would give us the greatest flexibility.  To avoid dealing with the dinghy dock we took the launch into the town docks and from there we took a taxi to the airport where we got the car.  We “hit the road” by 9:30.

We headed towards Aquinnah and stopped at various shops and craft fairs along the way, including Alley’s General Store, Chilmark General Store, and Allen Sheep & Wool Farm.  At the craft fair, Rick had extensive discussions with several potters, a weaver and of course, a photographer.  We also stopped at Lobsterville beach.  Here are pictures from the farm and the beach. 

We arrived at Aquinnah and checked out the cliffs and the light house.  According to a sign at the lookout, the Aquinnah Wampanoag believed that Moshup, a benevolent giant, created Martha’s Vineyard and the surrounding islands.  He lived in a den on the cliffs of Aquinnah and would wade into the water to catch whales which he would cook for the Wampanoag.  Blood from the whales stained the cliffs red and coals from Moshup’s fire account for the black.  The Aquinnah Wampanoag consider the frequent fog in the area to be smoke from Moshup’s pipe, a sign of his happiness with the Wampanoag. 

Menemsha was the next stop.  It was quite crowded and we had trouble getting a parking spot but eventually we did.  Rick decided to get his lunch from Larsen’s Seafood. Rick was very happy with his seafood chowder and salmon cake, the stuffed scallop not so much.  Kathryn had expected to find something other than seafood but there was NOTHiNG so she had to be happy with an ice cream.  Such sacrifice she’s willing to make for Rick!!!

After lunch we went to Vineyard Haven because there was a store that Kathryn wanted to visit.  It turns out there was a big music festival in Vineyard Haven so there was lots of traffic.  We finally got there and found a place to park.  Kathryn went to the store and they didn’t have what she was looking for.  We could hear the music, a Canadian band called Alvvay was playing and they were quite good. We decided to walk over to the festival where we learned that tickets were $150/person which was more than we were willing to pay.  So, we walked back to the car and decided to go to our favorite Vineyard gallery — the Granary Gallery. They sell work from a photographer named Allison Shaw who we really like.  We have a print of hers in our dining room. She has done a series of wooden dinghies framed in shadow boxes that would look really nice in the downstairs hallway.

A page in a book with pictures of all the dinghies

We are thinking about it as we are still thinking about the painting we saw in the Seychelles which would look fantastic in our kitchen.  We went over to the Granary’s sister gallery, the Field Gallery, but we didn’t see anything we liked. 

By this time we’d seen everything we wanted to see so we went back to Bad Martha’s for a beer and a bowl of nuts. 

After Bad Martha’s we returned the car to the airport, took a taxi back into Edgardtown and returned to the boat.  Neither of us was very hungry, too many nuts, but we really needed to cook the tuna.  So Rick did and he had a good sliced tuna sandwich.  Kathryn is still working on the chicken from several days ago. All in all a very nice day.