Nobody died today.

Today we started our day in a relaxing way with breakfast at our swanky hotel.

And then it was off to Hoi An for a bike ride through the countryside called "Real Vietnam". 25 kilometers in 37° heat (98.6° F) Started with a relaxing boat down the river to the rural areas.

When we got off the boat we met some peanut farmers harvesting their crop. Then the pedaling began!

We saw how rice crackers and fresh noodles are made. 

They have tilapia "farms" in the rivers. If you look closely you can see the fish.

We saw a traditional weaving operation run by a husband and wife team.

We visited a traditional home. 

We biked over a floating bridge. And then saw how bamboo basket boats are made. Jammie and I tried out paddling them.

Of course Jammie impressed everyone, but the lady who showed us was such a character! 74 years old! She tells us American tourists she is only Sexy One (or sixty one). I even got a kiss! 

We saw how the last inlay artist in Hoi An does his craft.

Shortly after we boarded a ferry back across the river to wrap up our day. The title to this post is referencing the fact that we started our group tour with 8 participants, but only 6 of us made it to the end. A Dutch lady got heat stroke and started vomiting. It kind of shook all of us. This heat ain't no joke! We drank gallons of water and Tammie and Louie persevered to the end! I am so proud of them! This wasn't an easy day! But it was really great. Jammie and I went on a food tour to try a variety of local dishes.

Tammie and Louie rewarded themselves with pizza!

By the way they have the same chef here as every pizza place in Kenosha in the 1980s!

Chef's kiss for Vietnam!

From monkeys to My Son

Crazy first full day! We started the day on the Son Tra peninsula looking for endangered Red-shanked Douc Langurs. 

The we went to visit the Lady Buddha. 

Next stop was the Marble Mountains.

Then an awesome lunch at a "rice restaurant".

Next up is the historical highlight of the trip, the UNESCO World Heritage Site My Son Sanctuary which were built from the 4th to 14th Century by the Cham people. The Cham are one of the 54 official minority groups within Vietnam.

Then walking through the ruins like in the Jungle Book a huge male Northern Pigtail Macaque which are apparently also extremely rare here.

We saw some traditional Champa dancers and musicians perform as well.

I might be a giant.

We finished the day with dinner in Da Nang, Bun Cha!

And then an amazing massage for me and Jammie... Sorry no pictures... 

Tomorrow we head to Hoi An for bicycling in the country-side, some more birding, latern making and exploring the ancient town, another UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We have arrived!

After a crazy day of travel we arrived safely in Da Nang!

Our hotel is amazing.

We took a quick dip in the pool on the roof and a stop to look at the beach. Mmm, coconuts!

Then Jammie and I took a walk around town to get our bearings. I stopped to get a haircut.

We had Kem Bo, avocado and coconut ice cream.

And walked down to the river to see the Dragon Bridge.

Tomorrow we tour the sites of the city. I'll post more afterwards!

Time to sleep!

Leaving O'Hare 4 hours late feels a little bit like a hostage situation.

Jammie is all settled in for a 16 hour flight. Hello Kitty flight entertainment system is super cute.

Off we go! 

O'Hare being O'Hare

Our in-bound plane was diverted to Indianapolis because of the bad weather so now we're waiting for it to fly here so we can depart. Don't know how long the wait will be but we have a 4.5 hour layover in Taipei so hopefully it won't be too long and we'll be able to make our connection. Staying positive is all we can do. On the plus side TSA was super quick.

Next stop, Vietnam!

We are heading to Vietnam. Jammie and Tammie will be visiting the beaches that their Dad roamed in 1968 when he served in the United States Army.

We'll be staying mostly in Da Nang in Central Vietnam and visiting the old imperial city of Hue and the ancient trading city Hoi An. We'll do some birding and exploring the jungles and some snorkeling around Cham Island. It will certainly be a whirlwind trip, but I wouldn't have it any other way! I'll post pictures here. 

Panama

Our original plans for spring break fell through so we adjusted our itinerary and got off the plane in Panama! 10 days of city/nature/resort adventure. I've read so much about the amazing coffee here. My first cup... 

 not impressed. Well, it was airplane coffee so I won't count it against them. We'll give you a coffee update. Apparently geisha coffee here has sold for as much as $6000 per pound. We'll give a lesser quality a try and let you know what we think. After 6 hours on a plane you need to get your body moving so we rented bikes and rode along the Amador Causeway which was built as a breakwater to protect the entrance to the canal. It links up three small islands. We had some mango 

 and a grilled sausage 

Before we returned our bikes around sunset 

 the birds were getting active. We plan to do some serious birding while we're here and we got a brief little intro!

Tomorrow we're going to Pipeline Road where more species of birds have been spotted in a 24 hour period than anywhere else in the world.

After the sun went down we went to the Mercado de Mariscos and had amazing ceviche and pina jugos.

After our meal we decided to walk back to our hotel along the Cinta Costera under the bright moon over the Pacific. The city skyline is beautiful. Even the trash pandas came out to enjoy it.

 Time for bed. I'll try to post another update tomorrow.