Category Architecture
Weekend in Seattle
The other day I flew out to Seattle for some meetings at Amazon and managed to tack on a day after the meetings to explore the town. I hadn’t been to Seattle since I was in high school, and I’d forgotten what a cool place it is. The first day, when I was in meetings, […]
Temples of Angkor
Like Machu Picchu, the Ayah Sofia, and Tikal, the temples of Angkor more than live up to their reputation. It’s one of those places where you get there and look around and have a hard time believing it’s real. The temple complex, which is the largest in the world (way bigger than Tikal), […]
Siem Reap
This isn’t really a post. I mean, it’s a post because it shows up in the blog, but I’m not really going to do proper justice to anything that I write about. I’ll mention some things that I don’t have photos for (yet), and other things that I have tons of photos for but which merit […]
Hue to Danang to Saigon
Today was one of those transitional days where the bulk of the time is spent in transit from one stage of the trip to the next. In this case, we went from Hue (technically part of North Vietnam, though only just barely) back to Danang (on the other side of the North/South line, and the […]
JJDSFT Challenge #3: Curious Uncle Ho Goes to Hue
Peggy’s Challenge: Purchase the most RIDICULOUS stuffed animal you can find and carry it with you all day (so you’ll fit in with the locals). Your new friend should be present in all pictures you take for the day. JJD’s Response: First of all, I want to point out that the photo that inspired this challenge was […]
Hoi An – Woah, this is Vietnam?
Last night we flew from Hanoi to Danang, and then drove from Danang to Hoi An, which is about half an hour away by car. We got in late at night, so we didn’t see anything on the way in — all we did was grab something to eat and go to bed. This morning we woke […]
Ninh Binh – Tam Coc and Hoa Lu
Okay, so food is not the only reason to come to Vietnam. This country also has some spectacular wilderness areas. The prime attraction are the limestone mountain formations (or “karsts”) in Halong Bay, which we’ll be visiting over the next two days. But before that, and to whet our appetite, so to speak, we visited another set of karsts […]
Hanoi – Places of worship: temples, pagodas, and one cathedral
Temples and pagodas are everywhere in Hanoi. As far as I can tell, there’s only one Catholic church. We’ve visited many of them as we’ve explored the city. They are beautiful and, to my Christian eye, a little mysterious and baffling (for example, many of the offerings in temples are cigarettes, beer and fake American […]
Hanoi – Uncle Ho
The first thing we did on our first morning in Hanoi was visit the Ho Chi Minh complex, which includes Ho Chi Minh’s Soviet-style mausoleum, the colonial presidential palace, the more modest houses where “Uncle Ho” actually lived, and a bizarre “museum” dedicated more to the advancement of communism and the symbol of Ho Chi Minh than […]
Hanoi – Streets of the Old Quarter
Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and has been continuously settled for more than a thousand years. Like any ancient city, it has its “old town” with its warrens of narrow, maze-like streets and bustling commercial activity. I was struck by how alive and, surprisingly, pretty the old city was. I loved the energy and […]
A More Gentlemanlike Manner 