First Half of our Winter Trip

After we left Tokyo we were off for another backpacking adventure.  Our first stop was Hanoi, Vietnam.  Chris first went to Vietnam in 2009 and the entire time we were living in Japan he wanted to take me back.  After a pretty terrifying (for me at least) "adventure" (that's what Chris likes to call these events) with our taxi driver, we arrived safely at our hotel room at 2am.

Apparently, in Vietnam a common scam is to take tourists from the airport to their friend's hotel, thinking they will get them to agree to stay there and help out their friend's business. I didn't know about this scam, so when our taxi stopped, I was opening the door to get out, but Chris said, "don't get out." I immediately started to panic.  My amazing, map-reading husband knew this wasn't where we had reservations and was following the driver on the map.  Then he was upset with us when we told him "no," and he dropped us at the end of a dark alley (remember its around 1:45am) telling us our hotel is "somewhere down there." When Chris said he wouldn't pay unless he took us to the hotel, the driver then said we couldn't have our bags. Chris paid the driver and we set off down the alley. By this time I knew we were going to die and I was sobbing. Not just little tears mind you, I was having a breakdown!! Somehow by the grace of God, we found our hotel.  But, I did have Chris put the chair in front of the door our first night. That was our only crazy "adventure" in Hanoi and happy to say I didn't have any more breakdowns!

Hanoi was an amazing town... full of amazing sights and sounds (from the honking motorbikes). Here's a few common sights we would see while walking down the streets:

I thought these hats were just a gimmick for tourist, but they actually wore them!  They were everywhere! I love this lady's sweet smile!

And they carried these heavy baskets on their shoulders selling everything you can imagine: fruit, nuts, ducks, chicks... everything! I don't even want to know how heavy they are!

MOTORBIKES! They are everywhere and they don't stop! If you want to cross the street you just start walking, make eye-contact and hope they stop. Oh, and you can't back up! I would just grab Chris' arm and close my eyes. They even rode on the sidewalks! 

Birdcages. I loved these. I think the Vietnamese consider them good luck.

Sitting on the side walks on plastic chairs just eating and chatting with your friends.

Crazy wires

And hacky-sack games. Here's Chris joining in on a game. :)

Of course we spent time seeing Hanoi's most popular sights.  We walked across the Red Bridge at Hoan Kiem Lake and saw the Ho Guom Tower.

We went to the famous "Water Puppet Show" where we sat in a theatre, but instead of a stage it was a pool filled with water. Puppets would appear and perform with the music.  At the end the puppet-masters came out and showed us how the puppets worked.  It was crazy!

And we toured Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum.  I thought this was a bit creepy, but Chris said it was a must!  They built this HUGE mausoleum where you had to walk in single file with your arms by your side and you couldn't talk.  You were paraded around a huge glass coffin where Ho Chi Minh laid... and you could see him! He was embalmed!  One of the craziest things I have ever seen! We also toured the "Hanoi Hilton," where they kept the American POW's during the Vietnam War and where John McCain was held hostage.  I didn't take any pictures inside, but I did take a picture of the map, per Chris' request (you know how he is about maps).

The grey building in the back is the mausoleum. It was huge!

Ho Chi Minh's house

A map of Hanoi Hilton

We also had a great time trying some of Vietnam's most well-known dishes: Pho (a famous noodle dish) and Vietnamese Ice Coffee which was amazing! It was coffee made with sweetened condensed milk. Yum! I think I averaged three a day! :)

The famous noodle dish, Pho

Chris sampling all the delicious dishes and an amazing "food court."

Cafe sua da (coffee with sweetened condensed milk)

After a few days in Hanoi, Chris surprised me (ok, "forced me") with an anniversary gift... a three day/two night sailing trip on Halong Bay.  If you know about my severe problem with motion sickness, I was very apprehensive, but it was amazing!  The waters were completely calm and the scenery was breathtaking.   They served us three meals a day, and each meal was so delicious and we would go kayaking during our free time.

Our breath-taking view

After one of our kayaking adventures!

Our junket for three days!

Some more of the amazing scenery

Our room on the junket

The highlight of the trip for me was visiting a fishing village.  One of my favorite things to do when we travel to a foreign country is to see how they live. Of course it makes me feel grateful for what I have, but I also see first-hand how people can be truly content without any of the luxuries that I have come to think of as necessities.  One morning after breakfast, our "water taxis" came to pick us up.  These were simply canoes that super strong women (of course with their hats) were rowing.  First they let us try rowing the canoes, then they dropped us off at the fishing village.

Our water taxis

Chris trying to row the water taxi... with no luck. :)

Heading to the village

A view of the village, water taxis and our junket in the back.

On our final night they fed us dinner in a cave. It was quite fancy and delicious! They even insisted that we sit by the rose shaped heart because it was our anniversary!

This junket was carved entirely out of fruit!

After spending time in Hanoi and Halong Bay we headed south to Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon).  Of course we spent time enjoying the sights. I'll keep it brief since this blog is starting to get long. 

Saigon's Post Office. It was designed by Gustave Eiffel in the early 20th century and it is still a functioning post office. We mailed a letter to Chris' mom!

Inside the post office

I don't know if this street is famous, but I just loved the cheery and bright yellow flowers!

The Reunification Palace

Enjoying a roof top snack.

And more motorbikes... a lot more!!

This is a super common sight... families on the motorbikes carrying children. Notice the helmets are on the adults, not the kids. :(

After a few days in Ho Chi Minh City we needed to get to our next destination... Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  Instead of taking a forever long bus ride and not seeing many sights we decided to take an overnight river cruise along the MeKong Delta.  I loved this part of our trip! There weren't very many "sights" at all, but we were able to see how the locals lived and worked.  I just loved seeing all the people doing their daily activities!

We traveled along a floating market.

So you knew what boat sold what item, they would display it on a long stick above the boat.

Homes along the floating market

I just love that we were able to watch this man fish!

I love the green grass and of course, her hat! 

After floating down the river for a few hours, we stopped for lunch.  It was exciting to say the least, and it came with entertainment (for Chris anyways)...

Our lunch! Check out that fish! But it was tasty!!

And while you waited for your food, you could hold the huge snake!

I enjoyed seeing all the different and exotic fruit trees. Some of the pictures don't have captions because I have no idea what kind of fruit it is!

I know this one, it's a Jack Fruit

And these are my favorites, Star Fruit

When our river cruise ended for the day, we arrived in some small town (I literally have no idea where we were) and we found our room at the "Floating Hotel."  Now, normally this city girl would have protested, but there were no options so I just took a deep breath and walked on in. The hotel was included in the price of our river cruise, but Chris thinks if we had to pay out of pocket, it might have been $7 a night, but we did splurge to pay the $5 for them to turn on our A/C. Oh, and the mosquito net was not for decoration... it was a necessity!

A view of our hotel from the outside

Our room for the night! Oh, and that's not wallpaper, it was sponge painted to match the net!

Since there wasn't much to do in our room and it was rather early, Chris and I decided to walk around town.  It was Christmas Day, so the town was having their Christmas program, complete with little girls in angel wings and a man sitting on the roof sprinking "snow." Also, there wasn't a Santa to take pictures with, but a nativity scene! Loved it!

A family posing with the nativity scene!

Talking to some of the children at the program. I love her sweet smile even though she didn't understand a word I was saying!

Congratulations! You made it to the end!! I will try my hardest not to make the second half of our trip this long, promise!!

Our Last Days in Japan

Hello blogging world! I bet y'all thought I abandoned our blog site... well, we're back!  So much has been going on since the end of November and things are finally settling into normalcy so I actually have a chance to post a few blogs.

Let me fill you in on what's been happening:
* Our household goods got packed out and shipped back to the US at the beginning of November and I lived in an empty home for a month.
* Chris returned from his final deployment at the beginning of December.
* We left Japan in the middle of December and traveled to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Singapore (more on that in another blog).
* At the beginning of January we totally surprised my family with a visit.  They thought we were going straight from Asia to California; they never expected us to show up at my cousin's house in Louisiana one night for dinner! It was great and we were able to spend 10 days with them.
* In the middle of January we moved to Monterey, CA.
* At the end of January we moved into our new house.

Needless to say, it has been a tad bit crazy! When I sat down to start on our blog about our trip in December, Chris suggested that we do a blog about our last days in Japan.  I thought it was a wonderful idea since I do enjoy closure!

When we moved to Japan in December of 2010 we had no idea what we were in for.  I think it's safe to say that we were both nervous.  Chris was anxious about being forward-deployed on his first ship and I was a nervous wreck about being left alone for months at a time in a foreign country.  Two years not only flew by, but they were an incredible two years.  When we first moved there I was counting down the days until we could move back to the US.  When it came time to leave we actually asked if we could stay longer.  We had some amazing experiences; both individually and together.  Chris had a great time serving as weather and legal officer of his ship and had the opportunity to see some amazing places.  I was blessed with having the chance to meet some wonderful Navy wives and Japanese women and God provided me with a kindergarten position on base.  Together, we were able to truly experience the kindness of the Japanese people, take part in their culture and festivals, eat some delicious food and travel to some exciting places.  Every day since we have left we talk about Japan and think of something new that we miss. It was truly an experience of a lifetime to live in a foreign country and we will be thrilled to go back one day if that's where God wants us to be!

When I was going through our pictures of these past few months, I realized I have never really posted any of Chris on his ship.  While I was having a great time in Sasebo, he was working hard on the ship and had some fun adventures (diving, hiking, swimming at the Equator).  He started off on the USS ESSEX (LHD 2) and finished up his tour on the USS BONHOMME RICHARD (LHD 6).  He had the opportunity to work with and under some great people and make good friends.

A view of his huge ship, the BONHOMME RICHARD

Chris on the deck of his ship.

Chris with the Captain of the ship.  Yes, Chris has a mustache in this picture. It was "Mo-vember."

When Chris left on his first deployment, he had two goals: to drive the ship (I thought he was a crazy person, no way would he be able to do this) and get his Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) pin. Well, my amazing husband did both!

Here he is driving the ship. You can't see it too well, but that's the Marina Bay Sands Hotel (in Singapore) in the background.

Chris receiving his SWO pin from the Captain of the ship.

During his two years on the ship he had the opportunity to travel to some amazing places like the Philippines,  Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Guam and Cambodia. When he could, Chris would get off the ship, try some local food and either go diving, hiking or golfing.  Chris doesn't know what it means to "relax."

Chris and some friends at Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

One of his good friends, Lars.  While the ship was out, one of my greatest friends in Sasebo was Maud, Lars' wife.  We loved this couple!!

The BHR heading out for Chris' final deployment. That's his ship in the middle. I drove up to a look-out point to take these pictures while the ship was pulling out.

And four months later, the homecoming of the BHR and celebrating Chris' final deployment!  I always loved homecoming day! It made me feel so American!

Greeting my honey when he was getting off the ship! Love him in his fancy uniform!

A week after Chris got back to Sasebo it was time for us to leave our wonderful home.  Our first stop was to Tokyo.  In the two years we lived in Japan I had never been there.  It was one of those places that we kept meaning to go but never went.  To be honest, we were so tired from moving and Chris' last tour that we spent a lot of time being lazy. :) We did go see some sights, though, during our three days in Tokyo and our last days in Japan. Boy, did we load up on sushi and noodles!!

A view of the Tokyo Tower

I was finally able to see Mt. Fuji.  There it is in the distance with the beautiful sunset.

We also went to see the famous Shibuya crosswalk.  This place is organized chaos! It is the busiest simultaneous pedestrian crosswalk in the world--approximately one million people cross it each day! But like everywhere else in Japan, everyone was neat and orderly!

After our relaxing three days in Tokyo we were off for our adventure to Vietnam.  We were sad to say "sayonara" to Japan but we are so grateful for our time there and we can't wait to go back!