The weather in Xiamen is said to be generally mild year-round, but it was a rainy day when we visited this southeastern coastal city whose name means “gate of China”. It is ranked as a top port in the country and boasts trade as a main industry, along with large factories of foreign companies, and…
Continue reading →Hong Kong has many nicknames…Asia’s World Capital, City of Life, Fragrant Harbour, even The Big Lychee. But it’s most historic and romantic moniker is The Pearl of the Orient, and indeed it is. On an island of just 410 square miles, this vibrant, bustling, modern, densely populated city and former British colony on the South…
Continue reading →A full 12-hour excursion took me on a 110-mile inland bus ride each way to the capital of Vietnam, winding through the countryside and small towns up the Red River to the city of pagodas and palaces, presidents and prisons. Welcome to Hanoi. Our tour guide and host Kha, born in 1977, spoke candidly about…
Continue reading →I must go back for a moment to Southern Vietnam, and return to an experience I needed some time to synthesize before I share my thoughts. While in Saigon, we took a day trip about 30 miles northwest of the city to the district of Cu Chi where, from 1967, it served as base for…
Continue reading →Off the coast of northern Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin, lies the hauntingly beautiful Halong Bay. It features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes that jut upward from the sea. The core of this area has a high density of about 775 islets and the limestone in the bay…
Continue reading →I looked forward to Vietnam with curiosity and admittedly, some apprehension. I came of age during the Vietnam War and clearly remember watching TV on July 1, 1970 as numbers were drawn for those born in 1951, to see if my brother would be called to the draft. After my visit to the country, I…
Continue reading →Compared to the rest of ancient and historic Cambodia, Sihanoukville is a brand new town. Named after Norodam Sihanouk, under whose leadership Cambodia became an independent kingdom in 1953, this is a modest-sized city on the west coast of the country, halfway between Thailand and Vietnam. Our brief visit took us to the local market…
Continue reading →The tsunami tragedy is still fresh in the minds and hearts of the people of Thailand, where the popular resort island of Phuket was practically obliterated because of it. Nestled in the protection of the Gulf of Thailand, the sleepy island of Koh Samui survived unscathed. It is the second largest island of Thailand after…
Continue reading →Singapore has been described as “Asia for beginners” because it is too safe, too clean, too air-conditioned. Having never been to Asia, I will take that at it’s word. It is all that and more. The people are polite and cordial, English is commonly spoken, the economy is strong (translate that to mean “expensive”), and…
Continue reading →We were supposed to be in the southern hemisphere this winter, when it is summer there. South America, Africa, Seychelles. Well, that part of the cruise was cancelled and we couldn’t quite get over it. Our calendar was totally empty and we just got back our refunded money that was already spent in our minds. So…
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