Sunday, January 30, 2011

3 BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING, WONDERFUL, YEARS




Aunika Judith Ann Waye is #3..(free) as she says
Nana & Papa Really Love You, Aunika...XOXOXOX
.
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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Happy Birthday AUNIKA

Happy Happy Birthday to Our 3 year old










Aunika Judith Ann Waye is Three...."3"!!! WOW

Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday Darling Aunika
Happy Birthday to You

May the Good Lord Bless You
May the Good Lord Bless You
May the Good Lord Bless Aunika
May the Good Lord Bless You

LOVINGLY NANA & PAPA

The Train from Hanoi to Da Nang (Then Hoi An)

After our day at Perfume Pagoda, Vicky and I caught the night train to Da Nang. The ride is about 15 hours (we slept through about 10 of those). We had a nice cabin to ourselves and really enjoyed the ride.





I thought I would get some reading done... This was the wobbleiest train I have ever been on, and reading was impossible ;) (This picture was taken before we started moving.



The terrain between Hanoi and Da Nag is partly flat land covered in rice paddys. The other half is mountainous and covered in thick jungle... I guess I never thought to take any pictures of the jungle :(



These two pics are taken from the window in our cabin.



Getting off the train. We next caught a 45min bus to Hoi An where we are presently.



You all have my love
Daniel

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Perfume Pagoda

We spent our last day in Hanoi on a day trip out to Perfume Pagoda.

After a 1.5 hour drive, we boarded a row boat for 6 passengers. The trip up the river took about 1.5 hours as well.


The boats are generally rowed by women. Ours was rowed by this kid (you can see him behind us). He looks to be about 15 or 16 to me. We were the slowest boat on the river.


Some locals on shore bringing home a harvest from their rice paddy.



The entire trip was lined with these small but steep mountains on both sides. Beautiful.



A lady working by herself in her rice paddy. This work looks terrible, it's got to be hard on the back as well as wet and cold. Most people in the paddies wear high rubber boots or hip waders like this lady, but her hands must still be freezing. Some of the poorer workers were doing this work in bare feet. They have likely been toughened by experience, but still.




We ran into 4 of these fisherman on our trip up-stream. They've rigged a car battery with wire connectes to a pole with a small net on the end for scooping. when the scooper pole is dipped in the water, it electrocutes near by fish. The stunned fish float to the surface and a scooped up and thrown into the boat. They seem to get a fish about every 10 second or so.


The beginning of a VERY steep 45 min hike up to Perfume Pagoda



Now, I'm going to side track here for a minute. This is the gate to another pagoda at the bottom of the mountain. The famous Perfume Pagoda is at the top.


Vicky like the handles on the front gate.




This is what pagodas usually look like (in my experience).







The gate to the Padoda at the bottom of the mountain.




After a demanding and sweaty hike, Vicky is standing in front of Perfume Pagoda


I don't really understand whay this is called a pagoda?.?.?. I suppose because it fulfills the same purpose.



One of the alters inside the pagoda.



Two of the alters inside Perfume Pagoda.







A really great day in Vietnam. ;)

Our place in Hanoi

The is the street we stayed on while in Hanoi

Monday, January 24, 2011

To Dan & Vicky

Hello My Lovely Children Abroad:

Daniel and Vicky.....What a wonderful group of photos....you have no idea how THRILLED we are to see your journey. It truly lightens up the day.

Thank you both for taking the time out of your vacation to post the pics.

If the children (neices and nephews) do not post an idea for gifts...I have a few GREAT ideas .... ...like a good Nana I will wait and see if they reply first...if not by Wed...then I will make a request on thier behalf!! XOXOXOX.

As for me son...buy me a scarf of native creativity.....or hat or shawl or such.

Keep on posting...I will look every day.

May MY God Bless thee is my constant pray.....

As Ever;
Mother...xxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Water Puppets

This was truly one of the most fantastic artistic performances I've ever had the chance to see.

Water puppetry has been around in Hanoi, and only in Hanoi for over 1000 years. The craft of making the puppets and how to work them using elaborate wodden levers was passed down from father to son. The art was never shared with the daughters because they might one day mary a man from outside of the villiage and leave, taking the secret with them to share with others.


I know these picture are terrible, but ther're all I got.



The lady in the front here is playing the Đàn bầu. Until only recently, the instument was allowed to be played only by men. In Vietnamese tradition, everyone but young women were allowed to listen to the instument. The reason being that, if the young women heard this instument being played, they would almost certainly fall in love with the musician. I sort of laughed when I heard this, then the band here played a peice where the Đàn bầu was featured and had some long solos. The sound is incredible; as was the music. It made me feal really emotional. One of the peices they played reminded me of pink floyd. If you can find a sound sample of this instument on the net, listen to it. It's sound is amazing!!!!

The Cave (at Haolong Bay)

The furthest we went into Haolong Bay was to this cave. It was really spectacular. Second place to the huge bat cave I visited in Borneo, but still really cool. The stone in the cave was mostly white as it's covered in stalagtites and staagmites made of calcium deposits.







What can I say... Asians, they love their colored lights. Vicky says she went into a very similar and great cave in Guilin (China) a few years ago and they did the same thing. It's kind of neat for a few pics, but I really think natural looking lighting would be way more majestic.





I found a peice of the cave wall that looked just like a bum ;) This one's for the nephews!!!









Heading back to our boat.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Haolong Bay

Yesterday Vicky and I did a day trip to Haolong Bay. It's a beautiful place where mountains jut out of the water to meet the sky. Had we been here in the summer, we would have done a three day water tour, but it's way to cold for that now (12-15 degrees). Anyhow, here are some pics from our trip... We also went into a cave in the side of one of the mountains in the Bay... but that's going to have to wait for the next entry, Vicky and I are heading out to dinner (Thai food MMMMMMMMMMMM). We are staying in Hanoi Vietnam for one more day :)






Glosa me Glosa



The rocks you see in the background are the symbol of Haolong Bay. They supposedly resemble to birds kissing



Standing on the bow of our boat



We went kayaking for a bit too.


Vicky at our table in the boat



Our boat at the dock



We stopped at a local art center set up by some locals, they had hundreds of peices of stonework in the yard. The sown pictures inside were equally amazing. These are all soooo cheap to buy... if only they didn't cost a mint to ship home.

Beautiful Dassi

What a nice photo spread Roxy!!! Hadassah, if uncle Dan can bring you anything from Vietnam, Cambodia, or Thailand, just let me know what it is. That goes for the rest of you neices and nephews as well. Think small. I may try to mail a package. If you send me a request, send me your mailing address as well (I have none with me), and do it SOON.

Happy birthdat Dassi. Uncle Dan loves you!!!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Four Fantastic Years of Love...xoxo




To our darling Birthday Girl!
"You've come a long way baby!!"
Now you are.... FOUR.....4, wow. January 14th 2011

Isn't she Beautiful, Family?
Our Hadassah Skyann Flewwelling
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Friday, January 21, 2011

THE HOUSE THAT SKEE BUILT



LOOKING OUT MY WINDOW TODAY,
AS THE SNOW WAS SOFTLY FALLING,
I COULD SEE HOW DARLING
THE BIRD HOUSE LOOKED, THAT SKEE GAVE US.
tAKEN WITH THE PENDAX K10D.
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A few more



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