Southeast Asia

This past spring, basically half of our family graduated with their Masters in Accounting.  So we decided this would be one of the last chances we would have time to travel half way around the world without having to use up all our precious vacation days. I finished up teaching school in June and my sister-in-law got married toward the end of June. But after that we were home free for the summer.

My dad served a 2 year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints over 30 years ago in Thailand speaking Thai and Trevor served in Cambodia speaking Vietnamese. We decided to split our time between Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. 

One of my favorite memories is when we had lunch at this giant buffet. These little Vietnamese girls were giggling and trying to stand next to Trevor and measure themselves against his GIANT body. Their giggles turned into squeals and uncontrollable laughter and shock when Trevor responded to them in Vietnamese. We also took a tour of Ho Chi Minh's tomb and there were stairs to get in and our so Trevor & I were escorted separately by 4 soldiers who carried my up and down the stairs - I felt like royalty myself. But while we were going through the tomb/exhibit Trevor was talking with the soldiers who were so impressed with his Vietnamese. And at the end they were measuring their height next to Trevor too.

HANOI, VIETNAM

We started off in Vietnam. Honestly my favorite part of Vietnam in general was all of the local's faces when they heard Trevor speaking Vietnamese. The shock on their faces were always amusing and they were so impressed. The first city we visited was Hanoi, which compared to Siagon, was much less developed. My favorite part of Hanoi was taking these bikes to the Vietnamese water puppet show. Lets just say some people in our group were more impressed than others. 

HA LONG BAY, VIETNAM

Definitely one of the most beautiful places we visited in Vietnam. There were lots of other boat cruises out there, but it was the perfect time to be on the boat because we could enjoy the views while being protected from the rain on the boat. For traveling during rainy season we really lucked out. 

I wasn't able to do the hikes up to the top of the island, but I stretched on the beach while everyone else made the trek to the top.

SAIGON, VIETNAM

Next we caught a flight down to Saigon, also known as Ho Chi Minh City. We were able to meet up with one of Trevor's mission companions who lives in Saigon. As far as Saigon goes one of my fondest memories will be the McDonald's we ate. After constant rice meals it was nice to have a burger, fries & McFlurry. Even if their ketchup containers are MINI SAUCERS.