Around eight percent of the population of Vietnam is Christian with most of those being Catholic. With such a small percent of the population adhering to Christian beliefs, one would think that Christmas would have a small part of Vietnamese life. However, that is to ignore the secular aspect of Christmas which has in many ways permeated much of the world. A time of giving gifts to others and decorating places with colorful baubles sounds like fun. Throw in a…
Ninh Binh, The Old Capital Region of Vietnam
Having spent a few days in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, with its busy and loud traffic, it was time to go a little farther afield into the country. Ninh Binh is an area south of Hanoi which was an early capital city. It is in a rural area which offers some worthwhile and interesting activities. We booked a tour as doing this on our own would have been a bit challenging. Our tour bus picked us up bright and…
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Discovering Life in Hanoi, Vietnam
Our first full day in Hanoi, Vietnam was a Sunday. Our daughter Andrea and her friend Jacob would not arrive until the next day so for this day it was mostly our son Aaron and us as we began to explore the area. There are various districts in Hanoi. Our hotel was on the border of the Old Town and also near the French Quarter. These are the areas we would explore in these early days. Our hotel sits near…
First Impressions of Hanoi, Vietnam
My daughter-in-Law is Vietnamese. She immigrated to the United States when she was five years old. However, her family has property in South Vietnam so they often return there to visit and check on their property. Even before she married my son, she talked about taking us to visit Vietnam. When the time came to go, we decided that Christmas would be the best time. This was so our daughter could also go with us during her two week Christmas…
The Second Tallest Building in the World
If you can’t see the photo you will need to click “Read on blog” at the top.
Happy New Year, 2025
Vietnam is one of the early areas to experience the New Year. Happy New Year from Danang If you can’t see the photo you will need to click “Read on blog” at the top.
Christmas, Not Just A Baby in a Manger
Wherever you may travel, all around the world, the baby in the manger of Christmas is always Emmanuel, God with us. Merry Christmas from Hanoi, Vietnam. (If you don’t see the cover photo, you may need to download the post) Other Posts You May Enjoy
Thanksgiving Weekend in Santa Barbara
While Silvette grew up in the Queen Ann area of Seattle, a number of years ago her parents and siblings one by one immigrated to Santa Barbara, California. Even our daughter, Andrea, went down to Santa Barbara for college. Our family is the only one left here in the Seattle area. Because of that, we have made quite a few trips to Santa Barbara over the years and have become fairly familiar with the area. This year Silvette’s sister invited…
Final Days Down to South Africa and the Cape of Good Hope
Every journey has to have an ending. This long journey would end in South Africa. However, there was still a lot to see and do before that moment. First we had to get through our final camping experience. We woke up early the next morning, as we did most mornings, as we wanted to get into the Namib NaukLuft National Park as soon as the gate opened. It was still dark when we woke up, and the night sky was…
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A Busy Watering Hole and Sand Dunes in Namibia
After our camping adventure in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, we had a couple of nights of down time before we were back in the tents. One of those nights we were in the country where some locals gave us a presentation about how life used to be when they were able to live off of the land. Now the government won’t allow them to live that way anymore. So their culture doesn’t get lost and forgotten, they do these presentations to…
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