Articles with travel

Singapore’s Flower Dome Provides a Unique Experience

Since we arrived in Singapore, the last stop of our visit to Southeast Asia, it hadn’t stopped raining. Nevertheless, we headed down to the famous Gardens by the Bay, and earlier in the day we kept dry inside the Cloud Forest, a dome covered tropical garden. We would spend our afternoon time inside the neighboring Flower Dome. First, however, we needed to get something to eat. When we came out of the Cloud Forest, right in front of us was…

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A Rainy Day Under the Dome of the Cloud Forest

So far on our journey through Southeast Asia, we had been pretty lucky with the weather. That’s not to say that the weather had been perfect. It hadn’t. However, we had expected to see more rain. Fortunately the rain we experienced happened mostly in the evening or overnight so we were able to see what we wanted to see in the daytime. Then we arrived in Singapore, and our luck changed. It rained. All day. Thankfully we were able to…

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The Malaysia Countryside Seen Through a Bus Window

Having spent three days in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, it was time to travel on to Singapore, the final destination of our Southeast Asia trip. Singapore is an island off the southern tip of Malaysia. Flying into Singapore was certainly feasible, but getting to the airport and going through all the security and immigration seemed like a lot of hassle. We decided to take a bus. We looked into a train, but no trains travel that route directly. There were several…

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Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers and Its Unique Skyline View

Kuala Lumpur is not on a lot of American’s radar. Likely many people would have trouble identifying the country it represents. Despite its relative obscurity, the city has managed to have a skyline that puts it in the record books. Currently the second tallest building in the world is in Kuala Lumpur. That building, the Merdeka 118, has been recently constructed and is still not yet ready to receive visitors. However, another building, the Petronas Towers, does receive visitors. This…

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The Delights of Ba Na Hills Hiding in the Fog

One of the interesting sights that has appeared recently in tourist photos is of a bridge being held up by large hands. This has become a somewhat iconic photo of Vietnam. While the bridge may look old, it is actually fairly new having opened in 2018. It sits in a large resort built in the last fifteen years just outside of Da Nang, Vietnam. Known as Ba Na Hills, this resort area has become one of Vietnam’s major attractions. With…

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Da Nang, Vietnam, A City on the Rise

The Vietnam War was fought when I was in high school and college. I could have been drafted, but I managed to escape that and did not serve. However, I couldn’t escape the war as seemingly every day the news focused on it. I became familiar with some of the cities in Vietnam. Saigon and Hanoi were often in the news. Da Nang was another name I heard frequently. Da Nang was actually the entry point for most American soldiers…

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Hoi An: An Ancient City with Unique Architecture and Lanterns

Our first full day in Da Nang wasn’t actually spent in Da Nang. We spent most of the day in the nearby town of Hoi An. We knew we wanted to go to Hoi An. At one point we planned to get a hotel there. However, we decided we should stay in Da Nang and just make a day trip out of going to Hoi An, so that’s what we did. We went to Hoi An on our first day…

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Shopping in Hanoi, Vietnam at Indoor and Night Markets

We are not shoppers when we travel. We do buy souvenirs, but we don’t usually seek them out. However, we like to explore the different types of shopping available in various countries. The markets and stores tell us something about the culture. Hanoi was no exception. After our trip to Halong Bay, it seemed everyone was tired on Friday. It had been a busy week so Friday we didn’t push ourselves to do much. Silvette and I needed to go…

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One day in Vietnam’s Mysterious Appearing Halong Bay

If you have followed my blog, you may remember that my daughter Andrea’s birthday is December 26. It’s not a good day for a birthday. In 2023 we were in Budaphest, Hungary on her birthday and went for an evening dinner cruise on the Danube River to celebrate. This year we went for another boat experience. It was much longer and on a nicer boat. The trip was in Halong Bay, Vietnam. Halong Bay is a few hours east of…

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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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