85 stories
We walked out of the hotel into the streets of Hanoi and headed for St. Joseph's Cathedral. We wandered past shop stalls serving their steaming breakfast bowls, lines of...
I opened my eyes and looked at my watch. It was dead. My phone was lying on the bed, not plugged up, and my portable charger was also lifeless. At the painful conclusion...
I was not prepared for the pollution that seemed to smother the city. It was like looking through a gray, dingy pair of goggles. We drove for a while before crossing the...
At 7:00 p.m., I was awoken by the ever-smiling face of Diem. She hurried me into the bathroom to prepare as she patiently waited in the hallway. In Vietnam,...
About a half hour later, we settled our tab and began the long walk back to the cab stand on the other side of the village. As we left down the main thoroughfare of Hoi...
At 1:30, the doorbell rang. I got up and opened the door to find Diem standing in the hallway. She came in and sat down while I brushed my teeth and washed the grog off...
I opened my eyes after what seemed like an eternity of sleep. I looked at my watch, which read 04:35. How could this be? My mind knew it wasn’t enough, but my body...
We stepped out of the cab and walked into a local hangout for adults a bit younger than me. There was a Vietnamese rock band blasting on the stage, the bar was packed,...
I awoke around 7:45 after a long and much-needed nap. I could hear what sounded like a concert drifting into my window from the lobby below. Only whoever was singing was...
There had been some issues with some passports at the Atlanta airport, and a member of our party was delayed by several days coming to Da Nang. Unfortunately, he had a...
We headed out of the parlor for a post-massage lunch. Our cab driver navigated the endless honking of the motorbikes and delivery trucks to get us there. We stopped at...
Diễm was at the door, and Tina and the rest of the group were ready for breakfast. They had refused to eat any airline food the whole time we were flying, and they were...
