Traveling this year has been rewarding, fun and full adventure. At times it has also been lonely, frustrating and made us appreciate the small and great things about home like being close to family and friends. One of the real joys of the year for us is when family has come to visit. We have tried to help make it work anyway we can and planned a birthday surprise for the girls’ cousin Harrison and his mom Jenny (Traverse’s sister) so they could come and visit for their spring break.
The flight was delayed and so the first day included arriving, egg coffee on the railroad tracks, tuck-tuck tour around town, walking food tour and night market. The next morning found us eating Ban Mi Sandwiches and what was planned to be a mellow 3 hr motorbike tour turned into a 7 hr adventure before the next day when we headed to the famous Halong Bay. Three days and two nights we cruised through the stunning bays of Halong (descending dragon bay) and Bia Tu Long (little dragon bay) in what google calls the South China Sea and the Vietnamese call the East Sea. One bonus night in a village fishing, husking rice, making brooms and enjoying a slower pace with a final night in Hanoi before they were back to reality.
The trip went as perfectly as we could hope. Jenny and Harrison were total sports about trying new things and going outside their comfort zone. There was time for cousin wrestling, sibling jokes and sister-in-law chats. There were beautiful sights and sounds and we all got to do new things. Seeing the girls around their aunt and Harrison around his uncle was treasured time. They just respond so differently to trusted adults and I love how our village is with us this year, via phone, email, text, facebook and this time in person.
The kids decide to learn to play the “cups” song and wanted to add to the performance art all around town. Watching them sing “you are going to miss my when I am gone” along the lakefront in Hanoi felt like a symbolically perfect song to play on our last day together.
(more photos can be found in Jenny’s guest blog post - “Sticky Rice” as well as a video of our time together that Traverse put together)
The details of the small moments. This 74 year old women teaching me to make a broom from dried rice stalks one careful twist at a time. She was full of laughter and warmth welcoming our family in as her own.
Welcoming us to her beautiful home.
Our family together from half way across the world sitting together enjoying the quiet time and space.
Cousin fun.
The beauty of Halong Bay.
All three days were like this, beauty where ever you looked.
Small boats rented kayaks to ships that passed through the bay.
This was our Dragon Pear Ship that we lived on for 3 days.
Tender getting ready to take us to land.
Small boats - homes for a fishing family dotted these islands.
Harrison enjoying the deck.
Part of our ever smiling crew
This water village reminded me a lot of Prince William Sound and other water ways in Alaska with incredibly hardy people living with the land and the sea.
Paddling out of a cave on our first night to an amazing sunset.
Ahh, so great to have this time with family along for the adventure.
The older she gets the more like her Dad she becomes, brave, funny, full of sas yet easy going and full of fun.
Villagers lining up to take tourist on a tour of their village on the water.
Here is our guide showing us his home.
More time on boats exploring.
Fishing for dinner. These boats are essentially baskets that are then covered with tar and here they are fishing with a hook and a line, placed in by hand.
Huge formations where ever we turned.
The cruise we took did everything in style, including this amazing picnic lunch we paddles to.
The kids got in the water as we hit the land.
In Croatia we started the ‘swim challenge’ some distance swim, this time it was to the boat and back.
A father and his daughter at sea.
The Zink / Zook kid pyramid tradition being kept alive on land.
And at sea.
Where there is sand, there is a sand castle, this time with two boys from the boat and their parents.
These two are both in the shower, Isabelle in their cabin, Traverse in ours, when this picture is taken out our bedroom window.
View from a cave on one of the islands.
Night in Halong Bay with other ships around.
Learning traditional basket fishing.
Biking around town after Halong.
Learning new skills.
And practicing more pyramids..
I loved what you would see and who you would meet when you headed out of town.
Always a smile.
Not only did we get to see this water puppet show in the town, but on our way home we got to watch the whole show from the back - even more fun to see how the magic was created.
Loving time with cousins and on a new adventure.
Aunts are simply the best.
Here is our whole group for the moped tour - our group this big employed a whole group of college students to drive us around.
Sitting back and touring town.
In front of the cathedral as part of our tour.
Fortunately it was all fun and games in a bit more of a tour than we were expecting.
Seeing where the greens are grown in town.
I love how they basically have the same look. As Lily said, you could think these two were twins sometimes.
Biking home after and afternoon of exploring.
More fun at the market.
Ho Chi Minh’s Mosulium where his body can be seen still today.
All dressed up, ready to preform.
Fun at the night market