Feb 2nd 2010

En route to Dalat from Hanoi

(In the air)

Hi Everyone Nancy here!

Here we are on another travel day. We rather sadly left Hanoi today. What an amazing city and we just brushed a tiny touristy portion of it. Brian was more successful with his early morning explorations, and discovered lots of secret spots.

Hanoi was just gearing up for Tet, the annual lunar new year celebration. This year is the year of the Tiger (-Maeves sign, Emmas too.) The city is being decorated in the most amazing displays of flowers! Motorbikes, bicycles, trucks and handcarts are pouring down the streets all heavily laden with all shapes and sizes of trees and flowers. On the way to the airport we passed acres of land all planted in same green tree with little orange fruits. Also bare branch shrubs with the most delicate pink peach blossoms filled nurseries and fields. Tet Nguyen Dan is considered the most important festival of the year, a period of rebirth and spring. It is supposed to be a spiritual time that affects heaven and earth as well as each person and his /her destiny. I hope we remember to do all of the right things or we may have a rotten “destiny” for the next year!!

Maeve and Nina are sitting beside me industriously doing their homework through all the turbulence and Brian is wandering around looking for a free window seat to peer through.

Oh I feel the plane starting its descent! And soon the Jamaican accented pilot will come on and tell us to fasten our seatbelts so I had better log off now - talk to you later!!!