Harris World Tour

Thursday, May 23rd, 2019. Today we slept in and took it very easy in the morning. We were all feeling lazy and wanted to enjoy our beautiful hotel. We had a great breakfast. I knew I had to write, but instead, I read all morning! What a luxury! I finished the book “Return to the little coffee shop of Kabul” by Deborah Rodriguez. I recommend it. You will learn about the culture of Afghanistan. Around 3:00pm, we left our hotel, we borrowed an umbrella to protect ourselves from the strong rays of the sun. This time we are staying very close to the Mekong river. We only walked a few minutes and we had the beautiful view of palms and the river. We sat in a restaurant near the river and had a great lunch. I’m really enjoying our family conversations at the table. I think the trip has brought us closer.  Afterward, the kids didn’t want to join us for a cruise by the river. They went back to the hotel and Gregory and I went looking for a cruise. We walked by the river and asked for price

Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019 This morning our driver arrived by the time we were finishing breakfast. Gregory and Daniel had gone up to brush their teeth but Sunshine and I jumped because we were not ready. He told us to calm down that he was only checking where the hotel was. I was relieved because Gregory hadn’t paid the bill yet. You can imagine my anxiety because I grew up with a father who paid the night before so he didn’t have to worry the same day of the checkout. My kids often say that Gregory is the Mexican who likes to leave everything for the last minute. I also wanted him to ask the lady at the front desk to have the bill ready in the morning and like always, he calmly said: it only takes a minute. Well, I’m glad we had those extra twenty minutes because when I approach the front desk lady to let her know that we would be paying with a credit card she said: oh, then you need to walk with me to the other hotel to pay. I wanted to scream but she said that it was only five minu

Tuesday, May 21st, 2019 Today we enjoyed a lazy day in Vang Vieng. I think we all had enough sun yesterday and no one wanted to leave the rooms. We got tan and sunburned even with sunscreen and hats on. We decided to enjoy ourselves indoors and get some writing and homework done. The only thing we did was go out for late lunch/early dinner at the same restaurant we went to last night. We sat at a high table with no chairs, instead it had cushions and we sat on those. It was still very hot and the host turned two of the fans on! We had delicious green curry with steamed rice! On our way out, we saw Teresa walking down the street. She is a German girl we met last night. She told us that they didn’t do anything that day and that she was going to Luang Prabang with Michael and Claude, the Lebanese men we had dinner with last night! We told her that we had the same plan as well. Who knows we might be in the same van. We didn’t say goodbye because we knew we would meet her again. After lat

Monday, May 20th, 2019 Today Sunshine knocked on our door at 7:30am. We wanted to leave early to go tubing and avoid the hot afternoon hours. After breakfast, we walked towards the river where we found a tubing company. The lady next door was surprised that we wanted to go so early. She said that people normally started at 1:00pm. We told her that we were trying to avoid the sun at that time. We negotiated a little bit on the price. In the end, we got a discount because all the clients come in the afternoon. The guy secured good money in the morning when business is slow. We jumped in his tuk-tuk which took us upriver. Very quickly, we learned how slowly the current was moving. At first, I was scared, and I really don’t know why. The water was shallow and moving so slowly that it took us 4 hours to go down the river. Vang Vieng is well known for tubing and the bars along the river. It was interesting to see the bars/shacks. When the current is strong, they throw a rope for you to

Sunday, May 19th, 2019 Today we wanted to go tubing on the river, but by the time we decided to leave the hotel, it was 2:00pm and way too hot. It is hard to plan when everyone is tired and we start the day so late. Gregory suggested going to the blue lagoon since we were wearing our swimsuits and it was so hot. He started the negotiation with a tuk-tuk while I walked to one of the many tour offices to ask how much would it cost us to take us. Apparently, there are three blue lagoons. We negotiated a ride to Blue Lagoon 1. The guy from the office told us to wait and he disappeared. Minutes later he showed up with his VIP tuk-tuk. It was so funny to see him as the booking office man and the tuk-tuk driver and he also showed us his guest house behind the office. Now that’s what I call an entrepreneur! The ride was 20 minutes. We had to pass a toll bridge. He wanted us to pay the toll but Gregory just told him that it was included in the price that he had charged. When we made it to t

Saturday, May 18th, 2019. Today after breakfast, Gregory and I went to visit the Royal Palace museum. We were told that it was going to be free since it was International Museum Day. The whole reason for coming today was to save the admission fee. Well, we didn’t. We had to pay because no one knew about the International Museum Day. We both got a little upset but whatever, we were there and had to see it. [ Gregory's note: 3 words: Communist government employees.] The fancy building is actually a temple inside the palace complex and you don’t have to pay to see it. You can admire the interior of the building and old Buddha statue that is inside. [ Gregory's note: actually, you can only glance inside at the Buddha. There's no real interior and you can't go in, anyway.] The palace museum is what you really pay for. When we got there, we were informed that we had to take our bags and phones to the locker room. We walked over to leave my bag. We returned to the palace w

Friday, May 17th, 2019 Today Gregory and I actually got up at 5:20am to see the alms giving procession. Every day the monks walk down the main street and receive food donations from people. It is amazing to see how many people sit outside ready with food to give the monks. The rice and fruit are what the monks will eat for breakfast. We saw the monks wearing their orange tunics walking barefoot with their food pots. Many people give them sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves. We read that it was better not to give food if you were a tourist and just to watch respectfully from a distance. I shed a tear when I saw the monks giving their food away to a poor lady with two children. I realized that even those who had nothing were giving away their breakfast. I'm sure the monks get plenty of donations, but the fact that they can easily give away the little they have just breaks my heart. I felt selfish and realized that everyone always has something to give no matter how little they

Thursday, May 16th, 2019. Today was an amazing day! We finally booked a visit to Elephant Shelter Laos. We had to negotiate quite a bit because they are not cheap tours! Our hotel offered us a good price at Elephant Village, but they allow tourists to ride the elephants so we chose not to support them. We had an early breakfast and the van came to pick us up at 8:00am. We picked up another couple from another hotel. Our guide was the same man who sold us the tour. He talked about the four years that he spent as a monk. It was interesting. Well, the parts we could understand were. After a 40 minute drive, we arrived at a resort called Chateau Orientale. It was beautifully decorated in Indian style. It had a large garden with a meandering pond, and it was very well maintained. It seemed empty and I assumed that it was because it is new. After wandering around, we sat in under a gazebo with our guides and an employee who gave a small talk about elephants. One of the guides was the transl

Wednesday, May 15. 2019 The morning was a little frustrating. OK, very frustrating, at least for me. I always get in this mood when we have to make decisions, or rather when we can't make a decision. Today we had planned to visit museums because the weather forecast was for rain, but we were also trying to decide which elephant experience to book. It took several hours of research. We asked the hotel manager to call Elephant Shelter Laos to see if they could get a better price. The elephant shelter finally agreed to $40 per person. The price seemed very reasonable compared to Mandalao that charges over $100 per person ( Sunshine's note: The reason it was so hard to find a company to choose was that many companies allow tourists to ride the elephants. This is not healthy for the elephants and should not be allowed at all. However, the sanctuaries that take good care of their elephants are usually more expensive. Major Bummer). The hotel had another company that was willing

Tuesday May 14, 2019 Today we spent all morning in our hotel. We normally like to do this after a travel day, even if it was only a two-hour flight. After lunch, we wanted to walk into town then teach English at a center called Big Brother Mouse , but we came to Mount Phu Si stairs first. We were hesitant to climb the numerous stairs because of the heat but we were right there so we went for it. Mount Phu Si is a 100m high hill in the center of the old town of Luang Prabang. It lies in the heart of the old town peninsula and is bordered on one side by the Mekong River and on the other side by the Nam Khan River. Wikipedia We climbed many stairs and saw many Buddha statues along the way. We made it to a point where you had to pay to continue. Only Sunshine and I went all the way up. It was worth all the sweat because the view was just stunning. We took some cute photos of the view and then we sat down to enjoy the silence which didn't last long because a swarm of Chinese tourists a

Monday, May 13th, 2019 We were not in a rush to get up early because our plane leaves at 2:30pm. We woke up and had our breakfast of fresh fruit, yogurt, and coffee in our rooms. Gregory had to get a photo for his Lao visa. I had visa photos taken in Mexico of me and the kids and I will finally be able to use them. I stayed busy trying to catch up on the blog, even though the Wifi was bad. We took Grab to the airport. Everything went very smoothly. The best part of flying is the airport lounge because it is so quiet, has good food and good Wifi. I think we all look forward to spending time there. We were relaxing until our names were called on the loudspeaker asking us to come board. That's how long Gregory likes to wait in the lounge before boarding. You can imagine how nervous I get and how much I want to kill him but we still made it on time! The flight was short, only one and a half hours. Not enough time for me to do my favorite hobbies in life: read and sleep. We landed on

Sunday, May 12, 2019. After last night's adventure, we told the kids they could sleep in today. Around noon, Gregory and I went to meet Axel, an old German friend of Gregory's. We had a delicious lunch at Coffee Beans by Dao. We had a lovely time chatting until 3:00pm when the waiter told us that they wanted to close the restaurant. Axel drove us back to our hotel and we promised to get together next time with his wife and daughter, who is two years older than Sunshine. The kids had a wonderful time resting in the room and went out for lunch on their own. They are so aware of their expenses, they told us that a bottle of water cost 60 THB at the restaurant, and in the market, it cost 10! So Daniel went to the 7/Eleven and bought a bottle there. I guess they have learned to live on a budget since that’s what we have been doing. The kids wanted to stay in the room but we decided to take the boat ride to see some of the city. They still whined and complained but we made them do i

Saturday, May 11th, 2019 Today, Sunshine and I went by ourselves to see the Grand Palace. Neither Gregory nor Daniel wanted to go. I always get a little nervous going by myself and I know nothing can go wrong but when I think how far away we are from home, I freak out, especially when I picture where we are on the map. I remind myself that this is a safe, modern city and then I’m OK. Besides, with Grab it was easy.  [ Gregory's note:  Lili's modus operandi is to freak out first and realize later how easy things are.]  I wanted to leave early to avoid the heat and crowds but we didn’t think about the traffic. We arrived at 9:30am and it was already super crowded with lots of tourist buses and it was already hot. At first, I was upset about coming because I think I’m done seeing monuments and tourist attractions but then my sweet Sunshine reminded me that we wanted to see it. More importantly, we had time alone together! But I have to say, it's hard to enjoy when the temper

Friday, May 10th, 2019. Today we were going to go visit the Grand Palace but when the alarm went off, Gregory said that he didn’t want to go. I took that as an excuse and went back to sleep. I notify the kids that we were taking the day off and everyone seemed happy about that. I took a long shower, had our small breakfast. I helped Sunshine with her Gold Award project. I also tried to catch up on my writing. I had been alternately relaxed and sick in Vietnam, so I didn’t do much writing but then I regret it because I get really behind. I didn’t advance much because I also had to book another two nights at the hotel and plan a fun day with the kids while Gregory went to his Rotary session. We decided to go to the movies at Terminal 21. I was very excited that there was actually a chick flick for Sunshine and me at the same time as Daniel’s movie. We girls watched Hustled with Anne Hathaway and Daniel watched  Avengers: Endgame . He went to the movie by himself for the very first time

Thursday, May 9th, 2019. What did we do today? Well, it was our first day in Bangkok and because we are not thrilled with the hotel where we are staying, we decided to take the BTS Skytrain to go see an alternative. Just the experience of the Skytrain was cool. We climbed on the modern train and it was fun to see the city from far above the ground. It reminded us of the nice metro stations in Dubai. When we got off, we still had to walk for a while to get to the hotel. We made it to the hotel, which wasn't nearly as nice as it looked on Booking.com, where it was rated 4 stars. We came this far, so we wanted to see a room, anyway.  At first, the lady at the front desk asked us to come back tomorrow because they were cleaning the rooms. I got a little upset and said no. I explained that it had taken us an hour to come and see the room. She was kind enough to show us a room (which was perfectly clean) but it wasn’t much better than where we are staying. Actually, the location was not

Wednesday, May 8th, 2019. Today we got up early because we are leaving Hoi An. I wasn’t ready to go. I really enjoyed this small town full of life and lanterns and all the restaurants and cafes! We actually stayed 2 extra days already but we never made it to the beach because of the heat! After breakfast, Kim gave us a bag of traditional Vietnamese fruit. One is called rambutan and the other is bong bong. It looks like garlic when you peel it but is sweet and a little bitter. She also added that the bong bong is very expensive. We thanked her and then we took a group picture with the folks from Argentina who were leaving as well. Carolina and Pablo are traveling Vietnam by motorcycle. They ended up at our hotel because Kim hosted them through Couchsurfing.  The drive to Danang was very smooth and fast. It is only 40 minutes away and is becoming another popular destination for tourists. It has a beautiful beach and it is a bigger city. There are many villages to go around and well, I

Tuesday, May 7th, 2019. Today, Sunshine and I grabbed bikes and went shopping right after breakfast. I thought it would be cooler but when we parked our bikes and made it to the clothing stores, we were soaking with sweat! We walked around for a while. Most of the stores had cute dresses and fabrics because here in Hoi An many people are tailors! You can have whatever you want handmade and tailored to your size. But Sunshine and I preferred something already made. Sunshine found a cute and inexpensive dress. I, as usual, was hesitant with everything that I tried on. We sat at a cafe-bar to enjoy a cold drink after we were done shopping. We normally end up exhausted and sometimes in a bad mood. Today it was ok. When we were enjoying our drink, we got a message from Gregory saying, “I found something for all of us to do”. It was noon by then and honestly, we didn’t want to have to drive for two hours to see the My Lai massacre memorial. He thought it would be interesting for Sunshine s

Monday, May 6th, 2019. Mmmm I don’t remember what we did since I’m behind writing on the blog and I don’t have any pictures. We must have stayed at the hotel and rested. Yes, that’s what we did but we also went out for dinner with the Kiwi family from the train. We went to a restaurant called the Tea Garden. The food was good, although service was slow compared to last night. The prices were excellent so I had a mojito and a Diet Coke. We had a good time with the family. The parent's names were Dave and Leanne and their children are Petra and Oscar. At the end of dinner, the four kids were finally engaged in conversation -- of course, it took them most of the dinner to warm up. Their family is leaving tomorrow so we won’t get to see them anymore. The good thing is that now we got friends and a place to stay in New Zealand. I also finished A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I highly recommend it.

Sunday, May 5th, 2019. Today was a long day. We started the day early because we took a tour to go to My Son Sanctuary and a boat cruise (please check the deluxe cruise photos). Anyway, the taxi was late to pick us up to take us to the bus station. The bus filled up with many tourists and it took about an hour before we reached our destination. We felt the hot air hitting our faces the moment we got out but it was after we walked ten minutes to the ruins that I wanted to die. The temperature was 90 but it felt like 100! When I first saw the ruins of the temples, I thought, OK, I've seen it, let's go back to the bus with AC but it was only the beginning of the tour. We walked for another hour in the heat, looking at ancient Hindu temples and statues of Hindu gods and remembering the pagodas in Bagan, Myanmar. Also, the temples in My Son are in really bad shape due to the war. The guide explained that they were bombarded by the Americans because the communist Vietnamese were h