July 24, 2014

DANANG, VIETNAM

Our travels move forward according to plan and yesterday we left Guilin for Hong Kong. Before going to the airport, we had a relaxing morning at the mountain retreat, ate lunch with our group and then visited a 300 year old farm. Three elders still live in the original family home and have opened it up to tourists. The girls really enjoyed interacting with these people and for Xixi it was a highlight of her time in Guilin.

Mountain Retreat Sunrise

Mountain Retreat

An elder of the farm with Jing and Xixi.

Travel Group

We said goodbye to our group at the Guilin airport as all the families were heading in different directions; Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Hong Kong. The girls seemed to delay the breakup as long as possible, but finally we were able to untangle them and get through customs. Our flight to Hong Kong was only 1.5 hours long and we arrived, had dinner and were settled into our hotel by 10:00 PM. We got up really early for a 8:00 AM flight to Danang, Vietnam.

We are really excited to begin our time in Vietnam. We arrived at the resort around 10:00 this morning, but couldn’t check in until 2:00. So, we were forced to spend 4 hours at the pool. I know – life is hard. We toured the grounds, checked out the beach and ordered a pool side lunch. It seems strange to not be in China – and I keep wanting to greet and thank the hotel staff in Mandarin. Later in the afternoon we took a taxi to a nearby grocery store and then came back to the hotel for dinner. 

We plan to spend tomorrow sleeping in, playing in the pool and in the surf. On our third and fourth days in Danang we will explore the city and the country side and get to know Vietnam a little more. Based on our experience so far, I’m sure it’s going to be great.