The Last Hoorah

Our adventure teaching in Vietnam came to an end last week (April 19th).  Through no fault of our own, the job didn't work out due to a corrupt administration at the school.  Most of the other teachers we started with have already moved on, and now we are doing the same.  
We moved to Indonesia last week to start a new teaching job outside of Jakarta.  Before we left, we were able to see the rest of Vietnam on a two week trip.  Here are some of the highlights:

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SAPA

First, we went straight up to the northern mountains for a breath of cool, fresh air.

To get there, we took a plane to Hanoi, a sleeper train to
Lao Cai, and a minibus to Sapa.

The town was full of hilltribe people.
These are the Black Hmongs
(named so because of their clothes)

Tet Vacation

We took two weeks to travel with Julia's parents in February.

Just getting into the city and wandering around

One of the oldest pagodas in the city

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1st stop on our travels was Mui Ne, a small beach town just north of HCMC.

Fairy Springs, a weird place where 3 different colored
sandstones make an otherworldly sight. 

Yes, that's Philip riding an ostrich

And Kathy riding an ostrich

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Back into Ho Chi Minh City for a couple of days.

Kathy and Brian at the water puppet theater

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And then onto the Mekong Delta.

A beautiful sunrise over the rice paddies.

A floating market in the river.
These boats are loaded with fruits straight from the farms.

We bought coffee from this lady making it on her boat.

Brian making friends with the locals

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Last stop - Phu Quoc Island - just off the coast of Cambodia

We spent every morning and evening (and most of the days)
on the beach at the hotel.

at one of our favorite restaurants back in town

live chickens at the local market

What a whirlwind and a wonderful trip.