2018 - Year of the Dog

Gong Xi Fa Cai - Happy New Year

We kicked off 2018 and celebration of the Lunar New Year with a trip to Hoi An Vietnam.

We left at the crack of dawn little did, and we were on the 1st plane to land in Da Nang, VN in the new year.  So we had a bit of a celebration waiting for us.  We were greeted by TV crews and paparazzi on the tarmac and a few dragons.

We headed south to Hoi An for a relaxing vacation.  Gwen was still recovering from a stomach bug - so we just chilled out for a bit.  Here is a view from our room.

Saturday morning we took a shuttle into the town of Hoi An and checked it out on our own.  As it was the Lunar New Year which is also celebrated in Vietnam (Tet) things were quiet - about 50% of the shops were closed, but all the temples had free entry.  Of course, there were foot massages available.

Here are a few of the sights

Sunday was slow and relaxing.  Patrick went to play an amazing round of golf (no photos, because he's a doofus), and Gwen read a book on the beach.

On Monday things started to come back to life from the holiday, and we planned a food tour.  Highly recommend: http://hoianadventure.com/

They picked us up from our hotel at 4pm, and Gwen had her first Vietnam scooter experience - no problem.

We started eating (and taking pictures and notes).  First stop was a hole in the wall where we had delicious quail egg with Cheese and a Hoi An Pizza.  Never would have had this without a guide.  The quail egg was Patrick's favorite.

Then, we walked a few blocks to a busy street corner where we sat on plastic stools to have some BBQ pork (in more of a lettuce wrap/spring roll configuration) - Watch out for the hot sauce... woooooooo

Next stop was a little closer into town.  We had about a 15 minute walk for chicken porridge and chicken salad from a cart on the side of the road - We would not have stopped on our own.  We inspired others to stop though.  A Western couple sat down at the table next to us.  When they struggled with ordering, our guide was sweet and jumped in to help.

We strolled another 15 minutes into the 'old town' section of Hoi An we had checked out previously, and it was a lot busier.  We pooped into a cool little shop for a traditional banh mi and some fancy-schmancy tea.  Really good!

...then across the bridge...   

We had Cai Lau (top right - a local dish of noodles, pork and greens), Chicken Rice (left) and White Rose (bottom right - local dumpling that looks like a white rose).  Little did we realize we had had Cai Lau earlier, and did not know it.

Last stop was the night market for Banana Pancakes and Ice Cream

(You can stop humming Jack Johnson now)...

By now Hoi An was HOPPIN'! - we had a challenge getting a taxi home, but it was worth every calorie of the trip.

On our last day, we went back into the old city.  We had a short time before our flight, so we wandered a few more streets and picked up a piece of art to remember our trip (not the banana shirt).  We saw those shirts everywhere, so we needed a photo.

Before getting on the shuttle back to the airport, I realized I had not taken a picture of the beautiful view from reception.  A view to remember at Victoria Hoi An Beach Resort. 

Back to work.  The next weekend we checked out an exhibit at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum - "Pixar 30 Years of Animation".  Awesome exhibit showing the "story behind the story" of Pixar films.

Next week continued the celebrations of the new year with the team (who were all back from the holiday).  Traditional dim sum lunch

And of course, the traditional dragon dance through the office for good luck.

We are off to a good start for 2018.