A Visit to Vietnam - Part One, An Introduction

We interrupted our annual snowbird getaway in Cairo for a two-week vacation to Vietnam this year.  Long on Tom's list of places to tour, I finally got to work on planning a visit after last year's return from Cairo.  

Tom had visited the country in 1970 on a government-sponsored trip funded by the U.S. Army.  I spent a memorable 331 days just north of Saigon with the 1st Infantry Division (Big Red One) at Di An and the 25th Infantry Division (Tropic Lightning) at Cu Chi. 

Way to Vietnam is a travel planning / tour company that I found mentioned in the 25th Infantry Division Newsletter; the company turned out to be a wonderful resource for our trip.

Vietnam is a large country, comparable to Egypt in population (both have over 100 million population).  Stretching about a thousand miles from North to South and with over two thousand miles of winding coastline it has very distinct climates along its length.  We visited three relatively small areas of the country over the course of two weeks.  This blog post will introduce our journey.

We began by flying from Cairo to the capital city of Hanoi in the north of the country which lies near the border with China.  Because of an attractive low round trip fare, I chose Qatar Airways with an intermediate change of planes at Doha, Qatar.  This would later turn out to have interesting consequences.

 

This year on February 18th, the first day of the Islamic month of Ramadan coincided with Tet, the start of the Asian New Year.  We were getting away from Ramadan and, I believed, just missing Tet in Vietnam.  Little did I know that the Tet celebration extends for ten days!  We were greeted by a grand celebration of the year of the Horse - but not just any old horse, this is the year of the Fire Horse which occurs only once every 60 years.  "Happy New Year, 2026" signs were everywhere, not to mention golden horses.

 

 

Hanoi lies in the midst of a large flat delta drained by the Red River.  Hanoi is a city of lakes, the most prominent of which are West Lake and Hoan Kiem Lake, the latter regarded as the symbolic heart of the city.  The "Old Town" neighborhood where we were staying at the Silk Path Hotel, borders Hoan Kiem Lake and we spent a good bit of time in that touristy but fun neighborhood while in Hanoi.

   

 

We spent several days in the Hanoi area touring the city, exploring the nearby river and caves of Tam Coc:

 

then headed out to the famed Ha Long Bay for a couple of days on a small cruise boat.

 

Following that we headed south to the central highlands to visit the well preserved ancient trading center of Hoi An 

 

and the Imperial City of Hue.

 

along with a day at the beach south of Da Nang.

 

From Hue, we headed south to Ho Chi Minh City (the former Saigon) where we briefly visited the former Presidential Palace now known as Reunification Hall. 

 

 

Tom, ever the electronics geek, loved the radio room and command center in the basement!

 

We took two major side trips from Ho Chi Minh City, first to visit the operations area of the 1st and 25th Infantry Divisions including the tunnels at Cu Chi, 

 

then an afternoon cruise on the Mekong river

 

 

Returning to Hanoi, we discovered that war in Iran had closed the two airports that all airlines, including Qatar Airways, use as hubs for their operations between the far east and the middle east.  It took a couple of days to locate an alternate route back to Cairo but with the help of our new friends at Way To Vietnam we were able to book a flight to Cairo via Shanghai, China - it's a thirteen hour flight between Shanghai and Cairo, if you were wondering.

We are now safely back in our Cairo apartment and putting together a few blog posts about the trip.  Much more detail to follow.

 

  

  

 

New Lights for the Cairo Condo

Last winter (2025) we had a very big problem with water leaking through our kitchen ceiling from the apartment above ours. We arranged for a remodel in the spring/summer of 2025. Linda requested that the hall light not be replaced because she would like to shop for that herself. One of the best parts of owning an apartment in a little older section of town is the search for an appropriate light fixture to match the style of that place.  

  

We had never liked the quite dim and peculiar shaped brass fixture that graced the hall.

We headed downtown to the "lighting streets" near Opera Square and browsed the wares at a number of stores.  Two streets are lined with lighting stores and there is a five story vertical mall filled with lighting shops. 

  

  

"Too modern, too blingy, too contemporary," Linda declared.

We then headed to Khan el-Khalili where we might find something at our favorite antique dealer's shop - or, perhaps, he could recommend a place to look.

  

 

Linda took a close look around the shop.  There were many lamps, but none had quite the right feel.

 

No, we couldn't find what we needed.  But he knew someone nearby who would likely have some  fixtures to suit our taste and style..

 

This is more like it! We found the perfect lamp in a neighboring shop and soon had an electrician hang it in the hall. We are more than pleased with the new look.

 

 

While we had the electrician handy, we also upgraded our main bathroom light.  The original fixture lit only one side of the room which did not include the shower.  

  

A new modern high intensity LED ceiling light improved visibility noticeably.  Our remodeling project last spring included a total revamp of the kitchen lighting.  Lighting there is now so good that we no longer need the under-cabinet lighting that I had previously put in place.

 

This year's under-cabinet lighting project was the installation of motion-activated lighting under the bathroom vanity - a big improvement.

 

More photos at this Flickr Album, of course.

Other posts on this blog pertaining to a particular topic can be found by entering the topic (such as lighting) in the search bar at the top of this post and clicking the little magnifying glass nearby.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seeking Mashrabiya

One of our favorite artifacts of Egyptian architecture is mashrabiya.

From the Wikipedia:

A mashrabiya or mashrabiyya is an architectural element which is characteristic of traditional architecture in the Islamic world and beyond. It is a type of projecting oriel window enclosed with carved wood latticework located on the upper floors of a building, sometimes enhanced with stained glass.

A stroll through along any street in an older section of Cairo or along El Moez Street provides examples.  Sitting in our favorite street cafe in Khan el Khalili, I photographed a row of mashrabiya windows.

 

 

Nearby, a shop owner is eating lunch amidst a sampling of mashrabiya inspired grid work.

 

       

More examples pop up throughout the Khan. 

  

Linda has a new wall of bookshelves in her library at home in MN and thought that a bit of mashrabiya grid work should be incorporated in them.  We set out last year to find some. This year we collected a few more pieces.

Where to find them?  I suppose we could have some current versions custom made, but that wasn't really what we had in mind.  We wanted older authentic pieces, so we headed to one of our favorite shops in Khan el-Khalili.  

This antique store is nestled back in a corner of the Khan that doesn't see a lot of traffic.  The owner, Ahmed, must spend a lot of time at estate sales, garage sales, or their equivalent to collect his marvelous treasures.  The diver's helmet near the entrance to his shop would make a perfect addition to someone's garden back home, perhaps along the New England coast.  Other unique items have already made it into our home.

  

 

We collected several mashrabiya samples from around the store and laid them out near the entrance.

 

We chose a half dozen pieces to take home and add to the several we already have.  

How will we incorporate them into the library?  

 

I'm thinking they might occupy some space within door frames across the lower part of the shelves, something like this.

  

Suggestions and comments are welcome!

 

More photos at this Flickr Album, of course.

Other posts on this blog pertaining to a particular topic can be found by entering the topic (such as mashrabiya) in the search bar at the top of this post and clicking the little magnifying glass nearby.

 

  

The Ladies Visit the Horus Silver Shop

 The ladies had expressed an interest in visiting a sliver shop and perhaps purchasing some items. Our guide, Roshdy, knew a good place for silver, Horus Silver near the Giza Pyramids, so we stopped in. 

 

The ladies admired the pieces in the shop and were immediately hooked. A couple of the ladies decided on silver cartouches. 

  

This was not just a shopping stop for us because we were privileged to watch as the cartouches were put together in the workroom. The best part was that under the tutelage of the shop owner, Ahmed, each one got to participate in the creation of her own silver cartouche, soldering in place the hieroglyphic transliteration of their names.    

  

  

Horus Silver is a family business. The brothers, Ahmed and Abdul Rhaman, along with their sister who handles marketing, are continuing the silversmithing that their father taught them. They all enjoy being able to show their creativity. They are happy to talk about how they learned the trade and they have a gentleness about them that is not so common among Egyptian merchants and is very much appreciated.

Not surprisingly, everyone found some items that suited their fancy. 
 

 Linda and the brothers