Sunday, June 14, 2026
Today is a day on our own, having arrived a day early for our tour to protect against flight problems. Jet lagged, we got up early and had breakfast at a nearby Starbucks. Their breakfast selections were locally-inspired, such as the breakfast sandwiches on Maltese bread. This Starbucks is also the first I have seen that offers coffee cocktails (like coffee martinis), but of course it was much too early for that.
We set out on a walking tour of Valletta using a guide we found online. Valletta is a compact walled city, and is very walkable if you don’t mind a few hills. Our hotel is just outside the city gate. Since it is a Sunday, some of the stops on the tour weren’t available (like the city’s “co-cathedral”), but for the most part it was a good way to get an introduction to the city.
We noticed that Valletta was much more crowded than it was when we first arrived, and found the cause: a very large (Celebrity) cruise ship was docked on the south side of the peninsula. Some stores were offering discounts to their passengers.
We spent most of our time at Fort Saint Elmo, at the end of the peninsula that comprises Valletta, and at the military museum located there. The museum helped us to understand Malta’s history and strategic position in the Mediterranean, and specifically how much they were bombarded in World War II. Historically, Malta has suffered numerous invasions and occupations over the centuries, and Fort Saint Elmo has evolved as a result.
We continued back towards our hotel along the south shore of the peninsula. Pedestrian traffic increased as we got closer to the cruise ship terminal.
We had dinner at one of the many Italian restaurants in Valletta. We were a little concerned because all of the restaurant listings said “book ahead” but it turned out not to be a problem at all.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Malta and Sicily. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
As I have often done in the past, I am blogging our current vacation trip to Malta and Sicily. I will be posting daily installments over the next two weeks, offset by three weeks from our trip. The trip involves a short pre-trip tour in Malta, followed by a cruise around Sicily on the Sea Cloud II, a sailing ship. Once again, we are meeting our friends Dave and Jan on this trip, although they will not be joining our pre-trip tour because they are attending another event in Italy.
Friday-Saturday, June 12-13, 2026
Rather than a direct flight to Europe, this time we are taking an Air Canada flight to Toronto, connecting onward to Frankfurt, with a final flight to Malta on Lufthansa. Because our flight was early in the day, we decided to have our breakfast at the Maple Leaf Lounge at SFO, which was pleasant but very busy. It seems that airport lounges have become very popular recently, and are less peaceful than they once were. Once we found a table, the breakfast items were adequate but not extensive. We were a bit disappointed that the decaffeinated coffee wasn’t working.
When we arrived in Toronto, we were offered the use of the Air Canada Signature lounge during our layover. It was busy enough that we had to wait in line a few minutes to enter. The lounge was somewhat upscale from their Maple Leaf lounges, with table service. We had a light snack in consideration of the meal we would be getting on our next flight.
Our flight to Frankfurt was delayed, initially by a late incoming aircraft, and additionally by the time needed to tow the plane to our gate. We were concerned because we had a short connection in Frankfurt, and had heard stories that entry to the EU is slower than usual because of a new requirement to enroll in a biometric entry system. But we were reassured by the fact that there is a later flight to Malta if we missed the one we were booked on.
We managed to get some sleep on the overnight flight, but as usual never enough. On arrival at Frankfurt, our plane was as usual parked out on the field with buses to take us to the terminal, which again made us nervous considering our late arrival. We made our way as quickly as possible, passing through EU immigration without the biometric enrollment delay. Then we discovered that we needed to take yet another bus to get to our departure terminal, and there was a nervous wait for that bus to arrive.
Moving quickly through the departure terminal to our gate, we were much relieved to see that, despite the late arrival and bus delays, we made it in plenty of time for our flight. Following our 2.5-hour flight, our bags were thankfully promptly delivered.
We weren’t sure how to get to our hotel from the airport. Google Maps suggested the public bus as a good option. A public bus desk told us which bus to catch, and the bus was equipped with luggage storage and only cost 3 euros apiece. It was a short walk to our hotel, the Phoenicia Malta, where we checked in. While doing so, we met another couple that is on the same cruise.
As it is usually a good idea to spend time outside to counter jet lag, we took a walk through Valletta. We encountered a crowd carrying Albanian flags having a peaceful demonstration in the square next to the hotel. They were protesting the plan to put a resort by Jared Kushner on parkland in Albania, echoing large protests that have been occurring in Tirana.
The main street of Valletta has many cafes and souvenir shops. We stopped at a souvenir shop with a particularly friendly owner for a Maltese flag (for Jim) and pin (for Kenna). Upon returning to the hotel, we stopped by its cafe for a light dinner and then turned in for some much-needed sleep.
A couple of things surprised us about Malta, both probably the result of British influence: (1) They drive on the left side of the road. (2) The power outlets in the hotel are the British style outlets, not the continental style. I had brought the continental power adapters without checking, and we needed to borrow an adapter from the hotel.
Saturday, February 21, 2026
Our route home takes us first to Tokyo Narita, with a 10-hour layover before our onward flight to San Francisco. The 3 1/2-hour flight to Tokyo on ANA (All Nippon Airlines) left about 12:25 am and gave us an opportunity to get a couple of hours of sleep before they served breakfast. The business class seats did lie flat and were comfortable enough to get some sleep.
On arrival in Tokyo, we were among the first arrivals of the morning, so when we went to the ANA lounge, it was empty. We found some comfortable seats for the duration and took turns getting food and drinks and exploring the facilities of the lounge. I took advantage of their shower facilities, which were excellent and even allowed me to shave.
During the day, we were able to see the lounge fill up and partially empty as busy flight times came and went.
For our 9 1/4-hour flight from Tokyo to San Francisco, also on ANA, the seats were somewhat roomier than the flight from Hanoi. We slept much of the flight.
On arrival in San Francisco, I declared that we had been in proximity to livestock on our trip (thinking back to the oxcart ride on Day 8). We were interviewed briefly by the agriculture inspector, who mostly made sure that we weren’t carrying a bunch of mud on our shoes. But it was a smooth arrival back into the United States.
This article is the last a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Friday, February 20, 2026
Today is our last day in Hanoi; very early tomorrow, we fly home. But we have basically the whole day to continue sightseeing.
After re-packing our bags, checking out of the hotel, and storing them there, we set out for the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology to learn more about the many ethnic groups of Vietnam. It was some distance from the hotel, so we called for a ride with the Grab app, which is somewhat analogous to Lyft or Uber in the US. A car soon came to take us there; we fortunately had the right change to pay for the ride because Grab doesn’t handle the payment. But soon after waving the cab goodbye, we discovered that the museum was closed for Tet. This hadn’t been clear from the online information, and we saw several others who were similarly surprised. We walked around the outside and read some informative signs on the fence around the museum, and then continued toward our next destination, a nearby shopping mall.
En route to the mall, we were in a newer and less congested part of Hanoi and encountered many more businesses closed for Tet than we had seen in the more touristy parts of town. Eventually, we got to an area with a couple of shopping malls across from each other. We were considerably ahead of schedule, having not taken time for the museum, so we did some shopping, drank Vietnamese coffee, and had a phone call with our daughter, for whom it was Thursday evening.
We had heard about a very good pizza place in Hanoi, Pizza 4P’s. It requires reservations, and we had made a lunch reservation for 1 pm. It was a very elegant restaurant with a variety of Italian food, not just pizza. We opted for the signature pizza, which was good but really didn’t live up to the hype.
Our next stop was a bit of a distance, so we again grabbed a Grab to take us to the Ho Chi Minh museum. It also appeared not to be open, so we walked around to an entrance to the grounds for the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. We had to go through a security check to enter the grounds, but it turned out to be a cursory check, and we entered easily. The mausoleum itself is a large rectangular concrete building reminiscent of similar memorials we had seen elsewhere in Asia. The grounds were immaculately kept, and there was an honor guard that also kept people from sitting in or wandering into the wrong areas.
Exploring the grounds, we came across the One Pillar Pagoda, a Buddhist temple almost 1000 years old. We took many pictures of the attractive exterior of the pagoda, but opted not to go in.
From the mausoleum complex, we continued to the “train street”: a narrow street with a train track running down the middle. The train still operates, and restaurant and cafe customers sit at tables only inches away from the passing trains when they go by. The street was very crowded at the time we were there, and I couldn’t get out of there fast enough so we didn’t get to experience the passing of a train.
We returned to the hotel, again checking out nearby restaurants for dinner, but having eaten so well on this trip we yet again returned to the rooftop restaurant for something simpler. After a leisurely dinner, we returned to the hotel lobby about 8 pm for our transfer to the airport. Due to crowding and street closures, the car could not stop in front of the hotel, so the bellhop helped get our bags to the car, a block or so away.
When we got to Hanoi Airport, it was super crowded, and the car couldn’t drop us off at the correct level for departures. We got out on a different level and found our way to departures, with long lines even for the escalators. My best guess is that this was a surge of travelers returning home after visiting relatives for Tet. Fortunately, our business class tickets got us into express lines, so we didn’t have much of a wait to check bags or go through security, although we did have a bit of a wait at immigration.
We were able to spend the time before our flight in a business lounge. When we got there, we again met up with Jeff and Barbara, who were flying to the East Coast via Dubai but leaving at a similar time to us. We had a pleasant time exchanging stories of our activities that day before heading to the gates for our just-after-midnight flights.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Thursday, February 19, 2026
We got an earlier start today to join Barbara and Jeff whom we met on the cruise for a trip to Ha Long Bay, a scenic area northeast of Hanoi. Our tour guide, Sammie, was waiting for us in the lobby of the hotel and directed us to a waiting van. After picking up Barbara and Jeff we began the 2-hour (plus) drive to Ha Long Bay. It was interesting to see a bit of northern Vietnam outside downtown Hanoi. Much of the route was an expressway, reminiscent of such roads in Europe.
We passed through the port city of Haiphong, which we remember from news reports during the Vietnam War. It looked like a typical port, with cranes for unloading containers from freight ships.
On arrival at Ha Long Bay, we passed through a small passenger terminal on the way to our tour boat. The five of us were on a very comfortable boat, probably suitable for about 40 people. We all were asking, “Is this just for us?” As we sailed out of the port area, we saw surrounding condos and hotels, likely vacation or rental homes.
Our first stop was Thien Cung (Heavenly Palace) Cave. While we have been to quite a few caverns in California; in comparison, this was enormous! It’s a dry cavern, nicely lit, with lots of opportunities to imagine different animals in the stalactite formations.
After leaving Thien Cung and the island it is on, we were treated to an elaborate lunch on the boat, probably more than twice what we could eat. It was an opportunity to sample several local specialties, including oysters, stuffed crab, and a whole fish. We felt guilty that we had so much food but were assured that the leftovers would not be wasted.
En route to our next stop, we passed by a famous rock formation known as the “kissing chickens” that appears to be one large rock split in half. We then went to a small port where we transferred to a sampan rowed by a local guide that took us under a natural bridge into a small bay. We were told that local fishermen use the bay to shelter from typhoons that occasionally hit the area.
Returning to the origin port and our van, we began the trip back to Hanoi. Along the way, we stopped at a local pearl farming facility. We were shown the process by which small bits of sand are implanted in oysters that eventually develop into pearls. We also saw the harvesting and grading process for the pearls. Naturally there was a large showroom to allow us to purchase pearl jewelry. We did find a nice necklace for Kenna there.
We had a full day by the time we returned to Hanoi. While in our hotel room, deciding what to do for dinner, we heard a bit of a disturbance (drums, etc.) outside. We decided to go down to check this out and found a couple of costumed lions visiting local businesses to give Tet blessings. We had a good time watching and videoing the festivities for a while. We weren’t sure which of the many crowded streetside restaurants to eat at for dinner and decided we would prefer something quieter. So we returned to the rooftop restaurant at our hotel for dinner and retired for the evening.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
After an enjoyable buffet breakfast at our hotel, we set out to explore Hanoi a bit. Hoan Kiem Lake is only a few blocks away and was also a stop for some hop-on hop-off bus tours that we considered. The many scooters and cars made crossing streets a challenge. Just walking down the street was often tricky because of scooters and merchants’ goods parked on the “sidewalk”, making it necessary to frequently divert out to the street.
When we arrived at the lake, we found a large, very popular park area. Since it is the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, we were told that Hanoi might be deserted because so many people go to visit their families elsewhere. That was not in evidence here, with many families gathering at the lake to take pictures (apparently a New Year tradition). The park around the lake was also specially decorated for Tet, with many flowers (particularly chrysanthemums) and festive signs wishing us a Happy New Year.
We went to a ticket booth to book a hop-on hop-off bus tour, and the first one available was at 1:15 pm. Since it was only 11 am, we decided to walk around the lake. There were uncluttered sidewalks, although we did have to stop often to stay out of the way of family pictures. Den Ngoc Sun temple, on an island in the lake connected by a bridge, was particularly busy and we didn’t attempt to go there.
By the time we returned to the ticket booth, we were both a little hungry. We decided to avoid the American fast food like KFC and discovered that many of the other places only served coffee and related beverages. Eventually, we bought a couple of barbecued chicken skewers from a street vendor and coffee from one of the shops to go with it.
At the appointed time, we got in line for the tour bus, which started a few minutes later. As we had hoped, the tour took us past quite a few Hanoi landmarks, including Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, Hoa Lo Prison (the “Hanoi Hilton”), the Vietnamese Women’s Museum, and the Temple of Literature. We didn’t opt to hop off at any of the stops because of the limited time we had available, but we did need to get off a couple of stops before we had completed a full loop. We would have had to change buses here, but instead we just left the tour.
We were interested in going back to see the Vietnamese Women’s Museum, so we walked there and toured it. There was an excellent display of fabrics and clothing from several of Vietnam’s ethnic minorities, in addition to the expected exhibits highlighting women’s contributions to Vietnam’s history. Returning to the hotel, we passed by the Hoa Lo Prison but decided not to visit the prison itself.
Tired at this point, we decided to check out the rooftop restaurant/bar for dinner. It was quite peaceful, a nice counterpoint to the frantic pace of Hanoi. As an added bonus, we had a great view of occasional fireworks celebrating Tet.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Tuesday, February 17, 2026
While our tour offered an optional pre-trip extension to Hanoi, Hue, and other parts of Vietnam, it didn’t work with our schedule. We decided instead to add our own 3-day extension to Hanoi at the end.
After a little last-minute souvenir shopping in Siem Reap, we spent much of the day at the Raffles Hotel saying good-byes to many of our fellow travelers. Our flight was late in the afternoon, and we were among the last to leave. Two other couples, Jeff and Barbara, and Brit and Jan, were on the same flight to Hanoi. Jeff and Barbara had very similar plans to ours, while Brit and Jan had a much longer itinerary planned.
We had hoped to book a tour guide in Hanoi through the same service that provided the tour’s local guides in Saigon. But they informed me that because many of their guides were taking a vacation during the Tet holiday (coinciding with our visit to Hanoi), they could not provide one. But Jeff and Barbara said they had a guide and would check with her if we could join their tour of Ha Long Bay on Thursday. We later heard that she could accommodate us, which will greatly enhance our visit.
In the afternoon, we set out in one of the small buses with one of our local guides. The new Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport is quite a distance, a little over an hour, out of town. We arrived at the airport’s huge, but mostly deserted, terminal. It was quickly evident that the airport had been financed by the Chinese, from the X-ray machines with side-by-side Cambodian and Chinese flags, the pedestrian barriers bearing the name of the Chinese-owned management company (Yunnan Investment Holdings Limited), and the traditional Chinese clothing worn by the check-in clerks.
We spent most of the time waiting for our flight in the business-class lounge. When using their WiFi, I found that they were trying to substitute their own security certificate for the one my email server uses, indicating that they may be trying to monitor my email. Fortunately, I was able to use the cellular network for email access instead.
We had arranged with our hotel for a transfer from the airport. It was very chaotic in the arrival area when we got out of immigration and customs, so it took a few minutes to find the driver holding a sign with our name. The hour-long ride from the airport gave us our first glimpse of traffic in Hanoi: crazy. As we approached our hotel, we found ourselves on narrower and narrower streets crowded with people, scooters, and cars. Somehow our driver managed to stop and let us out right in front of our hotel.
We stayed in the May de Ville Crown Hotel in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. We were greeted with cups of spiced tea when we arrived, which were very welcome. The hotel was compact but clean and comfortable, although its five-star rating might be a bit of a stretch.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Monday, February 16, 2026
Today, our last full day of the tour, began with a morning excursion to Banteay Srei, a temple at the far end of the Angkor complex, that is noted for its pink sandstone. It also has carvings that are more detailed and complex than most we have seen at other temples.
On the way back, we stopped at the Satcha Handicraft Center, a handcraft incubation center in Siem Reap that featured wood and stone carving, painting, and other crafts. We were able to see the artisans at work and the tools with which they did their work. There was a small shop where we could buy some of their items as well. Many handcraft skills were lost as a result of the Khmer Rouge massacre, and centers like this are preserving and encouraging those skills.
Lunch was on our own, so Kenna and I decided to have lunch “by the pool” behind the Raffles. It was a hot, sunny day, so we ended up eating in the shade of a tree a short distance away. Aside from some insects nibbling at Kenna’s feet, we had a pleasant lunch.
In the afternoon, we had a few options, including a visit to the Angkor National Museum or on a photo tour with Cookie. I opted to stay behind and rest; by this point in the tour, I was exhausted and needed to rest my right leg, which was sore from yesterday’s Angkor Wat excursion. Kenna opted for the museum, which she found quite worthwhile.
The evening featured our farewell cocktail reception and dinner, located close to where Kenna and I had lunch. Dinner was in a semi-secluded area nearby, with more luminarias to guide us to the right place and another excellent tasting menu.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Sunday, February 15, 2026
Today’s itinerary began with a very early visit to Angkor Wat, the main Angkor temple, to watch the sun rise over the temple. This involved getting up around 4:30 am and leaving for the temple at 5:30 to see the sunrise around 6:30. As usual, our tour leaders had thought of everything and had pastries and beverages available to grab, so nobody was hungry.
When we arrived at Angkor Wat, we were far from alone. The spot that the guide had planned for us to sit and watch the sunrise was already taken, but he had other locations in mind as well. We ended up mostly standing for the sunrise, which wasn’t a problem and allowed us to move around a bit as the sun rose and crowds moved. Following sunrise, he directed us to a reflecting pool for more pictures of the temple.
We then entered the temple itself and explored, noting particularly long, intricately carved walls depicting battles and royal life. Climbing to the second floor, we were then given an opportunity to climb a steep stairway to enter the central tower. The tower was crowded, with a short line to enter and a longer line to exit due to the steepness of the stairs.
On the other side of the temple was another long wall with images of historical events. One of the others on the tour noted an analogy with the Bayeux Tapestry, which had been my thought as well.
Although it felt like a long morning, when we returned to the hotel, it was only about 10 am. Breakfast was waiting for us, but several of us characterized it as “brunch” instead.
We had some time on our own following breakfast/brunch, so Kenna and I walked over to a nearby supermarket to explore and pick up a few items. The supermarket was very large and comprised 2 floors and seemed to cater to tourists like us as well as expats and other visitors. We picked up some sodas ($0.50 each, compared with $6.00 in the hotel) and a small box of palm sugar. There was also a huge selection of flavored potato chips, so we picked up a bag of the honey-mustard flavor, which turned out to be quite good.
In the afternoon, we had an excursion to the Bayon Temple in Angkor Thom and some associated structures nearby.
The evening was an elaborate outdoor dinner at another temple in the complex, Prasat Kravan. Our tour operator, Lindblad, and the Raffles, who catered it, put on an amazing event for us. We took small buses and on arrival were greeted by a short performance by Khmer dancers. We then walked through hundreds (thousands?) of luminarias to an area where we were served wine, beer, and hors d’oeuvres, and later to a third area on the other side of the temple where tables had been set and we were served a tasting-style dinner. Between dinner courses, the dancers performed different traditional dances, each telling a different story. This was an amazing production, even more so because of its remoteness.
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.
Saturday, February 14, 2026
Overnight, the Jahan moved to the town of Steung Trang to prepare for our travel to Siem Reap and the Angkor temple complex. As is typical for cruises, we had to get off the ship promptly at 8am to allow the crew to prepare for their next cruise. We bid the crew goodbye and boarded buses for Siem Reap, about a 4 1/2-hour drive. Along the way, our new local guides pointed out some of the agriculture on the route, including cashews (apparently Cambodia’s number one export, to our surprise) and groves of rubber trees. We also stopped at a roadside rest area where we marveled at some of the unusual snack items that they offered, particularly unusual flavors of potato chips.
Eventually, we arrived at Siem Reap, where we are staying at the Raffles Grand Hotel. It is indeed a grand hotel, in an updated classic style. We were a little earlier than check-in time, so we immediately went to the restaurant for a buffet-style lunch. Our rooms were ready after lunch, so we got cleaned up before our late afternoon excursion to Ta Prohm, the first of several temples we would visit in the area. Ta Prohm is notable for being featured in the movie “Tomb Raider”. It is distinguished by several trees that have grown over portions of the temple, with roots descending the sides of the buildings to the ground. We stopped several times for our guide to take pictures of us with these tree roots.
Dinner was on our own this evening, but neither of us was very hungry after the filling buffet lunch. We met Dave and Jan in the hotel’s Elephant Bar, an elegant cocktail lounge featuring an extensive gin selection. I had their featured gin and tonic, while Kenna had a Singapore Sling in recognition of Raffles’ origins in Singapore. We split a club sandwich, which was enough food, and headed for bed early. Tomorrow will be an extra early day!
This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.