Levi's Adventure in Nha Trang, Vietnam

While we were in Vietnam we took a plane to Nha Trang.  Nha Trang is on the South China Sea in the middle of Vietnam.  The first evening we went and took mud baths.  The mud was warm and slippery.

The next day we took a boat to the aquarium.  We looked at the fish and fed the turtles, the giant grouper and jack.

After that we went to a floating restaurant with big holding pens where they kept cuttlefish, cobia, eels and lobster.  We caught some fish with nets.  We also caught a cuttlefish that inked us.  Then we ate him for lunch.

After lunch we went swimming and jumped off the top of the boat.  We also went for a ride in little bamboo basket boats.

Sailing on Halong Bay by Wiley

We drove 4 hours from Hanoi, Vietnam to Halong Bay.  Then we got on a boat called a junk.

We started to sail out to where there are very many little islands.  They look like big rocks with trees coming out of the sea.

 

At night we went squid fishing. We caught three squid and ate them the next day.

We also took a cooking class where we learned how to roll spring rolls.

We went to an island called Cat Ba.  We went to the beach and cut down coconuts from a coconut tree.  We cracked them open and drank the milk.

There were also floating villages where people lived and caught fish.

The next day we climbed to the top of a mountain where there was a big tower at the top.

After the hike we got on a hydrofoil for the trip back to the mainland. The boat was small and full of people.  Luckily it was very fast.

Mac in the Mekong, Vietnam

The Mekong is a river that starts in Tibet and flows into the Ocean in Vietnam.  One day on our trip to Vietnam we went to the Mekong River.  The drive was two hours and on the way we stopped at a
Temple.

At the Temple we watched the people pray. Afterwards, we went outside and saw some monkeys running across the road.  I wanted to check them out real bad so me, my brothers and a couple of friends ran over to see them.  There was a big momma monkey, a little baby and a couple of miniature size ones.  We followed the monkey to the top of the bleachers and he was sitting on a railing.  Every time I touched the railing the monkey would run over and try to bite my hand.

I named this monkey Momo.  He became my friend.  When he got to the fence below the bleacher he started to climb and jump on me.

While he was playing he seemed amused by my pockets. I would put my hand in my pocket and move it around.  he would then reach in my pocket and try and pickpocket me.

There was a mean monkey that chased after me along with this mean ugly momma.

We next went for a boat ride on the Mekong.  I got a cool cone hat, held a 70 pound python and drank snake wine.  This is wine kept in a jar with dead snakes.

Wiley's Atomic Bomb Blog

We got to Hiroshima two days ago.  We walked around Hiroshima and saw a destroyed building from the atomic bomb.  The building was a dome and the roof was all gone.  The floors were totally gone and there was a metal staircase that was all bent up and destroyed.

We also went to the Peace Memorial Museum.  We saw pictures of the city after the bomb.  Almost every building was destroyed.  There were people walking around the streets injured and there were dead people on the streets.  There were 350,000 people in Hiroshima before the bomb went off and there were about 140,000 that died because of the bomb.  This happened in 1945 on Thursday August 6th at 8:15 in the morning.  A few years later more and more people started to die from cancer because of the radiation.    When the Americans dropped the bomb the explosion made the plane shake.  One good thing was that one building survived and that building was a hospital.

We also visited the Hiroshima Castle, which had to be rebuilt after the bomb.  We got to try on special Samuri suits and we saw lots of samurai armor with built in mustaches.  We also saw lots of cool swords and sword guards.

Mac's Blog about Skiing and Snow Monkeys

While traveling around Japan, my Mom and I thought it would be awesome to go snow skiing in Shiga Kogen near Nagano.  As soon as we saw it we tried to talk my Dad into it but he wanted to check out the buildings and shrines.  After a while we finally talked him into it.  We hopped a train the next day and rode to Nagano.  When we got off the train, we had to take a bus the rest of the way. When we got off the bus, the whole place was covered with thick powdery snow.

When we got off of the bus we were freezing to death.  Luckily there was a guy waiting for us with a van that took us to our hotel.  When we got to the hotel, we took all our luggage and checked into our room. We put our luggage into the room and found warm tea and chocolate filled donuts waiting for us. The guy in the hotel told us about dinner and that we could rent skis and that kind of stuff.  Our plans were to wake up in the morning and ski after breakfast.  As I was getting out of the shower, my brothers ran in the bathroom and told me we can ski at night.  I was very excited.  We ate dinner, got on our warmest clothes on, which weren't very warm because they were jeans and light jackets.  After we got our skis, a lady took us outside and led us through the woods to the slopes.  We were really close.  My Dad skied ahead and got the tickets.  As soon as the rest of us got there, we put the tickets in our pockets and got on the lift.  When we got to the top of the slopes it was very cold.  It was better than I thought it would be because all the slopes were lit up with bright lights.

We skied for about two hours and then went back to our hotel, but we were still excited about the next day.  After getting some good rest, we woke up, ate breakfast, got our warm clothes and skies on, then headed out.  There were a lot more slopes open when we got there and we were excited to try some new runs.  When we started skiing, my parents and brothers went in one group and I went by myself. 

I skied the blues and blacks while my parents took my brothers to ski the greens and blues on the other side of the mountain. After a couple of hours, my Dad came back and got me.  We were in a hurry to get to the snow monkeys.  I was excited because I love monkeys.  When we got there we had to hike 30 minutes through the woods and snow.  The monkeys were bathing in natural hot springs and playing in the snow.

After watching the snow monkeys, we hiked back took the bus to the train station and caught a train to our next awesome adventure.

Levi's Tokyo Blog

Today we are in Tokyo!  It is a very big city.  It is clean and crowded.

We are staying in an apartment that does not have any furniture.  We sleep in a big room on the floor on futons.  It was winter and cold outside.

Luckily the toilet seats are heated!

On the first day we went to the fish market and saw big giant tuna.

This man is cutting up big pieces of the tuna.

This is a crab that was just taken out of a box of wood shavings.  He is alive!

So is this octopus!

...and these are eels!

We went up to the top of the Tokyo Tower and saw Mt. Fuji and Tokyo.

This is a picture looking down through the a window in the floor of the tower.

Tokyo has many very cool parks and shrines.