Congratulations! Very impressive restoration. Well worth the time and effort.

Thank you Mark for an impressive set of pictures. They show a vastly changed Hanoi from when I first visited it in the 1980s. There was really only one hotel at which you could stay, and in that one too visiting the toilet could be an olfactory nightmare. One was recommended to confine oneself to two eating places – – something with a street address of 202 (the place did not have a name) and another one called the "Piano Bar" (there was someone banging on a piano during dinner). I managed to restart the World Bank's lending to the country after the Vietnamese had accounted for the US's missing in action.
Your photograph of your wife in front of the Hilton recalled something that happened on my first visit. The governor of the central bank of Vietnam was driving me around to show me the city: "this is such and such palace," "this is that and that lake," this is the whatever pagoda," and similar stuff. We went past a rather large building when the governor said quickly "And this is the Hanoi Hilton." I said "you mean the prison in which American flyers were incarcerated?" "Yes," the governor replied, "but we don't like to dwell on the past." It is good to see from your photograph that Hanoi has acquired a genuine Hilton.

Many thanks for sharing this superb set of pictures. The one of the elephants going trunk to tail made me smile, because it reminded me of the time on a safari when we were stuck for about an hour while a similar cavalcade first crossed our path and then circled our van and settled down to feed. Have a great trip, and come back safe and with many more such pictures.

Thank you very much for sharing these photos. I have never visited a ghost town and, like some of the others commenting, would be interested in knowing how they became "ghosts." Many thanks once again for posting these evocative pictures.

Fantastic! Thank you very much for sharing.

May I make two points? First, please don't take so much gear that you become obsessed with deciding which camera and which lens to use. The idea of going to Morocco is to enjoy the trip, and there is much to see and enjoy. A walkaround lens, such as the 24-120, a wide-angle (preferably prime, because it would be better in low light than would a zoom and interiors tend to have relatively poor light), and one zoom telephoto is probably all that you need. Second, the pestilence of tourism in Morocco is the presence of numerous and insistent "guides" who accost you on virtually every street corner and pester you with offers to show you this or that tourist site. The best defense against this sort of harassment is to hire one knowledgeable guide (perhaps recommended by your hotel or tour company) who will not only show you the sites and provide reliable information, but also fend off the others. It also goes without saying that you should keep an eye on your photographic gear. I wish you an enjoyable, informative, and photographically productive trip.

With a Nikon full frame my most useful lens was a 24-120. For interior shots, if I needed something wider than 24, it was a 16-35. I did not find much use for a telephoto. But, of course, this is just my style of photography; yours may be something different.

My warmest congratulations. Your pictures reflects the wonderful serenity of the place and the unhurried pace of living of the people. You are an extremely gifted photographer, and I always look forward to your postings. Warm regards, and please stay safe.

JBRIII reminds me of an old verse:

There was a young lady called Bright
Who could travel much faster than light
She set out one day
In a relative way
And returned the previous night

Thank you. Yes, they asked me to go to some site. I immediately deleted the message and contacted FedEx and Walmart.

I don't know what is going on. A few days ago I had an email purporting to come from FedEx that my order number XYZ was on its way. Two or three days after that I got another email from FedEx saying that my order number XYZ from Walmart could not be delivered because it had been damaged in transit. I checked with FedEx, asking what I should do next; reply: we have no record of such an order. I checked with Walmart, reply: we have no record of such an order. I checked with the wife, reply: I have no record of such an order. I checked with my credit card companies, reply: there has been no charge from Walmart. Weird! If it's a scam, I don't know what they expect to gain.

Thank you very much for this link. It brought back many, many memories. I saw Tom Lehrer perform in Cambridge (England) in, I think, 1958 or 1959. I have never heard so much laughter in any performance as a did that night. Thanks once again.

There is a story that a French man spent years learning English pronunciation. When he felt he had mastered it, he visited England for the first time. He went out of his hotel for a walk and saw a review for a play. It said, "Hamlet, pronounced success." He went back to his hotel and shot himself.

In Karachi it is more likely to have been a camel cart.

Many thanks. I also have no problem with one-star or even no-star hotels, provided a minimum level of hygiene is maintained. My comment was directed not at the quality of the furnishings, etc., but at the presence of rats in the dining room and the food poisoning that three of us got. And, of course, if the Burmese expect hordes of tourists, most of them would be unlikely to have as relaxed an attitude as you and I appear to have. Incidentally, I spent a fair amount of time wandering around the streets of Yangon. I even made a great find. It was a copy of the geography book that had been the prescribed text in my high school days in Pakistan. It was dedicated by the author (L. Dudley Stamp) to his wife, "in memory of bullock cart days and Irrawaddy nights." Memorable and touching. It appears that the Stamps had spent a number of years in Burma.