For the record, the dance floor is basically all American, and, uh, mostly my family, here. The poor Italians, rightfully, had no idea what to make of this mayhem.

Pictures and more to follow when we get back to San Francisco on Thursday… or Friday. We can’t figure out when we land because of the time difference and our inability to do some simple calculations.

Vietnam has been good, good, good to us. After two action-packed nights (water puppets, anyone?) in Hanoi and a day cruise on Halong Bay, we booked a flight south to Nha Trang, where we did almost nothing but sit on the beach and decide whether to swim now or later or both. We also spent a lot time deciding if we needed another smoothie or not. Our hotel room had satellite television, and it worked out that by the time we finished dinner every night, the day’s Wimbeldon matches were just getting started half way around the world in London. I stayed up late every night watching tennis and slept it off at the beach the next day. Perfection.

Barb also didn’t hold back on the rummy front. She has only let me win two games on the entire tour — one of those games took place at a Starbucks clone today in Saigon. Yeah, we’re getting homesick. We were so excited to find a place that had the kind of coffee we’re used to that we went completely overboard and spent a ridiculous amount of money on iced and otherwise artificially flavored coffee drinks.

Tonight we leave for our last port of call, Hong Kong. We’re sad the trip is coming to an end, but we’re also looking forward to getting back to San Francisco and everything that’s familiar (in a moment of weakness, we broke down and ate dinner at a Bennigan’s-like joint in Hanoi called Al Fresco’s; great ribs, actually). Hong Kong, here we come!

The first of two haircuts I got in Vietnam. The result here was something resembling a flat-top that wouldn’t have been out of place in the movie Top Gun starring Tom Cruise.

The mystical Halong Bay.

We stopped mid-cruise for a little turn in a kayak amidst the islands here.

We also explored the largest cave in the bay. This was the largest “room” in a series of many very large and spectacular spaces. One even had its own little pond. Stunning.

Believe it or not, this was part of the process to book a flight from Hanoi to Nha Trang. Barb got to hang back and sit behind the counter of the travel agency.

To swim or not to swim…

Eat more pho!!!

Full inventory, for the record: 1 cappuccino chiller, one strawberry smoothie, one glorious coffee, two lattes (with skim milk, of course), one almond fudge brownie and one piece of chocolate cake. We had to take a five-hour walk after this to come down from all the caffeine and sugar.

We’ve never felt more under-dressed. I went home and watched Wimbeldon after this photo was taken. I have no idea what Barb ended up doing…

No comment.

After the deluge that was India, we were more than happy to escape to our island in Thailand and do absolutely nothing for a week. My uncle, his girlfriend, Stef, and my Grandma Young booked us a “spa villa” in the best hotel, Le Vimarn Cottages (highly recommended!), on the island of Ko Samet. The hotel is located on a remote part of the island, so we barely saw anyone the whole time we were there. It was perfect and beyond words, really.

Today we traveled to Hanoi, where it’s hot and loud and sticky. We’re planning our escape east to the seaside as I type…

The view from breakfast (sushi!, fresh fruit and juices and all the eggs and noodles and rice we could eat!) every day.

We rented a motorbike and went mud-bogging around the island’s puddle-laden dirt roads. We broke for lunch at this beachside cafe. The mussels were incredible.

We’ve come to terms with India just in time for us to leave for Thailand tomorrow. Rishikesh has been very good to us. We made some good friends, had great meals, took a safari, hiked to a waterfall, did yoga at an ashram, sweated a lot, played cards and watched one replay of a Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup final game!

The photo above was taken on our safari in Rajiji National Park near Rishikesh. It was breathtaking to see elephants in their natural habitat, and we were lucky enough to be flanked on both sides by the elephants in this photo and another family 500 yards behind us.

Our safari guide, Lucky, was very enthusiastic about his job, which made for an excellent trip through the park.  Barb and I were the only ones on the tour, so we had his full attention and an unfettered view.

There is a candle lighting ceremony at a big ashram in Rishikesh every night. This is an aerial view of the festivities. There was a lot of beautiful chanting, tabla playing and prayer before they lit candles and offered them up to the holy Ganges River — environment be damned.

Our hike to the waterfall outside of Rishikesh was hot, humid and sweaty! It was tortute to not be able to swim in the many pools that the waterfall feeds on its way down the hill. Western women’s swimwear, it seems, is very tantalizing, so we were advised to forego a dip to avoid a riotous bout of staring and photo taking (which is what we experience fully clothed walking down the street already, but anyway…).

Oddly, in the midst of all this tourism, it hadn’t occurred to us until yesterday to post any of the wedding photos we’ve been receiving. Thanks to everyone who has sent photos. It’s fantastic to see all the good times we all had. Here’s a list of the links folks have sent us so far:

http://picasaweb.google.com/weddingparty2008
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vir0ifm.1qjsxzoa&x=0&y=-z6m3cx&localeid=en_US
http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=550291212082645772/l=389709477/g=85931134/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
http://picasaweb.google.com/MSU1970/RobertEBarbaraSWedding?authkey=xTosCWXLh4Q
http://www.sikestyle.com/italy/
http://gallery.mac.com/rdyoung49/100032

Crossing the Ganges in Rishikesh.

Leaving our hotel in Nainital.

These guys are all over the place!