Well, this monthly recap is very late! It would have come out, should everything have been normal, on May 2nd. However, as many of you know, we were actually getting ready to come home after experiencing the Earthquake in Nepal on May 2nd. Because of that earthquake, Month 10 turned out to be the last month of our trip… We had been planning on making it until Month 11, but the world had other plans for us. Month 10 had some great times as well as some not so great times (see aforementioned earthquake). Let’s recap, shall we?!
Here are our stats for this month.
Countries visited: 3 (Vietnam, China, and Nepal) Special Administrative Regions: 2 (Hong Kong and Macau)
Beds Slept In: 8 Tarps Slept Under: 1 Embassies Slept In: 1 (Hopefully the first and last of our life.)
UNESCO Heritage Sights Visited: 7 (My Son Sanctuary, Complex of Hue Monuments, Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park, Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long – Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Historic Centre of Macao, Kathmandu Valley) *** As of July of 2015, there are have been many new UNESCO sites added! We were pretty excited that two places that we visited on our RTW were now recently added! YAY! Those include Singapore Botanical Gardens (visited in Month 7) and Ephesus (visited in Month 5). Total on RTW: 49
We traveled by 3 planes this month.
We traveled by 4 boats this month.
We traveled 4 long distance buses/minibuses.
We traveled by 1 train this month.
We traveled by 2 helicopters this month.
Top Moments:
~ Our biggest emotional high was when we were rescued by helicopter from Bamboo Village in Nepal. We had never ridden in a helicopter before and on that day, we rode two. We couldn’t have had better scenery: the beautiful Himalayas of Nepal. Despite the destruction caused by the earthquake and landslides, Nepal is a gorgeous country, well worth a visit! If you are interested in supporting Nepal after the devastating earthquake, check out some ideas here.
Runners Up for Top Moments:
~We had an absolutely lovely day biking through the outskirts of Hoi An. We went a bit off the beaten track and biked through rice fields to a great beach! Good day all around.
~We rushed through Phong Nha National Park in order to see some of the renowned caves there. We struggled with which tour to choose, but ultimately went with a general tour of three caves. It was all amazing, but our favorite part was experiencing swimming through a mud bath in the Dark Cave. It was hard to explain the feeling of floating through a pool of mud – how we imagine it would feel to be on the moon – almost weightless! Overall, a lot of fun!
~We really enjoyed lots of places in Vietnam, but another great day was when we kayaked through the karsts in Lan Ha Bay. We had a lovely day in great scenery!
Getting used to the kayak
~Another great day was when we took the funicular up Hong Kong Peak. Great weather – it wasn’t too hot way up there, and you just couldn’t beat the views!
Items Missing, Broken, Discarded, or Added:
Honestly, we don’t really remember… Sorry!
Packing Update:
We were glad that we had held on to our colder weather gear because we used every bit of it in Nepal. It was particularly good when we hit an emergency situation and ended up having to sleep outside for 5 nights.
Books Read: (Have you read any of these??)
Della has read All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (4)
Eric has read Overkill by James Barrington (2), Gods of War by John Toland (4)
Eric and Della have BOTH read Tai-Pan by James Clavell (4)
The rating system is for Della’s mom who is refusing to look at Goodreads. It is 1 to 5, 5 being the highest.
Make sure to catch up on all our monthly recaps: Monthly Recap 1, Monthly Recap 2, Monthly Recap 3,Monthly Recap 4, Monthly Recap 5, Monthly Recap 6, Monthly Recap 7, Monthly Recap 8, Monthly Recap 9
Globe Gazers 
We were so glad and relieved to to have you home. But also, so sad that you missed your last month of travel, mostly for your sake, but also for ours as armchair travelers.
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences, both through the blog and by allowing us to join you for significant segments. I can’t tell you how grateful we are to have you as part of our lives.