![\"Kim-3\"](\"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Kim-3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
His name is Kim. Just Kim. We are introduced on the banks of the Saigon River in Vietnam. We are on a Viator<\/a> excursion and he is our guide. He is polite, informative and the antithesis of a rah-rah guide who tries to impress with his clever dialogue so that at the end of the day he\u2019ll get a bigger tip.<\/p>\n For Kim \u2014 and his eight customers \u2014 the end of the day was nine hours later.<\/span><\/p>\n It began with an hour-long ride up (down?) the river, to the Cu Chi Tunnels for a fascinating look at the underground network and weaponry the Viet Cong used in winning the Vietnam War, 40 years ago. Throughout the two hours or so we spent at what is now a huge tourist attraction, Kim\u2019s knowledge and opinions made the tour better than expected.<\/span><\/p>\n The day also included a first-ever (and possibly last) visit to a cricket farm, which included a snack that was optional from the farm\u2019s owners, and a lunch (long after we\u2019d digested the little creatures) at an authentic Vietnamese restaurant. Not that you\u2019d expect to find anything but authentic Vietnamese restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City<\/a>, but this was so good we\u2019ve been seeking the North American version ever since returning home.<\/span><\/p>\n Our day was nine hours and Kim\u2019s has to be at least two more. When he told us he would become a father in a few months, our tip included a contribution for the daughter-to-be\u2019s Fast forward\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n Our first email went unanswered for almost two weeks. These things happen. Sometimes they\u2019re never answered. When Kim responded, he was apologetic. His father had been suffering from liver cancer for almost a year (long before we met him) and the prognosis was not good. His next email brought the inevitable news. In December, another email announcing the arrival of Cecilia, or Gia Kha Han in Vietnamese.<\/span><\/p>\n For his family, it completed the cycle of life.<\/span><\/p>\n When you exchange emails with strangers from a land far away, it\u2019s not always like this. But when it is like this, you learn that we\u2019re really not that different, are we?<\/span><\/p>\n In the news…<\/strong><\/em><\/u><\/p>\n \u2022 Launching in May,\u00a0Harmony of the Seas to feature Dreamworks characters<\/p>\n Today at\u00a0<\/span>portsandbows.com<\/span><\/a>:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/em>Food spectacles for Princess crowd<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n His name is Kim. Just Kim. We are introduced on the banks of the Saigon River in Vietnam. We are on a Viator excursion and he is our guide. He is polite, informative and the antithesis of a rah-rah guide who tries to impress with his clever dialogue so that at the end of the… Continue reading Viator Guide A Memorable Man<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,32,25,31,15],"tags":[137,912,72,819,51,35,41,23,2204,26,27,269,886,43],"class_list":["post-26843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cruise-industry-news","category-deals","category-people","category-ports","category-stories","tag-caribbean-cruises","tag-cruise-bargains","tag-cruise-deals","tag-cruise-news","tag-cruise-ports","tag-cruises","tag-ho-chi-minh-city","tag-holland-america","tag-kim-nguyen-dinh","tag-phil-reimer","tag-ports-and-bows","tag-veendam","tag-viator","tag-vietnam","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26843\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Kim](\"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Kim-Nguyen-copy-1.jpg\")
piggy bank \u2014 he said it would be her first deposit. As we parted, we exchanged email addresses, something we often do when meeting somebody so likeable and personable. We discovered there was more to him than Kim \u2014 Kim Nguyen Dinh \u2014 and we resolved to stay in touch.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/DailyDeal-2-e1334202169354.jpg\" "\\"DailyDeal-2\\"")
\nHolland America Veendam
\n<\/a>7 nights
\nMarch 13, 2016
\nTampa<\/a> (return): Key West<\/a>, Banana Coast<\/a>, Santo Tomas de Castilla<\/a>, Costa Maya
\n<\/a>Inside: $499
\nCost per day: $71<\/strong><\/span>
\nwww.hollandamerica.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"