Asia Travel – Seeing Vietnam by Train

No matter where a person may go, seeing the country while traveling by train is spectacular. When traveling by train the traveler can sit back and relax and let someone else do the driving. For longer trips, the travel can spend a little more money and get a sleeping accommodations. Trains usually provide a dining car or someplace to purchase snacks and a drink. From the train a traveler can see sights that they wouldn’t be able to see when travel by car or plane. This article is about Asia travel through Vietnam on a train.

Traveling by train can be one of the cheapest ways to travel. When traveling in Vietnam, the traveler has a choice of trips that they can take by train as they do their Asia travel. All trips listed leave out of Hanoi and travel to different destinations throughout Vietnam. One trip leaves Hanoi and travels to Lao Cal with final destination being in Sapa. Another leaves Hanoi and travels through Haiphong with its final destination in Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island. Another train goes from Hanoi through several towns with final destination in Saigon. All of these train have sleeper accommodations for the travelers relaxation. Some of these train trips take less time than flying since they don’t have to wait in crowded airports waiting for their flights or for their baggage to be unloaded. In fact when traveling from Hanoi to Hue City, the traveler can leave Hanoi in the evening and arrive in Hue City in the morning refreshed and ready to see the sights.

No matter what train trip the traveler chooses to take in their Asia travel across Vietnam they are going to see some spectacular sights. Reportedly there are many sights to see between Hanoi and Saigon. One of the most spectacular sights that the traveler will see as they travel through the Vietnam countryside is the views along the Hai Van Pass. As they go through this pass the traveler can see the beautiful bays and islands that make up coast line between Hue and Danang. As they travel through this part of their journey to Saigon, the train starts to climb into the hills that lead into the mountains. During this part of the journey, passengers are allowed to sit atop the train and enjoy the view as the train slowly winds through the mountain.

The Best Solid Foods to Feed Your Baby

Are you getting ready to start your baby on solid foods? Are you excited? Scared? Maybe a bit of both? If you’ve been browsing the internet or perhaps your local bookstore I bet that you’ve found a ton of conflicting information on what to feed your baby during weaning. For the past 7 years I’ve been advising parents, other caregivers, and health professionals on how to feed babies their first foods so that they safely meet babies’ rapidly changing nutrition needs. Here’s the latest scientific-evidence based information that you need to know when choosing baby food.

Choose Iron-Rich Foods

The recommendation to start feeding babies solid foods at about 6 months old comes from the fact that at about 6 months of age, babies start running out of the iron that they stored in their bodies while they were in your womb. Breastmilk is naturally low in iron so you need to provide your baby with iron from another source – solid foods.

Why is iron important? Iron is used in overall growth and development. It’s especially important for little one’s brain development – for babies to reach full their cognitive potential. That’s why it’s recommended to offer your baby iron-rich foods at least twice a day.

The Best Iron-Rich Baby Foods:

  • Meat
  • Poultry (e.g. chicken, turkey)
  • Fish and shellfish
  • Egg yolk
  • Beans and lentils
  • Tofu (it’s made from soybeans afterall)
  • Nut butters
  • Iron-fortified baby cereal

Spinach also contains iron. However, even when cooked, we absorb very little of it into our bodies. That’s why it’s not on this list. Sorry Popeye, you were wrong.

Parents often ask me if they have to give their babies each of the high-iron foods. The short answer is “no“. This is a list of options. For example, if you’re raising your baby vegetarian, choose the vegetarian foods. Or, if you never eat tofu in your house, don’t buy tofu. Or, if you hate the smell of fish cooking, don’t cook fish. Or, if you don’t like the idea of added iron in baby cereal, don’t use iron-fortified baby cereal.

Choose Foods Your Family Eats

Of course, good nutrition goes beyond just feeding your baby iron. Once you’ve introduced a few iron-rich foods, introduce other foods one at a time. Choose foods from all the food groups.

Which foods are best? Healthy foods that your family eats. As one of my favourite quotes says:

“The goal of feeding your baby is to have your baby join you at the family table… not for you to join your baby at their highchair.” ~ Ellyn Satter

Take advantage of your baby’ developmental stage and introduce a wide variety of foods while your baby is interested in trying them. Sooner or later your baby will reach the picky eating stage (usually somewhere between 12 – 24 months old). The wider the variety of foods that you’ve introduced before your little one reaches this stage the better.

Foods to Avoid

While the recommendations regarding delaying introducing foods from a food allergy prevention point of view have been sent to the proverbial recycling bin, there are a few foods to avoid – either from a food safety point of view or a nutrition point of view. Foods and recipes to avoid or delay:

  • Honey (and baked goods containing honey) – wait until after 12 months of age.
  • Cows milk until 9 – 12 months (small amounts of yogurt and cheese are OK after about 6 months).
  • Raw meats, fish, raw/runny egg whites, or unpasteurized dairy foods – wait until 4 years.
  • Foods high in sugar and salt. Having a new baby is a great reason for the whole family to eat fewer of these foods.

Bottom Line

The best first solid foods for your baby are iron rich foods and healthy foods that your family eats. Enjoy watching your baby discover the wide variety of tastes and textures that food comes in!

10 Tips for Writing Better Poetry

Have you ever had trouble with writing great poetry? Are you looking to develop your craft, and become better at what you write? These ten tips can help you on the road to getting the results you want.

Tip #1.) Remember, everyone is different. Your poetry, or creative work will be different from everyone else’s. Don’t be too critical with your work, and try to avoid comparing yourself.

Tip #2.) Be honest with yourself. Do you have the ability to write great poetry? Some people are just born creative. It is completely OK to not be the next Shakespeare. If you need help in determining this, grab a buddy that you know will be honest with you, or a group of buddies.

Tip #3.) Now that see where you stand, you can hone the style that YOU have, and not styles that others have. You can develop your own hooks or styles that uniquely sets you apart from others. Say you have a way you like to express certain words. You can write that way. You could misspell words to make it edgy. Whatever you can come up with to set you apart, and not be another follower, will help you be better. Different is always better in my opinion.

Tip#4.) Write about what you are able to write about. Some people hit the bull’s-eye with writing fiction, while others are pros at non-fiction. Some people are born with left brains, and some with right brains. Yes, I do believe you can pump your right brain up with some practice, but I’d say: STICK WITH YOUR STRENGTHS! If you are left brained, figure out what left brained people are best at writing, then do that.

Tip#5.) If you are attempting to be more creative, and you have determined you have a creative mind, now we can start doing things that help to bring your creative side out more. Practice coming up with scenarios, start dreaming. Get your head in the clouds a little bit. Write down short stories, or whatever you can to get in your groove.

Tip#6.) Modify existing styles of poetry, or create your own structures of poetry. You could mix styles too!

Tip#7.) Join an online poetry website that has classes, or a body that can critique your work. I’d be careful with this one though. Yes, on one hand, people can give you great tips, however, realize that they are speaking to you from their perspective as well, and may not like your style. Some people, and some styles just do not mix well. If you get a bad review, look at their work. You may not like theirs!

Tip#8.) I’m really big on finding, and working on strengths. If you can tell a story with your poetry, do that. If you are good at teaching, maybe an informative poem might be a good idea to write. There are all different types out there, anywhere from Christian to poems from aliens from Mars. (I bet if I looked that up online, I’d probably find it LOL.) Find your niche.

Tip#9.) Find yourself an environment conductive to the style of poetry you are writing. If you are wanting to write a peaceful piece, go somewhere you can get in the zone, and become peaceful. Prepare yourself for your piece, and get in optimal surroundings.

Tip#10.) If all of these tips didn’t help flush things out, and steer you in the right direction, keep searching for ways to improve your craft from any other source you can. Talk with friends, teachers, look online and do all you can to grow. Attend seminars, and practice, practice, practice! You can do it!!