Vietnam {Hanoi}

Last Sunday morning we headed to the airport at o'dark thirty to catch a string of flights to Hanoi. After a couple of hiccups at the airport (they wouldn't exchange our rupiah for VND. . .wish we would have known that before we got there! Somehow we managed to leave the airport with visas in hand. PTL) we got to our hotel and were so warmly greeted by the staff that we almost forgot about how badly ripped off we were at the airport. We checked into our rooms, and then started exploring Hanoi with our little maps in hand, and several suggestions from Mary, the sweet hotel hostess.

Sunday (night)

- Tried our first bowl of pho. Sadly, it was not the best. . . smelled like wet dog. Don't worry, we weren't permanently scared, and had better pho later.

maybe we should have realized this was the kitchen first

This is the way they do it in Vietnam. Plastic kiddy tables and chairs on the sidewalk. everywhere.
Meet Jordan, Erik's brother (can you tell!?) who is visiting for a month.

We managed to fit five us around this tiny table

- Then we headed to Hoan Kiem Lake. This was the place to be! It was surrounded by all sorts of people, not just tourists. We walked around the lake surrounded by families, dating couples, exercise classes (zumba by the lake anyone?!), circles of break dancing, cute little old ladies in their matching floral outfits, and lots of kids (without nannies -- how refreshing!). We felt like we were taking part in everyday Hanoi life, and it was great! So family oriented and active. Quite the change of pace from Jakarta. 

lovely and lit up at night.

People hanging out everywhere.

Monday & Tuesday

- We had an early breakfast at the hotel, and were picked up by a tour bus at 8:00 to head to Halong Bay. On our way there we stopped at a place where hand sewn paintings are made. They were beautiful, and took hours on hours to make!

 

- Then we made it to our junk boat where we spent the night and next day floating around Halong Bay, one of the "new seven natural wonder of the world".

Our boat!

SO.

AMAZING.

I did not get to spend enough time in that spot.

cave exploring

View from the entrance of the caves.

Kayaking around the bay

 fishing for squid into the wee hours of the night

the lone catch of the night

snatched a picture with our "flamboyant" guide

Smiling, but sad to leave the boat.

- We got back to Hanoi, and went to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. It was such a cool place to be at night. And again, the courtyard was full of families hanging out together, and people walking/running. A healthy culture!

We were taking pictures of the Mausoleum. They were taking pictures of us.

- And don't think our night finished there! Then we went to the Water Puppet Theater. The Vietnamese have been perfecting the art of water puppets for hundreds of years, and the show told of their origin (legends and reality).

quite the graphic scene. . . the dragon and the peacock made human babies. . .

Wednesday

 - We spent the morning going to two Hanoi museums. The Army Museum, and the Hanoi "Hilton", a prison, sarcastically named by American POWs.

Collection of plane pieces that fell after being shot down by Vietminh and Vietcong soldiers.

The liberation flag that was put on top of Independence Palace (in Ho Chi Minh. . . next blog)

"Hanoi Hilton"

- Then we flew to Ho Chi Minh, and left our traveling buddies behind in Hanoi (they left for Singapore the next day). We had dinner at Pho 2000 (opened in 2000 for President Clinton, the first US president to come go to Vietnam since the war). Can't believe we forgot to get a picture! 

Phew! This is only half of the trip. . . and is already probably the longest blog post ever! The Ho Chi Minh half of the trip will be coming up soon!