The Grand Finale: Northern Vietnam…

After our humbling experience in Cambodia, we headed off to the lively and bustling city of Hanoi, Vietnam.  Our first morning we booked a (free!) walking tour with two University students through an awesome organization called HanoiKids.  Our tour guides, Ha and Tao, took us for a stroll through the Old Quarter (which now appears to be rows on rows of open market; each street known for the specialty product sold in the stores that line it), around Sword Lake (which is known for the sacred 200kg turtle that inhabits it!), through the French Quarter, to the Temple of Literature (which is Hanoi’s first ever University), and finally to a ‘hole-in-the-wall’ coffee shop for some delicious Hanoi-style egg coffee – yummmm! We bid adieu to our new Vietnamese friends and spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Hanoi, soaking in some sights, eating delicious vietnamese foods, and mostly enjoying the warm, sunny weather.

Our second day started bright and early as we headed to the beautiful Ha Long Bay for a cruise on a junk boat! 🙂 Ha Long Bay is an ocean landscape littered in hundreds of rocky karsts that jet out of the blue water – it is truly as beautiful as it sounds!  We cruised around the karsts, stopped for some swimming and kayaking at a white sandy beach, enjoyed some delicious seafood, slept on a boat, and visited an amazing fishing village and pearl farm before heading back to shore and catching our bus back to Hanoi!

Our last day in Hanoi was mostly relaxing as we prepared ourselves for the intense travel night/day ahead of us.  At 11:40pm our plane took off from Hanoi arriving in South Korea at 6:00am (Korean time) where we had a 6 hour layover.  Then finally our next plane boarded at 12:00pm for a 12 hour flight home!

On Tuesday, we finally arrived safe and sound to our humble Canadian abode! 😀 It’s good to be back.

Hanoi, Vietnam

Notice Turtle Tower in the distance…

It’s amazing what the Vietnamese can fit on their motorbikes!

This is a shot of some other tourists getting a rickshaw ride – taken from us in our rickshaw!

We visited the Hao Lo Prison in Hanoi which was the same prison that held POWs from the Vietnam War, including American Politician John McCain.

One of Vietnam’s most famous dishes: a simple broth with tender beef, green onions, lemon grass, and rice noodles.

At night in Hanoi you can see most streets lined with small plastic tables and stools filled with locals eating street meat.

Cruising in Ha Long Bay

Note our junk boat in the background!

This is a photo of our brave tour guide after spearing a jellyfish in the water where we stopped to swim! Unfortunately, one of our fellow tourists was stung by this jellyfish… and even more unfortunate was that he was stung right on the nipple!!

On our way home from Ha Long Bay, we stopped at a farm to watch a traditional Vietnamese water puppet show… it was quite entertaining! I guess the puppets are controlled under the surface of the water with the puppeteers standing behind the stage curtain.

Coming Home…

 

Amanda & Adam