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Published: October 9th 2009
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Translation: WELCOME TO VIETNAM!!!!!! And yes we were very welcomed here! We arrived to Vietnam early in the morning. It was 9:30 in the morning and we were greeted by our driver first thing! It's always such a relief, bags check, driver with our name written...check check! The drive from the airport to the hotel was about an hour...we weren't really expecting that, but again, we weren't really expecting anything I suppose! It was such an interesting ride. Hanoi and it's surroundings are covered in a thick layer of smog...it's overwhelming at first, everything has such a haze to it....you look out to the left and right and see vast rice fields sprinkled with women in straw pointy hats working hard harvesting the rice. It's something right out of a book. Big gray water buffalo are working the fields as well as a few cows here and there...and don't let me forget....MOTORBIKES EVERYWHERE! It's absolutely insane! But the drivers here are unbelievably good...the Vietnamese believe in the idea that rules were meant to be broken..possibly for one to think about, but if it makes things more difficult then by all means, break the rule! This pertains to everything, red lights are
definitely not the same red lights in other countries, they just drive on through...helmets...well sometimes, especially when the police are around, just put in on your head and hope you don't get pulled over, but again, the police just turn away and don't seem to enforce any of these so called laws.
We got to the hotel and our room was perfect. We only spent $35 per night at Joseph's Hotel, a little boutique hotel apparently in the "nicer" section. It had everything we could have asked for, nice bed, air conditioning and warm water!!!!! It's location was absolutely ideal for us, right next to the St. Jospeh's Cathedral and also right down the street from a brand new Nikon camera dealer! We got the camera's sensors cleaned....it's ok, you aren't suppose to clean the sensor ever...but I felt like I had no options left. I still have spots here and there but hopefully if I can save long enough I can buy the D3 I would love to have! 😊
So of course right away Al and I ventured out onto the city of Hanoi....oh my goodness what a shock! It took a bit for us to
actually get the courage to cross a street. No one cares if there is someone trying to cross, they just keep going. Thankfully someone told us early on to just cross when the motorbikes are going, they will move for you, but don't upset the cars, they will just run you over! Good, got that down...sort of, we walked a bit to Hoàn Kiếm Lake, meaning "Lake of the Returned Sword". According to the legend, emperor Le Loi handed a magic sword called Heaven's Will which brought him victory in his revolt against the Chinese Ming Dynasty back to the Golden Turtle God (Kim Qui) in the lake and hence gave it its present name (the lake was formerly known as "Luc Thuy" meaning "Green Water"). The Tortoise Tower (Thap Rua) standing on a small island near the center of lake is linked to the legend. And boy is this water GREEN!!!!!!!!!
We crossed the token red bridge to the temple and spent some time soaking up the INTENSE Vietnam sun...we were officially drenched with sweat!! After some tourist time we made our way over to a restaurant recommended by Trip Advisor (of course), Restaurant Five..it was amazing! Great
Hanoi Trickster
The women would try to put their baskets on and say..:take a picture, take a picture" then in the next step put it on and ask for money :( food, great people watching place! We couldn't help but sit there with our mouths wide open. Women selling everything, fruits, veggies, flowers, all on a stick with 2 baskets, motorbikes gallore, men sitting outside on TINY plastic chairs, probably could fit a 3 year old, eating Pho (typical Vietnamse broth and noodles) and drinking beer. It was stimulation overload but in a great, and amazing way.
We spent about an hour after that riding around in the amazing cycle rickshaw. It was by no means meant for 2 people but Al bartered this guy down to pennies and he drove us all over the city, squished together in the middle of traffic...it was absolutely insane yet exhilarating at the same time! We got to experience every part of Hanoi, real close to everything, even got stuck in a big traffic jam in the party central with bright gifts for the kids and masks for the Mid-Autumn Festival of the Moon flying all around. Picture St. Patrick's Day parade in Southie...and multiply that many people by 100...yup that's what we were in!!! The festival was happening the next night so everyone was so excited about this time of year.
Mr. Chef
He was the chopping machine! When we made it back to the Hotel we decided to take a Vietnamese cooking class the next day. It was absolutely the best decision ever. It was through a company called Hidden Hanoi and our Instructor's name was Lin. Lin was a young, independent Vietnamese woman who loved cooking but also loved life and the idea that cooking wasn't always the woman's job! 😊 She was beautiful and friendly with a huge smile and such love for people. It was a breath of fresh air, hearing how modernized she was and listening to her goals of teaching and of her dreams...she was such a light in our day. Not only was she an amazing woman but a great teacher. We made a typical Vietnamese BBQ consisting of Fried spring rolls and lots of different types of meat, we also made a broth and noodles. Al was a chopping machine of course and Lin picked it up right away..."You're a CHEF!!" he just had a little cute smile and chopped away!
The meal was phenomenal and we met some great people with some amazing traveling stories from around the world....overall, great day!
That night we went to watch
Ms. Lin
She was such an amazing teacher and woman. Hidden Hanoi.... the celebration for the festival. We brought the tripod out to take some pics around the lake....um um so we thought the traffic was bad before....well every single person around was out and the traffic around the lake was SCARY. We were so thankful to actually have made it across to the lake....there were barely any openings in the motorbike madness!!!!! We got a few pics, but the Vietnamese used some really crazy colors to light the trees and lake....lets say bright green and red sprinkled sporadically didn't make for the best lighting...but we had a great experience and a GREAT VIDEO!!!!
Next stop....HALONG BAY!!!
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Rebecca
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cool
Hey guys, love your blog, you guys are so perfect together...adventurers! (Is that a word?)