Made it! Happy Hanoi

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It was a long series of flights - Calgary to Vancouver, Vancouver to Guanzhou, Guanzhou to Hanoi - all in I think it took about 27 hours door to door from Calgary to my hostel in Hanoi. I wasn't totally sure what day it was that I arrived, I do know that because I crossed the date line I totally missed Halloween! Which is a bummer because it's really my favourite holiday of the year.

I crashed hard once I got to the hostel. Didn't have a crazy good sleep so was up earlyish and went exploring. Hanoi is such an awesome city! So much going on, crossing the street is a life risking thing and you have to do it like 100 times a day. Like a twisted game of frogger, dodging motorbikes, bicycles, pedi cabs, cars and pedestrians. I have yet to see an accident in the chaos yet so they must be doing something right!

I joined a walking tour in the morning and covered most of the Old Quarter of Hanoi which is the main downtown part of the city. Markets and shops always make for a colourful tour. I had lunch with several Germans, two of which have now bought tickets to come to Quest (the music festival in going to this coming weekend). I met up with the parentals and we checked out some tailor shops and went to see the Water Puppet theatre show which was super neat (although I admit I dozed off a few times - damn time change). We then grabbed dinner at a great restaurant overlooking a busy intersection and just watched people - so interesting to sit back and see the flow of daily life from afar and appreciate the chaos of a City.

Mom and Dad headed back to their hotel and even though I was super tired I headed back to the hostel and went to the roof top bar. Some of the people I did the walking your with were there so I joined them and because Alaysia was working we had a beer or two with her and hung out for a while - so awesome to see her! We figured it's been almost two years since we saw each other.

I was all set in my mind to go to bed as I'd probably only had about 8 hours of sleep in 48 hours but she convinced me to join a pub crawl. I figured I'd check out the first bar and then bail. I managed to convince a few others from my hostel to join - next thing I know we are on the third bar (definitely a club though) dancing our faces off on a stage. It was a really fun night! I got about 6 hours of sleep and am now up and fed and ready to tackle another crazy day in Hanoi! Mom and Dad and I will be heading off to Sapa tomorrow for some mountain hiking.

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Photos

Airport wait
Momma and poppa at the airport

Comments

[Deb]

Time change
Wow! What a first day! Good on you. Halloween missed you too but was glad you made it safe and sound and found a stage to dance upon. Flurries this morning Jods! So I am living vicariously through your warm and dry pics. Love the trees, open markets and sane electrical wiring. Lol. Say hi to mom and dad! Xoox.