Hanoi, Vietnam

We land in the evening, short flight, just an hour from Luang Prabang to Hanoi. I have Ha Long Bay planned with an overnight on an awesome riverboat. Then we want to do a few day trips and take it easy within Hanoi. While I really want to do Sapa, it's a lot of traveling and I just don't think the family will enjoy sleeping on a train twice in a three day period... We shall see.

Day One:

Our Atlanta friends, that are now living in Hanoi, will pick us up from the airport in Vietnam. It will be nice to be among friends for a bit. We enjoyed a home cooked meal and got some tips on Hanoi.

Day Two:

We're off to visit a couple of museums (Hoa Lo Prison and Vietnamese Women's Museum) and the Old Quarter part of Hanoi.

We started our day with a visit to the Hoa Lo Prison. Hỏa Lò Prison was a prison used by the French colonists in Vietnam for political prisoners, and later by North Vietnam for U.S. Prisoners of War during the Vietnam War. It's hard stuff to muster, but really good for the boys to read a bit of history from the Vietnamese perspective. It was a continuation of learning from our visit to the UXO in Laos.

Hoa Lo Prison. A view of a tight sewer tunnel that prisoners escaped through.

Next we visited the Vietnamese Women's Museum and learned a lot about the different Vietnamese traditions, a lot on marriage and fight for their country, rights and fashion.

The popular Vietnamese conical hat.

And.....then this happened. Aiden was DONE. Oh boy, time for lunch...

We enjoyed a visit to Hoan Kiem Lake (Restored Sword)...well known for the Red Bridge. It's located walking distance from the Vietnamese Women's Museum and just south of the Old Quarter.

Walking across the street in Hanoi was the hardest we experienced in our entire Asian trip. The mopeds, bicyclist, cars and taxis, it's insanity. There's no order to it. The right away is no-way! While in Vietnam driving on the right hand side of the street is the way...folks drive any which way. Even round abouts don't have just one way, drivers, especially mopeds are everywhere with no order. This makes crossing the street the craziest I have ever, ever seen! The boys loved the challenge, they turned it into a video game. I compared it to Frogger, the boys compared it to Crossy-Roads, the new-cool version of Frogger, the boys tell me it's a legit video game....and they started giving certain cross-walks levels. "Oh Mom, that was hardly a level 1.5." Aiden would say...I couldn't handle anything above "Level 1". I really like taking charge of travel, where we go, what we're doing. I enjoy picking out the restaurant and putting together the day's itinerary. I love reading ahead and sharing with the crew the history and legends of each place. I like learning a few local words. I like taking charge on the haggling. But when it came to crossing the street, I have to admit defeat and follow blindly! Steve had to take charge here, for it was just too much chaos for me. At a Level 3, I almost had to cross with my eyes closed. OMG! Later, I could laugh about it...a little later over a nice ice-cold can of Tiger Beer.

This is where the fun started... I noticed some men looking at me, almost staring...I didn't much like it, so I just made my way to the other side of the bridge. Then a few minutes later one of the men approaches me pointing to his phone, saying "Photo Please". Ah, they want a picture. SURE! I reach for the phone, when one of the men puts his arm around me and Conner and his second friend takes the picture. I was so confused...then they SWITCHED! The other guy posed for a picture with me and the kids. Um, what just happened here. Of course, this created a wave of giggles around the boys. I learned later that many Westerners get approached by locals for pictures. That was a first for me! I enjoyed me celebrity status for a bit.

Having read a lot about this "egg coffe", we just had to try it. Egg Coffee, apparently was created first by Giang Coffee Shop during a milk scarcity. The egg yolk is scrambled with condensed milk and apparently a couple of other secret ingedients. I must say, it was rather tasty.

We wrapped up our day of tourists in the Old Quarter, wondered around getting approached unrelentingly by street vendors. Conner evan had loose parts of sneakers superglued together again, by some guy on the street that started the job without being ask. This created roars of laughter amoung ourselves!!! These are the memories I wanted. It was so funny... I had to walk away, then I turn around to see Steve mouthing "Help me...." as he's surrounded by street vendors who found a customer. I couldn't stop laughing long enough to help him. Really great memories. Time for a COLD drink and head on back to our friends. Yup, it's really hot in Hanoi.

OH! I almost forgot...the durian. I made a committment to taste this infamous fruit with our hosts... This is what it looks like! It gets a bad wrap, it's a stinky big ole fruit when you cut into it. I've heard the comparison to sewage, onions, turpentine. We're gonna give it a try....

Our friends and hosts in Vietnam, Kate and Matt. FABULOUS PEOPLE. We managed to get away for a double date at a local beer brewery.

Day Three:

Today we visit Ha Long Bay. The pictures I've seen are specatular...I hope it lives up.

The boats await us....

Ha Long Bay. It's really so beautiful.

Ha Long Bay. It's one of the seven natural wonders in the world and I can see why.

Ha Long Bay. On our boat we had our own private balcony and the views are spectacular.

Ha Long Bay. We kayaked in a cave to a private pool of water where the limestone mountains completely incase you. It's really fabulous.

Ha Long Bay. There are massive caves to tour. Really impressive in size.

Ha Long Bay. A hike to the top gives you rewarding views.

Day Four:

Today we visited the Ethonology Museum and the Temple of Literature and then enjoyed time with our friends. A nice lax day is healthy! The kids remind me of that, sometimes in not the most pleasent way....

Ethonology Museum had lots of articles from different regions in Vietnam. The outside display of different types of homes was our favorite.

We got a sneak peek of a Water Puppet Show.

This was our favorite home. A climb up hand carved stairs. Communal house model, Ba Na.

Ethonology Museum, a view of homes.

Always room for a little fun... The boys remind us of this. Here they are trying to see who can balance the longest with a little challenge.

We found Jackfruit. It's HUGE.

Finally, we eat Pho! The national dish (nt sure this is official) of Vietnam. It's a proud broth with rice noddles and in this case chicken. The kids describe it as fancy chicken noddle soup.

Next we visited the Temple of Literature. We were confused about why it's called Literature? There used to be a university here, aha, that makes sense. It's a big, well landscaped area in Hanoi, with a few temples and Lotus Flower filled rivers rivers.

Look how tall Conner is. This is the reason we're here...to make sure we, as parents, are present as we watch the kids grow! Conner's has to be a good two inches taller than me. Sharing this vacation with the boys has bonded us even closer, through struggles, fights (yup, they are inevitable, as we get lost, confused and tired), through figuring things out, through laughter and really funny experiences.

Hanoi makes for great people watching. You can see just about anything on mopeds and bicycles and crossing the street is insanity. While in Vietnam, drivers "technically" drive on the right hand side, mopeds are on both sizes, whizzing past you in all directions. No attention to red lights, no such things as stop signs and it's just normal to go the opposite direction at a round-about. The bicylces and mopeds loaded in goods and people is a sight to see. It's impossible to not stare at what we saw. Here's a simple produce vendor. Oh and the conical hats are used widely. I just love them.

More people watching. Here's a guy standing on the balcony rail of what must be a six story building changing a lightbulb. No fear, just hopped right up, TWICE to change light bulbs. OMG.

Day Five:

We organized a day trip today with a guide, through Vega Travel. We highly recommend Vega Travel, we booked both today and Ha Long Bay tours via Vega and like their motto says "They put a smile on our faces!". Today we head o Tam Coc, pagodas at Bich Dong and the Water Buffalo King's Temple at Hoa Lu.

Fabulous today at Nihn Bihn. Here are the boats stacked up before our experience at Tam Coc.

I'm a sucker for a good selfie. This is when we docked off for our experience around Tam Coc. They call this area the land version of Ha Long Bay...and as we were paddled around you can see why. There are the same huge limestone mountains projected out on land. You are paddled around on boats down the rivers. The treat here is you just sit and enjoy the ride. The paddlers appear to be exclusively women and they mostly paddle with their FEET. Impressive really, it's a long ride...and really beautiful and we got lucky with a cool-ish day with a nice breeze.

I had to capture her paddling with her feet and she talks on the phone at the same time. Love the complete look with the conical hat.

We were so lucky to visit during lotus flower season. They were blooming everywhere. Big, mostly pink lotus flower, some white ones too, the white ones apparently bring more luck. They really are impressive in size. Our paddler gives us a few lotus flowers.

We made our way through a few caves. The views are great and it's so peaceful and the breeze was great! The caves are filled with bats and low, so you gotta duck...of course kids loved this part.

Really, we just got to sit back and enjoy the views. Snap pictures, listen to the silence and really enjoy the ride.

During the second half of our day trip we got to ride our bicycles through the farming villages to discover the real Vietnam and rural culture. The kids enjoyed the off roading and the views were spectacular. Really one of my favorite days. The whole tour was a hit with the family and our friend Kate too. She's been an amazing host! I'm happy to have shared this day with her. Thank you Kate!

Our guide gave us plenty of stops for pictures, rest and to just enjoy the atmosphere. He also showed us these crazy little seeds that "explode" when you get them wet. The seeds burst open when wet, rain in nature and burst there seeds throughout. Aiden loved these "bomb" seeds and collected a bunch to share with our Kate's kids.

Slight obsticle! This is where having a guide was great. He patiently walked around the cattle...and we kept on going.

A stop at Ancient Pagodas. Learned a lot about the Buddhist religion. Our guide, Duc, is really great.

Kate and I pose at the end of our bike tour in front of the rice fields. So cool to bike in this region surrounded by the mountains and rice fields.

LUNCH! We were so hungry! We earned a good luck. I forgot to mention that we saw goats up high in the mountains...and then for lunch we got goat. Hmmm. The boys didn't mind eat it though. Also learned that in Vietnam folks eat the stomach of the cow and pigs, but not goat...because up high in the mountains they eat poisonous plants, so you gotta avoid eating that!

The last stop of our long, fun day was the Temple of the Bufalo King. Duc is a good story teller, he had all our attention. It's impossible getting these kids to pose for a picture. Instead, I captured an honest moment of giggles.

Yay! A good family picture!

Day Six:

Today is Father's Day in the USA. We are celebrating our last day in Vietnam with our friends and enjoy a nice Western breakfast with them. But first we wake up early, early for a visit to the Flower Market.

Last day of sight seeing in Hanoi and I captured this. A local man fishing on the West Lake in Hanoi. Our friends live in the Tay Ho District. Lovely with lots of good restaurant choices and scenic walking around the lake.

Up EARLY to make it to the Flower Market before it closes...that means a 6am arrival. In silence with cups of coffee, I walk the alleys of Hanoi with my friends, Kate, Matt and their daughter to the Flower Market. One more thought, we have to cross a BUSY street...and crossing the streets in Hanoi is like playing a game of Frogger. STRESS. Remember how the kids created different levels in crossing the street. I worried as we walked that this would be a LEVEL 3+, I'm not ready for level 3+! Especially since I don't have my boys to encourage me across. I get lucky, very lucky and at 6am the traffic is light and crossing the street is no problem. Plus, I'm rewarded with the colorful Flower Market!

I'm so happy I dragged myself out of bed to enjoy the Flower Market. It's not only a colorful market, it's a cultural experience. The flower wholesalers get here at 2am to start their shift. By 6am they are wrapping up and enjoying time with friends. Then at 6am you also see the party-animals wrapping up the clubbing scene with cigarettes in their night clubbing outfits. So bizzare! Then you see the exhausted crew, squeezing in naps. The loaded mopeds and bicyles starting their shift in selling flowers retail on the streets. It's certainly a blend.

Boxed up ready for retailers.

Stacked mopeds ready to distribute flowers. Really the mopeds stacked up with loads could be a blog on their own. Then Matt tells me it is! I did find this site, Crazy Shit People Carry on their Mopeds, amazing really, it causes a lot of staring and pointing and OMG's.

I adore sunflowers, I was so happy to see so many.

I finally get Vietnamese Coffee...been eager to get a real Vietnamese made cup of Vietnamese Coffee here... This delicious iced coffee comes with a large ice cube and condensed milk at the bottom of my glass to stir in. SWEETNESS.

The rest of the day, we play it lazy...pack and hang out. We're off to Singapore this afternoon!

Here's a couple of random photos that I wanted to post, not associated with any particulare experience, but I really like em.

A view of a cool window with stamped numbers that you see throughout Hanoi. We learned that these are phone numbers advertising. Vandalism? Curious, but it's pretty common and blends in Hanoi as it's everywhere. I like this picture it completes a feeling for me, with the local broom made of palm leaves.

My little Aiden chilling and waiting for the tour bus. It was a nice moment I captured.