When I knew we were going to be moving to Singapore I knew travel was going to happen. I was dead set against going to Vietnam because of what I learned about it in history and was unsure how it would be like for us to go. But apparently I was wrong, the newer generation in Vietnam does not really know enough about the war to have an opinion and the older generation has nothing against us because their mind set is they won and no big deal to have Americans come and visit. I also got advice from friends here who went and loved it, so that helped!
We flew into Hanoi and had to get our visas. We applied and paid for a 30 day visa so when we got into the airport we had to turn in the paperwork and approval letter, after that we went though customs, picked up our bag and got our ride to the hotel. The hotel was called the Charming 2 hotel. Dustin looked it up on Tripadvisor and it came up as one of the top rated hotels in the old quarter. The old quarter is self explanatory, it's the older part of the city where life is a lot slower to the locals than it is to 'regular city life'.
The hotel room was small, but so adorable and Charming seemed to fit! We had a tiny balcony and wifi so we were set. Once we got settled in we decided to venture out. The customer survive at this hotel was fantastic! We turned in our key to the front desk before we left (love this idea so you don't worry about loosing your key) and the person behind the desk asked where we were going. We admited that we didn't know but weren't worried. The person gave us a map, on the map it had landmarks, museums, and obviously road names. On the back it had suggestions of good shopping, site seeing and restaurants. They also gave us their business card in case we got lost we would have the address.
Now before we left my friend Shopie (and others) had warned us about the traffic and that no one stops for you to cross the street and if you stop in the middle of the street, you could cause an accident, they know how to drive around you. The best way to explain it (thanks Jason) is that it's like the game Frogger. (If you are one of my former students or lax players, it's a game that was played back in the day lol) I didn't think it was going to be that bad but wow was traffic amazing. There were TONS of motorbikes, and just like Bali, there were more than two people to a motorbike half of the time. Also, I saw a mom on the back of one holding a tiny baby, the baby was not strapped to her, she was holding it, and luckily they had a tiny tiny helmet on the child. More than half of the people (including children) had masks on, we are assuming it's because of fumes from cars/buses. We noticed that the traffic there was crazy. According to Dustin it was nothing compared to India but to me it was worse than Bali! There was lots of beeping, I am assuming it was to let others know that they were about to get passed and the lines on the road for the different lanes were just guide lines. Crazy drivers over there reminded me of Bali and Rome, just doing what they want in order to get around.
Walking we noticed that there was a sidewalk, but it was mostly used for store fronts, people sitting around a table eating 'street meat' or for parking your motorbike on. So needless to say, we had to walk on the very edge of the street where it met the sidewalk and had to walk one behind the other. Again, I was use to this thanks to Bali. We also took notice that there were different stores catering to different needs. From fans to touristy stuff. It looked like that the people who ran the stores also lived in them or above them depending on how big the store was. There were also ladies who would carry two baskets with some type of food on it going from store front to store front selling it. Also, the people of Vietnam do really wear the pointy hats (see pictures below)
The first day we took it easy because we arrived in the afternoon, we did a walk around the lake, and then found a restaurant called Legend Beer and decided to sit there on the balcony and people watch. We found that the beer was about 58000 dong which is equal to about 2.00 USD. HELLO CHEAP BEER! We had a couple of beers and amazing food. What I have found on this trip was that every time we went out for dinner, I always ended up with the spicy food (food on the menu was not labeled if it was spicy or not).
The second day we did sight seeing around Hanoi. We went to the Hanoi Hilton Prison and the Military Museum. Both were very interesting and honestly I can't put into words how I felt. Some of you know that I majored in Social Studies when I went to University so I obviously learned a lot about Vietnam and wars. I also took an interest in wars and took a class on battle tactics and learned a lot more about the different wars that the US was involved in compared to basic history class that everyone else had to take just for general ed.
The prison was interesting. To see what the jail cells looked like and how they treated prisoners made a chill go though me.There were some cells that were open and we could walk into them. Of course that is what I did and it felt so freaky, I can't explain it. They had a lot of information and different items to look at like every other museum had but it was just different for me to be there where it all happened. We saw John McCain's flight suit and pictures of him when he was in the prison. I am glad we went there, it is definitely a place everyone should see if they are ever in Hanoi.
Next up was the Military museum. This place had different weaponry from different wars and also explained who it was taken from (country wise) and it also had different planes/helicopters that were captured in the wars. Dustin and I got approached by a man who asked if we wanted to sell us tickets, Dustin said no so and kept walking, then the man came to me (I was walking behind Dustin) and tried to get my attention by trying to grab my arm (not in an aggressive way) and I gave him the look of death and he walked away. It was a hot day and Dustin and I decided to get a beer before we went into the museum.
Once we were done with our beers we went over to buy tickets (5 usd a person) but they were closed for lunch. So we decided to go see the different planes that were captured that were obviously outside of the museum. It was interesting to see the different planes from the US. There was a sculpture of three different planes that belonged to the US that got shot down in the Vietnam war and that obviously hit home for us. We definitely realized that at least one person died in the planes. We were able to go into one of the big helicopters and saw where the bullet went though the front windshield of the plane, that person definitely took a shot to the head. Just seeing the different bullet holes in the planes was weird.
Once an hour passed we went though and saw the different weapons, flags and things like that. It was was really cool to see what they used though the years. It was also funny because Dustin and I caught different spelling errors. Apparently we didn't have a president Johnson, according to this place, it was president Fhonson. It did make me laugh out loud, and of course there were weird looks around wondering why I was laughing at a museum about death and war.
Again a lot of stuff hit home and made me realize what everyone went though and how tough it was back then. After we were done we went walked around and went back to the hotel to cool off. We went out and about later for beers and dinner and walked around to the different shops. We also got tickets to the puppet water show. It is a puppet show but all in the water. Again, it was 5usd a person for front row tickets! It was an amazing show, even though I couldn't understand a word, I enjoyed it!
We booked our trip to Halong bay though our hotel. It was only 40 USD per person to have the company come pick us up, have lunch on the boat and to kayak in a fishing village. At first we weren't going to do it but we just heard too many good things about it. The drive from the hotel was going to be about 3.5 hours. We got on the bus and picked up others from their hotels and were on our way. It was a long and bumpy trip but we got to see the 'country side' of Vietnam and it was beautiful. We did have one stop along the way to use restrooms, shop and eat snacks if we wanted. Where we stopped both times (once there and once back) had very expensive stuff, like statues and stuff like that. We saw rice patties, people farming and little villages. I say it was a bumpy ride because the roads around the villages were not the best.
Once we got there we were talking to others on the day tour and got to know them. It also made us how small of a world it really is, there was a couple on the bus who were from DC! We all ate lunch and looked at the beautiful views. Once we got to the fishing village we were told not to leave money on the boat so we left our good camera and wallets with the tour guide. Once we docked boats full of fruit and such were pulled up to where we docked asking if we wanted to buy anything. I say it was annoying because they wouldn't stop asking us, even after we said no the first three times. After we got ready we went into the kayaks and Dustin and I paddled around. It was so beautiful. We had the intention of going in the water until we saw how stagnate it was. There was also trash and HUGE jellyfish in it, so we did not go it but still loved the fact that we got to do it. After we got back we were on our way to a cave that was discovered only in 93'. We were all surprised that it wasn't discovered that long ago, but then I thought about it and 93 really was awhile ago.
We got back on the boat and headed back to the bus. It was truly a breath taking experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. The fishing village was really amazing. It didn't appear that the kids went to school, their houses were not on land, they were floating, and the transportation was by boat (obviously). It's a way of life I never thought I would see and it gave me more appreciation of the life that I have.
The drive took a lot out of us and we were leaving for Singapore the next day. All we did when we got back was go out to dinner and look around the different shops. The dinner we had was wonderful, I had the BEST sweet and sour chicken EVER and we didn't really find anything shopping so we called it a night and relaxed at our hotel.
Like I have said before, I am so grateful for the life that I live and don't take anything for granted. Dustin and I are on a trip of a life time out here and we are trying to live up the expat life while we can because in just a few short months we are heading back home for good. Thank you all for being so supportive and taking interest in how our life is like living over here.
In just a few days our neighbors Jason and Rob and friend Matt will be here and we can't wait. I am sure it's a blog you won't want to miss out on :)
Pictures Below. The one under the bridge is a random stop for people to get things like food and such. Others are self explanatory.
Thanks for reading and take care!!
