Good Morning Vietnam
Hanoi is a crazy city. We cannot even begin to explain the number of motorcycles here. It is the wildest experience crossing the street. There are waves of motorcycles, cars and bicycles coming at you and you just have to walk across, making eye-contact with everyone coming at you so that they go around. We are Pro’s at it!!!!
Our first real day in Hanoi was great. We woke up early to go to Ho Chi Minh’s mausuleum. It was … wierd… for lack of better words. There are all these rules you have to follow. You walk into the dark cold building in a single file line. You have to be appropriatly dressed, check your bag and camera, and keep your hands out of your pockets. When you get inside there are all these guards watching every move you make. It is very militant. So we go in and there he is just lying there as if he were just napping. It was unreal.. he looked so real he even had his goatee and wrinkles. He is not under glass or anything, just lying there embalmed for our viewing pleasure!! So strange!!!!
For the rest of the day we negotiated the city and the post office. Like we said in thailand the post is never an easy experience. Here in Vietnam, you have to show the postal workers everything going into the package and pack it in front of them. What a pain in the butt. We were paranoid of the bootleg DVD’s that we bought… but we snuck them by her.. what rebels!
The past 2 days we took a trip to Halong bay. It is an area about 3 hours northeast of Hanoi. It is a gorgeous bay that has 2000 islands in it. We sailed for 2 days and slept on a big, old wooden boat. We stopped at floating villages and kayaked through some of the islands and limestone caves. It was definately one more major highlight of our trip. The only problem that we had was that the boat trip was one of those packages. We hate them because you never know who you are going to be grouped with… and unfortuanately we had some AWFUL people in our group. There were 11 of us all together and within that a group of 6 british men (from liverpool, we couldn’t understand a word they said, and they call it proper english) that were disgusting. We are under the impression that they were taking vacation in thailand as “sex tourist”… we believe that says enough about them!! We tried our hardest to ignore the situation and still had a wonderful time, but what an annoyance.
Tonight we leave on a night train to Sapa, a town way up north at the chinese border. We are staying there for a few days to do some trekking in the minority villages.
We tried to post some pictures but his computer wont let us… next time!
Tags: Travel
Lisa and Todd-Blogmasters
Todd and Lisa,
Can’t wait for more pics…
Todd…you should have thrown one of those guys off the boat…
Hope you have better luck w/traveling w/money…never can be too sneaky about where you hide it…they have thought of everything known and unknown to mankind…better to keep it hidden on person, maybe in the soles of boots you are wearing?
Take care,
V
I guess time flies when you’re in thailand… ben is almost 5.5 months old…
Todd and Lisa
I had a chance to review blog from India to Hanoi. What a trek!!
It’s amazing to think, as a Vietnam war vet, that you are actually in Hanoi; headquarters of the enemy! I am delighted that you don’t have a silly war to worry about and can travel freely. Your pictures are amazing and bring back many memories of South East Asia and its inherent beauty.
Enjoy yourselves!
Jimmy G.
I’m surprised that Todd didn’t try to store your money in his bag under the boat. Maybe he learned something. The trip sounds interesting and beautiful. Adrienne and I just got back from Liverpool, and it was hard to understand most of the “proper” English there. Don’t get me wrong, we had a wonderful time.
The Mercedes Championship golf tournament is going on now in Maui, and it’s bringing back some good memories. Okay, some of us have to work…Miss you guys!
So glad you are enjoying your time in VN…it is such an amazing place. I am hoping you have as great a time as I did in Sapa…with the many tribes living there–it is so incredible. Just watch out for cute little children a.k.a. pick-pocketers…and don’t smoke too much opium either. kidding.
If you go back to Hanoi…go to one of the Bia Hoi joints…the corner “bars” with the little plastic chairs (that I think you guys are familiar with by now) and the draft beer…very tasty and so cheap…think it works out to less than 25 cents a piece.
Be safe and keep having fun! Love, Adrienne
And I leave for a lowly trip to San Diego on the 14th and then on the Hnl on the 21at for 2 weeks. We hope to get to the Big Island while there. This trip is nothing compared to what you’ll have experienced. Do wish I could join you. Be safe and smart.
Miss you and love you,
Mom/Mil(maybe)
Hey guys, sounds like such an amazing adventure. The stories and the pictures make us quite envious!
We’re settled back in Toronto, adventures over for now. Well, we have a new adventure started with a due date around May 12, there’s a mini-me on the way!
When do you come home? xoxoxox
Thinking of you in Vietnam does bring back memories of the VN war to us older folks, and it is odd indeed. Now I know what my own parents thought when I first went to Japan. The world, and politics, are very strange. Just think of your own children going to Iraq in the future as tourists, that’s how weird it is! Talking about how much fun it is, and so on.
We had a great visit with Baby Ben, who has TWO TEETH, just so the whole world now knows.
Can’t wait to see you all.
Love,
Momma J
PS Cece, have a great trip in Hawaii!! We loved the Big Island.