VLOG: Happy Birthday to me!

Day 24: Beautiful Ha Long Bay

We spent the day on a boat meandering our way through the stunning Ha Long Bay.  All agreed that the scenery was spectacular - one of the nicest natural landscapes we'd ever seen.

After getting aboard, we putterred for about an hour to our first stop - kayaking.  We paired up, Abby and I together and Robin and Beth.  We went through a few tunnels to get to huge  interior grottos, some that had thousands of jellyfish surrounding our kayaks.  It was quite fun.

After kayaking, we had lunch and then began steering throughout the natural likestone formations.  

The afternoon dragged on a bit as everyone was dying to swim on the promised beach - however the tide rolled in and all of the small beaches got submerged, so we anchored the boat and jumped in.  

By the time we got back, we were all famished!  We need to get a good sleep so we have a good day of birthday celebrations tomorrow.

Day 23: Cat Ba Island

We were off to the east of Hanoi to a place called Cat Ba island today.  Cat Ba is just west of the famed Ha Long Bay.

We had a private car drive us to the port city of Hai Long - a kind of funny, calm 90km drive that took 2.5 hours because of the snail like speeds they drive.  

The 45 minute hydrofoil ferry was fine at the start, but when we got into the open sea, some of the passengers were getting sick which did not impress Abby.  Beth and Robin were downstairs inside (Robin had taken Gravol and I heard later she thought the ride was an awesome roller coaster ride... Beth not so much) and Abby and I were outside at the back.  It was a little nasty but we survived :-).

Cat Ba town is a mix between a backpacker haven and a Vietnamese Niagara Falls.  A little cheesy.  As soon as we checked into our hotel (which is mediocre but fine) we were off to a beach.

The beaches here are all in coves surrounded by rocky cliffs.  We got to a small beach and got in the water - im guessing it was 94 Fahrenheit - soupy!  The conditions were wavier than usual - conditions Abby and Robin were very comfortable with but not conditions the "lifeguards" were comfortable with.  They were kind of hillarious blowing their whistles and waving their flags hearding everyone into a tight pack.

Oddly, when we arrived at the beach at about 3pm, there were only a few people there, but within an hour, there were thousands of local families on the beach and in the water.  Turns out this is a popular summmer destination for locals and we are at the start of summer.  Who knew?

The plan for tomorrow is a day trip to Ha Long Bay with swimming, kayaking and lunch so we are looking forward to that! 

Day 22: Cooking - in both ways

We had a great day - another awesome excursion.  I found Hidden Hanoi once again in Trip Advisor. The ratings were true to form - great people, awesome food, and another great opportunity to get to know the true Vietnamese culture.   

One of the coolest thing was an add on we did to visit the "wet" market (the nomenclature carried forward from Hong Kong meaning fresh produce, fruit, fish and meat market).  Our guide talked about the moving markets (women on foot or bike carrying various things for sale) and the "frog" markets - a collection of lone or several women in front of their houses or in alleys that operate makeshift illegal markets that need to "jump" if police come, or pay a small bribe.

What we are noticing here more than anywhere else is that the food is very local and very fresh.   Everything is locally grown, recently butchered and bought and cooked quickly.   Typically, women visit the market at 7am for their food for lunch, then again in the early afternoon for their dinner.  Beth and I have been fascinated by the meat you see sitting out everywhere and wondering how/why it "works".  The answer is clearly that it is fresh.   For meat bought at 7am from a local wet market for example, the pigs would be bought (live) at a wholesale market at 3 or 4am, driven (live!) on the back of a scooter to the wet market, slaughtered and butchered and sold from 7am to 11am.   Large restaurants go to wholesale markets first, and smaller restaurants sometimes go to wet markets and scoop up the meat at the end of a buying period (ie 11am) so it's cheaper.   Then everything starts again for the second go around in the afternoon.   Compared to our system of highly processed, high need for refrigeration due to long transport and supply line timelines, it seems like a healthier, much more environmentally friendly way to feed the population.

The food was so good.  Period end of story.

We walked over to a nearby "famous" Buddhist pagoda which was on a large lake.   Hanoi has quite a few lakes like this as well as the huge Red River that runs right through the East side, but it's pretty far from the sea so there's not s lot of seafood in the food here.

The girls elected to do a spa...this time a paid professional mani/pedi/hair wash.   The 3 of them were in there most of the afternoon and it cost them about $10 each!  I can see this being a recurring theme!  I enjoyed a nice Bia Ha Noi - the local beer here which is delicious (a freezing cold bottle is about $.80 - there's a period there people... 80 cents!).

Our dinner was another treat.  We asked our hotel guy Chris for a recommendation for local food, and he directed us to a kind of indoor/outdoor "Le Marche" but with service at your table.   The waiter was great as he walked us through how to eat the various dishes we experimented with.

Walking home I am still amazed at the scooters and all the energy of the streets.  The people are so chill and it's like the streets and sidewalks are a part of one giant community that just "gets along".

Turned a corner!

This backpacker has turned a corner and am loving Vietnam. Attitude adjustment and not feeling as scared as I had been when we first arrived. I know this journey will have ups and downs but today was a definite up. Craig will likely write about the events of the day...the cooking and food related things we've done on this trip are a definite highlight. Learned so much today and felt much more excited about the remainder of the trip in this country as a result. Starting to get more used to the heat although am still shocked at the buckets of sweat that roll down every crevice on an ongoing basis. 

The people experiences have been awesome. My first impression is that they are pretty chill...even in the capital city of Hanoi. The service levels at the hotel we are staying at are amazing. One of the women here even took Abby's skirt home to her aunt, and had the zipper fixed and dropped it off before she went to school this morning and wouldn't accept payment. Crazy! 

Another highlight today was having a local beer Bia Ha Noi with Craig, while watching the girls wrap up their spa events across the lane way. Chill time. As Robin would day (and does several times a day) "when in Rome..."

Off to the ocean tomorrow and we can't wait!

Vietnam so far

Hey guys today I am going to give you my overall opinion of Vietnam, Hanoi. 

Likes:

The food 

The people 

How things run( I mean by how there rules run and goes they live, for the most part) 

There cultural beliefs( what I mean is what the buhdisums believe in, and other cultures) 

There culture in general 

And many more

If I had to write them all down right hear it would not so much fit on this page so I will just write down the basics or as you would probably call it the jist of it. 

And now for the bad...... 

Bad:

All that smoking 

Wild dogs on the street

All the traffic 

.....etc.....

Well I better go now 

(And watch Star Wars)    

He he he

Bye now 

💛

Impressions on Vietnam

Vietnam is a tiny bit of a culture shock compared to the modern big cities of Tokyo and Hong Kong. Just kindling. It's a huge culture shock. 

When we first arrived, I could already tell that it was more laid back (our taxi driver was driving 50 km/h), and less modern and developed than Japan and Hong Kong. We then got into mid-town Hanoi, and the streets were the busiest and craziest streets I've ever seen in my whole entire life! First of all, there were no traffic lights and no crosswalks. If you want to cross the street, you have to just walk confidently and the motorcycles will just go around you! It was kind of scary at first, but then I got used to it, and now we're pro street crossers! Not really...! 

The one big thing I noticed about Vietnam is that it's very noisy. Even though Tokyo and Hong Kong are really busy, the streets seem quite and calm. On the streets in Vietnam however, it's crazy town! A lot of people sit on the streets and relax with their coffee and newspaper. They sit on these little short stools and the women (the men are usually the ones who are sitting and relaxing), bring food out to them. It's all very laid back, and the culture is very traditional. 

I also like the food. The Vietnamese pho is so good! Vietnamese dishes have lots of rice and noodles. The meat they use the most in their cooking is pork. When they buy the pork from the markets, they use pretty much all of it (ears, feet, hands, liver, kidney, head, stomach...). Like Japanese food, Vietnamese food is very simple and delicious!

So far, I love Vietnam and I can't wait to go to Cat Ba (another part of Nothern Vietnam) tomorrow and go swimming! Bye!