Halong Bay

A natural wonder of the world in view of skyscrapers only two hours away from Hanoi. Traditionally the bay was filled with markets and fishermen and traders from all over the world but today it is filled with tourist cruises of which we took one. Luckily the bay was one of the calmest bodies of water I have ever been on and we spent the day sailing though limestone islands in super green waters. We heard the area used to be filled with rays and fish but we saw no sign of either. We did see some bats though. Plastic pollution definitely has taken ahold in this area which was very sad to see.

Mu Cang Chai

We decided to beat the crowds of Hanoi and head out to do the Vietnamese version of leaf peeping… rice peeping! Headed out on a 5 hour drive north west of Hanoi to see some golden rice right before the harvest. We headed into the mountainous area with jungles and monkeys and tigers and most importantly rice terraces!!! They were so incredibly pretty in the fall with the rice turning from green to gold. We toured a lot of rice patties and I couldn’t get enough so had to go for a swim with the rice to really get in touch with my water buffalo side. Luckily my previous purchase of a Hmong (local ethnic group of the region) skirt saved the day so I was able to continue the rest of the day without my very soggy and muddy pants on our guides nice clean motor bike. Unfortunately the skirt wasn’t able to save us from a flat tire on the way back but alas it can only do so much.

Hanoi Hanoi

Vietnam was so hectic and I don’t just mean the roads. It’s easy to forget quite how big some countries are. Specifically how long Vietnam is. It is extremely long. Our flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi may only have been 2.5 hours but Hanoi felt like it was worlds away. The accents are different. The coffee is different. Even the food is different! But also super delicious. There are literally so many little shops for food absolutely everywhere so we only had to walk about three feet out of our hotel to try some great bun cha and right across from the hotel was a whole street of bars, creatively named “beer street”. Apparently this street is well known and the crowd reflected that so we only stayed for one overpriced beer and two free shots of something that I would hesitate to call vodka but was definitely called such. Also about every other restaurant there was a massage parlor. Surprisingly good massages for very cheap. I think Ben might have bruises from his last calf massage.

While in Hanoi we also managed to catch the full moon festival which coincided with the big weekend night market to make a HUGE market and lots of pretty lights and crazy displays. We would’ve stopped to buy something but pretty sure the whole population of Hanoi was also there so it was kind of a move or die situation.

Saigon - Home of 10 Million Motorbikes

Our time in Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City) was mostly spent delighting our taste buds and figuring out how to cross traffic. Rules of the road are more guidelines here and all of the motorbikes definitely add complexity. Luckily everyone drives slow and is more than happy to honk at lost tourists.