Thanks so much for all the posts! It's so nice to to know that people are reading this and we always get so excited whenever someone leaves us a post, so keep em' coming!
We're just sitting in a little cafe in Hanoi waiting for a bus to take us to Hue tonight. It's an overnight bus that takes 12 hours, so hopefully tomorrow morning comes quickly! Anyway, I thought I'd update since, well, there's lots to talk about!
So... we left off at Sapa last time:
We ended up just staying for another 2 nights, even though we had planned to stay for another 3 or 4. Sapa was absolutely gorgeous, but we kept looking at our timetable and all of the bazillion things we want to see and do and just decided to keep moving. We didn't do too much in Sapa except check out a few markets and went motorbiking for a day to check out the countryside.
We ended up making our way to a small traditional village and a little town. In the little town we decided to have some lunch and ended up sharing our meal with some hilltribes ladies (they didn't know the culprit who picked Andrew's lock). We had a yummy meal of vegetable Pho (noodle soup) with some tofu and other good stuff. Also, we tried corn wine for the first time which was the most potent thing we've both ever tried. They poured us about 1/2 an ounce (I was thinking it was a little measly!) and we could barely finish it.
After Sapa we took the night train to Hanoi. We didn't get much sleep since the train was hot and there was a really (and I mean really) loud snorer in our berth. Also, I ended up on the top bunk (there are 3 beds to a bunk) and ended up with less than a foot of room between my nose and the roof! Definitely not the best sleeping arrangements for anyone who's claustrophobic. Also, the Vietnamese were playing a very famous and sneaky game with us that we learned in China: Each bunk in the berths have different prices with the bottom being the most expensive and the top being the least (for obvious reasons). The game has three steps. First, the person will try to steal the bottom bunk by pretending to be sleeping in it when you come into the room. Think, stretched out with the shoes off and everything! If you make enough noise though you can push the game onto step 2. Step 2 is what I like to call "oblivion." Basically the person will "set up shop" by putting his/her bags on the bed and acting almost like it is you who is invading the sleeping quarters. The last step is a little tricky to get to, but if you achieve it you will actually win the game. You have to first befriend the person (the phrasebook is key!) and then after a while act really sleepy and do the international "I'm tired" signal. Usually this works, and a few smiles and laughs are exchanged. The game is won fair and square. Anyway, we're getting really good at this game and ended up playing it for a little while on our trip to Hanoi. We won the bottom bunk, but Andrew ended up winning it from me.
Hanoi was/has been the craziest and busiest city we've ever been in. The population is only 4 million (maybe not only) but there are 2 million motorbikes! That, combined with the fact that the streets are exceptionally narrow makes for a really chaotic atmosphere. We stayed in the Old Quarter in Hanoi which has all the same (or mostly the same) french architecture and city set up that was present 800 years ago. It's one of the few cities that remained untouched (or nearly) during the war. It's almost like stepping back in time, despite the motorbikes. The streets are all really narrow and the buildings are called "tube houses" because the citizens were once charged taxes based on how much property was facing the roads (not on square footage). The buildings were also prohibited from being over 2 stories tall. So, yes, the buildings look like tubes! Another really interesting thing is that each of the streets used to manufacture or provide a specific product. So, there's a street called Grass Mat street(in Vietnamese though!), Shoe street, and various others. It's was really neat to explore around and guess the names of the streets. We even found Tombstone street!
We also visited Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum one morning. For those of you who don't know, Ho Chi Minh started the Communist Party in Vietnam and is regarded as a hero here. We went to the Mausoleum first thing in the morning hoping that we'd be one of the first. Well we were wrong, and we ended up in a line that was about 300 meters long. The whole process of getting in and through the building was incredibly regulated. We went through 2 security checks and had to drop off our backpack and our cameras at each one. They then made everyone go into a theatre to watch a movie about Ho Chi Minh's life. Of course, it was in Vietnamese, so Andrew and I thought we'd go outside and look around a bit. As soon as we stepped out of the building two different people told us to "please go back inside." Yikes! After the movie we had to walk about 500 meters or so in double file to a warehouse-type building. Entering the building was almost as strange as seeing the body itself. There were guards every 5 strides or so with knives and bayonets. Seeing the body was pretty much how I imagined it to be, but I spent most of the time watching how the Vietnamese were reacting. They were all so solemn and you could just see the admiration and respect in their faces. It was really a surreal experience.
After that experience we were feeling slightly out of place, so we decided to go where else, but the Canadian Consulate! We spent a good 20 minutes or so reading pamphlets and relaxing in the air conditioned room. Ah... almost like home. We tried to go outside and snap a picture but the Vietnamese guard wouldn't have any of it! Guess were not quite home yet...
We also went to the Water Puppet show one night in Hanoi. It sounds like something we would have enjoyed in Kindergarten, right? Well we were actually some of the youngest people in the crowd. The puppet show works by people standing behind a giant bamboo screen so the puppets look like they're dancing on water. It sounds silly, but it was actually really entertaining. The music was live and they had really neat traditional instruments.
We left the next day to on a tour to Halong Bay which is about 3 hours East of Hanoi. We booked a 3 day/2 night tour thinking that it would be nice to just relax on the boat for a few days. Well, we were right! Even despite the weather (rainy and cloudy) it was completely enjoyable and relaxing. Halong Bay is famous in Vietnam for it's Karst formations. Karst formations are mountains made of some strange rock (I forget the name) that were eroded down to smooth rocks during the last ice age. The rocks/mountains sort of jut out of the sea at all different angles. It's really breathtaking to see it actually. Also cool was the fact that there are a bunch of caves in the mountains. It's strange to think that there were fish swimming in there at one point in time!
So the first day in Halong Bay we just relaxed on the boat (since it was raining) and went and explored a cave. The cave was really artificial (neon lights everywhere!), but really beautiful. We met a really nice Israeli couple that were in our tour, so we hung out with them most of the time. They taught us an awesome card game called "Yaniv," which we ended up playing both nights until pretty late. We didn't get much sleep the first night on the boat because there were rats alllll over. They weren't in our room (luckily) but they were running all through the walls. They were squeaking, chewing, and having a bit of a rat party I think. At one point in the night we both woke up and were like "they're in here!." I don't think the saying "as quiet as a mouse" makes any sense! Also, on top of the rat problem, the roof to our cabin was leaking from the rain so all night we heard "drip, squeak, drip, drip, chew." As you can imagine, we got a great sleep the first night!
The second day we went trekking and went and visited a traditional house/bee farm (yay!!). Actually it was a lot of fun (despite the humidity being almost 85%!) and really neat to see the countryside. We drank some honey and some honey wine as well which was delicious! After that we went kayaking for a while. It was pretty cold out so we pretty much had the sea/beaches to ourselves. It was really nice!
That night we got to sleep in hotel and we slept really well. All-in-all Halong Bay was definitely worth it and a lot of fun to see. It was pretty touristy, but I think everything in Vietnam will be. Actually there was a couple from Belgium on our boat who tried to find some "untouched" areas in Vietnam via motorbike and ended up being basically escorted back onto the tourist trail by someone from the military! Guess we'll have to save exploring for Laos or Cambodia.
Anyway, that's all for now. We're off to Hoi An to get some clothes made and to go check out some temples.
We want to wish all the Mom's out there a Happy Mother's Day(!). Especially, we want to say hi to our Mom's and Grandma's - we love you lots and wish we could be home to treat you today! Hugs all the way from Vietnam...
Miss you all!
Love, Tara and Andrew
XOXO
Ps. We're going to post some pictures tomorrow, so check back later!
