Goodbye Vietnam!

Our Vietnam trip is coming to a close! We leave tonight to fly back to Dallas and although it would be nice to stay longer, I think we're ready to come back home. We visited the Temple of Literature before leaving and although it was interesting from a historical perspective, I think the best part was our interaction with the children (more on that in a bit). The Temple was dedicated to Confucious and was founded in 1070 by Emperor Ly Thanh Tong. In 1076, Vietnam's first university was established there to educate Vietnam's administrative and warriors class. I must admit, I didn't know much about Confucious but the more I read, the more interested I became in his principles and teachings. It gave me more insight into the Asian culture and I wished the ideals I read about could take hold with some of the American population. Could be a great benefit to our society!

Ok back to the cute little children! It must have been temple field trip day because there were about 100 children visiting the Temple. All of them wanted to say hi to us and ask us the few questions they knew in English.

 At one point, things got a little interesting when we were mobbed by about 50 children wanting us to sign their hands. You can see my arm, all that was visible, trying to sign hands the best I could. It was a very interesting experience!

As we were strolling through, I turned around to find a little Vietnamese girl had Steven by the arm and was trying to lead him to something very important. Sadly, we assumed she was leading us to a shop as many children in Southeast Asia are used to bring tourists into shops. We followed her cautiously and after winding through a few doorways and around the courtyard she stopped, with a big smile on her face, in front of a huge turtle figure gilded in gold. She was so pleased to show us this wonderful photographic opportunity! It just melted our hearts. Without knowing anything about us, these strangers to her world, she wanted to show the two of us something she was sure we would be very impressed with. It was a wonderful ending to our journey. Vietnam has been a great experience with memories that will last a lifetime. We feel very blessed to have this opportunity. Tam biet Vietnam! We heart you!

A blissful few days in Hoi An!

Long time, no write! Hey guys! We just made it back to Hanoi late last night, after two delayed flights (ugh!) but we had the most relaxing and enjoyable time the past few days in Hoi An. We flew out of Hanoi on April 2nd and stayed in Danang for two days. The hotel was nice but there wasn't much to do there, besides get a sunburn on the beach - which I did. My calves, shins and ankles swelled up to a humorous size and made it uncomfortable to walk at times. I guess I can't go a trip without getting a bad sunburn!

I have to be honest that I was feeling a bit sad that we hadn't yet experienced the "Vietnam" I expected to at this point. But when we arrived at our hotel in Hoi An on Monday, that all changed. We stayed in a beautiful hotel that just enveloped us in a lovely, lackadaisical world...a world we had been looking for! We enjoyed delicious food, palm trees, lazy hours in hammocks...it was a wonderful few days that we wished could last longer.

  The first day, we biked around the town and took a stop off at the Tra Que Herb Village. The village is made up of about 40 households that live on these few acres and harvest herbs for the local cities and towns. We had a wonderfully nice guide that showed us around the garden. It sure made me and my brown thumbs jealous!

They said we had jobs if it doesn't work out at USAA!

The next day was our Thuan Tinh Island cooking tour, which I had been waiting for the whole trip! We were picked up by a guide that took us on a quick run through the local market with all sorts of seafood, live chickens, fruit, veggies and many other goodies being sold in several stands.

We then jumped on a boat and headed for the island. The first stop was a visit to a couple's home to visit with them and show us their home. This couple has been married for 67 years and they were so cute! The husband played some Vietnamese music for us on a homemade instrument and the wife showed us the two tools they use to shuck the rice and make rice milk. Lots of work!

(some pics are still posting sideways, sorry!)

Next we started cooking and it was a treat! We made fresh spring rolls, shrimp and pork pancakes, beef noodle soup and beef salad. We were so full when it was over! But I do have the recipes so we can enjoy our  special Vietnamese dishes at any time.

When the cooking tour finished, we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed a walk around Old Hoi An. We were sad to leave the next day as this was probably a highlight of the trip. But we did walk away with some very fond memories!

Day Two in Ninh Binh!

Yesterday was so much fun but we were exhausted when we got back to the hotel. At 8:30 we headed out on a motorbike (yes Steven drove the motorbike around so well amidst the crazy traffic!) to Tam Coc, "the three caves". We started with a two-hour excursion by small boat along the Ngo Dong river. Women and young boys row tourists up and down the river for about $7 total. I don't know how they aren't exhausted, but they do trade off rowing with their feet instead to give their hands a break. Kind of neat to see! The amazing landscape is dominated by rice fields and karst towers, the tall rock formations. The route includes floating through three natural caves (Hang Ca, Hang Hai, and Hang Ba). Below is a picture of the beautiful scenery:

We were actually among the few caucasian tourists on the river and that made for a very interesting ride on the way back. There were multitudes of school-age children enjoying the same boat rides and they were just fascinated with us and grabbed their cameras to take pictures of us! Every boat of children that sailed by giggled and said "Hello!" or "What's your name? You are beautiful.". We felt like American celebrities!

Our next drive took us a few miles away to Hang Mua - a 1,000 step round-trip journey to the top of a temple that allows for amazing views of the countryside. We had seen this on a Cooking Channel show - Luc Nguyen's Vietnam and knew we had to go there. It definitely helped us to walk off all the French bread we've been eating!

Bottom of the steps that started our journey.

View from the top!

From here we drove around on the motorbike and had a wonderful time stopping to take pictures and enjoying the views. To me, this is the best way to see a country - riding through their neighborhoods, stopping at their roadside stands, just driving among them.

couldn't figure out how to get this picture to rotate!

We got back around 4:30 in the afternoon and were so exhausted and sore. When we arrived back at the hotel, the manager met us and asked how our day was. I told him it was awesome, especially since there were no motorbike accidents! We headed right upstairs to shower because we were covered in dirt from all the dust on the roads. After forcing some dinner down, we went to bed at 8pm and slept like babies on our hard beds. Wonderful day in Ninh Binh!

We head to the Hanoi airport in a few hours to fly to Danang, about an hour flight south. More updates to come when we settle in to the next destination. Love to all!

Sore muscles but awesome day!

We just had the best day! I'll write a more detailed post later (must shower and recup now) but key words include: motorbike, dirty faces, 1,000 steps, and American celebrities. Stay tuned!!

Road trippin'!

Chao everyone! It's 4am and I'm up writing because I can't sleep on our hard-as-cement Vietnamese bed any longer, but more on that later. We rented a private car and driver yesterday to take us from Hanoi to Ninh Binh (pronounced Ning Bing), about three hours south. Keep in mind that it's only 68 miles so you can imagine how slow-going that drive must be. A note on the traffic: I've been fascinated by the driving habits of Asian countries since our first day in Singapore in 2009. I still haven't quite figured out how everything moves so in sync while looking to outsiders like complete chaos - people pulling right out in from of you while you're driving fast, drivers deciding at the last minute they have to turn left from the right-hand lane, and the endless honking. But they never get angry or upset...absolutely no road rage! Quite interesting.

So back to the road trip! After heading out from Hanoi, returning to Hanoi to get our passports that were left in the hotel room safe, and then heading back out from Hanoi, we were finally on our way. It's pretty much the same scenery the whole drive but I still find it interesting to watch. Families are sitting together having lunch, old men and women are sitting around at their small stores chatting with each other, children are returning from school in their matching uniforms. Litter is everywhere and sometimes you're shocked to see that the hut that is barely standing is someone's home. Always a chance to gain some perspective when you're in other countries. During the drive, I asked our driver if we could make a pit-stop and he obliged taking us to a store which ended up being closed. At this point options were limited (makes you really appreciate McDonald's and rest areas!!). Needless to say, I didn't imagine that I would end up that afternoon squatting in the backyard of an older woman's home with roosters and neighbors looking on. Priceless memory! We arrived at the hotel in the late afternoon to a wonderful family that is so hospitable. The beds, though, my gosh! I was told that Vietnamese beds are so hard because they were used to sleeping on the ground so anything soft had become uncomfortable. Not always comfortable for Western travelers but that's what Vietnamese massages are for, right?

We haven't had many picture-worthy moments yet but will hopefully have some today as we motorbike to Tam Coc and the surrounding areas of Ninh Binh. I hope everyone is doing well! Miss you guys!

We made it!!

Hey guys! We did make it into Hanoi late Sunday night but due to internet issues I haven't been able to do a post until now. But we did arrive, safe, sound and with all of our luggage! It's been a nice couple of days. The first was spent in Hanoi where we walked around the Hoan Kiem lake and explored the city. The lake was nothing extraordinary and was very polluted, like most of the waterways seem to be in Vietnam. The buildings are an interesting site to see. Some show the French influence. All homes are very narrow and tall - which Steven said was due them being taxed on the square meters the front of the home took up; hence, narrow homes! For our first dining experience, we went to a restaurant called Bun Cha where locals gather on little stools to pick vermicelli noodles, beef, mixed herbs, garlic and chiles into a small bowl with fish sauce and fried spring rolls. Very tasty, I thought, but I'm sure we wouldn't want to see the kitchen.

Today we traved 3 1/2 hours north of Hanoi to Halong Bay where we boarded a "junk boat" for an overnight cruise. The cabins we stayed in were nice and the staff was wonderful. Food - eh, it was ok. The scenery was beautiful but it would have been nice to have some sun. It's been chilly and cloudy every day so far but hopefully that will change and the sun will peek out for a bit when we travel south to Hoi An. (pictures to come soon!)

Overall it's been very similar to other Asian coutries we've visited - a lot of pollution, trash and crazy traffic. We haven't been runover by a motorbike yet, so that's good! Tomorrow we set off for Ning Bing! Woohoo!