Vietnam Vagabonds, Part 2

Three weeks later, it has come time for us to say goodbye to Vietnam. We have come a long way from the rainy August day in Pagosa Springs, Colorado when we booked our flights to Southeast Asia. At the time it seemed so surreal; “are we really doing this?!”

Here we are, 6 months later, and it still seems so surreal!! I wonder if the fact that we are traveling through Asia on this completely life changing adventure, will ever actually set in.

We spent the second half of our time in Vietnam in Hoi An and Ha Noi. (In conversation, we mixed up the names of these two cities more times than we could count!)

Hoi An was a lovely quaint town near the coast. We stayed 15 minutes outside of town in a beachside bamboo bungalow (how is that for an alliteration?!). It has been the most unique place we have stayed thus far. It was quite rustic, with gaps in the thin bamboo walls and a much needed mosquito net over our bed. It was beautiful and best of all just a short walk to an awesome beach!!

We spent one day exploring the town of Hoi An, seeing temples and museums, the the quiet streets of an old French town. We ate some really yummy food on this day! A smoothie bowl and vegan pancakes for breakfast, and Banh mi (Vietnamese baguette sandwich) for lunch.

The next two days were spent lounging on the beach, swimming, reading, and listening to podcasts. Vietnam has been the craziest country we’ve been to so far, there are motorbikes everywhere, drivers constantly use their horn to signal to other drivers, and crossing the road feels like you are part of the game Frogger. Needless to say, a few days on the beach was just what we needed to decompress!

The most memorable part about Hoi An was when I locked myself in our room. Reid stayed on the beach and I went to our room to get more sunscreen. Our double doors closed on the inside and outside with a wooden latch. When I got inside our room, the wooden latch on the outside fell down and locked me in! I had to wait for someone to walk by, then I leaned out our window and called for help. I was quite embarrassed to say the least!!

We continued from Hoi An to Hanoi. We left early in the morning on one of the cheapest flights we will ever take. Our tickets were $3 each, and taxes and fees were $22. A $25 flight seemed much more appealing than taking a 17 hour bus ride!!

Hanoi is everything than Hoi An is not! It is crowded and busy, the rules of the road are nonexistent, and the sidewalks are used like parking lots so it is difficult to walk on them.

We took a few days to explore the sights of this sprawling city and a few days to explore other parts of northern Vietnam. One day we took a tour to Ninh Binh. This province felt like a dream! We climbed 500 stairs to reach the top of a small peak that over looked the river valley below. Then later we spent two hours on the river below, slowly rowing through the beautiful scenery, by temples, and through caves. It was an incredible day, we loved being in the countryside and slowing our pace down.

We spent another day exploring Halong Bay. This time of year the weather is typically cloudy, overcast, and chilly in this region of Vietnam. So we were overjoyed that we had a day that was 65° and sunny!!!

Our boat took us through the twists and turns of this beautiful bay, we had a sunny sky and the water was a stunning blueish-green color. We started at a cave that the French discovered when Vietnam was a colony. Sung Sot cave is over 100,000 square feet! It took us about 40 minutes to walk through all of it!

Then we went kayaking. Reid and I are an excellent tandem kayaking pair, and we had a lot of fun! We were able to explore a lagoon that only kayaks (and monkeys) can get to.

Our last stop in Halong Bay was Titop Island. We climbed about 400 stairs to get a panoramic view of the bay. We were exhausted, but it was totally worth it!!

A great part about Hanoi was that we got to meet up with one of my high school friends, Ryan. He has been living in Hanoi, teaching English at a high school, and working with a human rights organization. It was awesome to catch up with him!

As we leave Vietnam, we head for Laos (country #4!).

In our spare time, getting ready in the morning, and on bus trips we have started listening to Christian podcasts. We love the Elevation Church podcast, but if anyone has any suggestions, we are all ears!!

Love,

Sorrell

“Know also that wisdom is like honey for you: if you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off” -Proverbs 24:14

Happy-Go-Lucky in Hanoi

Before leaving for our Lunar New Year vacation to Hanoi I read countless articles about what to expect in Vietnam. However, I don’t think anything could have actually prepared me for this wonderfully overwhelming experience. I felt as though I was constantly dodging mopeds and people, reading my map to try to get us back to the hostel, and avoiding stepping in some sort of trash or unidentified liquid in the streets.

I had my first real hostel experience, staying in the heart of the Old Quarter. This trip definitely forced me to be low maintenance! I didn’t bring any makeup, I was living with 6 strangers (plus Arden) in a small room, and we hardly had a real shower.

*Be prepared for an extra-long post! I am so excited to tell y’all about my adventures in Vietnam!!

Day 1: Exploring Hanoi

We started our first full day in Hanoi with a walking tour of the city. I thought that would help me get my bearings and help me navigate the Old Quarter…I was sorely mistaken. Every street looked exactly the same: lined with mopeds and with sidewalks that were full of plastic tables and chairs serving as make-shift restaurants.

Almost every street had a few dogs too! (Which, of course, I felt the need to point out to everyone as we passed…It took almost all of my self-control not to pet those cute little guys).

In addition to all of the make-shift restaurants, people bought most of their food on the sidewalks. Fruits and vegetables, as well as live chickens and fish! A woman across the street from our hostel sold fish. She gave some people live fish in a plastic grocery bag (now that is fresh!). For others, she grabbed a fish out of the bin, hit it over the head until it died, then cut it up.

Our guide pointed out some of the best sites in the Old Quarter, including a temple built in 1182, that largely remains the same, even after the Indochina Wars, and Hoan Kiem Lake with legends that are as old as the water is murky.

We then had a yummy Vietnamese lunch overlooking a rotary that was complete pandemonium. No signs, no lanes, no crosswalks, no traffic signals! It was a free-for-all! Cars, buses, bikes, mopeds, and people. I felt like I was in the video game ‘Frogger’ when I tried to cross the street. Its a good thing I had some friends that were a little more confident than me…I stuck to them like glue!

Next we met up with some HKBU friends (some, on purpose and a few, on accident) and went to a prison museum. Hoa Lo Prison was first used by the French to house Vietnamese revolutionaries during the struggle for independence, then by the Vietnamese to house American POWs during the Second Indochina War.

That night we went to a traditional puppet theater. Even though the whole performance was in Vietnamese, we still had a great time! After dinner that night, I was more than ready to take a hot shower and climb into bed. When we got back to the hostel, the receptionist told us that there were no more towels. So, I ended up taking a cold shower and air dried a bit, then used a tee-shirt to dry off (not ideal, but it worked).

Day 2: Hoa Lu and Tam Coc

On our second day in Hanoi we took a trip to the Ninh Binh province, south of Hanoi. After a two hour bus ride we made it to two beautifully intricate pagodas, dedicated to the first two kings of Vietnam. Then we had another delicious lunch. To everyone who thinks I am a picky eater: I tried goat, and it wasn’t bad! They also had the best pineapple. By the time dinner rolled around, I was still full.

Next, we went on a boat ride on the beautiful Tam Coc River. We got in a small boat with a Vietnamese woman and her son, and she rowed us down the river. The river zig-zagged through massive limestone rock formations and we meandered past rice paddies and small houses. It was an incredible experience and I am pretty sure I had a smile plastered on my face the entire time. Her son was adorable and he did the best to keep himself entertained and not get in the way. I tried to teach him how to use my camera, but he was a little shy. Almost everyone we passed along the river was thrilled to see Caucasian people. I wish I kept track of how many Vietnamese people talked to us or took pictures of us. Arden said, “this must be what it feels like to be a celebrity.”

After our boat ride we went biking through the rice paddies…yet another amazing experience! The trail was very bumpy and for the first five minutes I was clenching that handlebars as tight as I could and barely looked up from the trail. The last thing I wanted was to be that American girl that veered off the path and fell into a rice paddy. Luckily, that didn’t happen! We passed by people planting rice and small houses with small children peering out the windows. It was an inside look into how the Vietnamese people lived, and they all seemed really happy. Although every aspect of this trip was incredible, I think this was my favorite.

Day 3: Halong Bay

We started this lovely day with a 3 ½ hour bus ride to the coast. We then got on our boat for the day and had a huge seafood lunch. Almost immediately after we left the port we were surrounded by more beautiful limestone formations (similar to Tam Coc, the day before). It was a little cold and very windy, but I do not think anything could dampen my spirts this day. We got to a cove and had the opportunity to go kayaking. We went through a few caves got to do some exploring. Another beautiful and eye-opening experience where I was smiling the entire time. Not to mention Arden and I were a great tandem kayaking team!!

Next we visited the Cave of Wonders. It was so huge, it felt like one of the limestone mountains was completely hollowed out. There were stalactites and stalagmites that are so big they must have been forming for millions and millions of years.

Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and of the New Seven Wonders of the Natural World, and I can see why. It was such a unique place, like nothing I have ever seen before.

After the 3 ½ hour bus ride back, we finished the long day with some well-deserved ice-cream sundaes.

Day 4: Exploring Hanoi (again)

We decided to take our last day in Hanoi to explore the city some more and I am so glad we did! We ended up walking 11 miles this day, but it was so worth it. We were able to see some new districts of the city that were completely different from the Old Quarter, where we had spent most of our time. We explored the Don Xuan market and some small shops (I bought some ever-coveted elephant pants!). We also walked across the city to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the One Pillar Pagoda, and the Presidential Palace. The mausoleum is a memorial where Ho Chi Minh read the country’s Declaration of Independence for the first time, which established the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The One Pillar Pagoda is exactly what it sounds like. It is the tiniest temple, situated over a small pond, standing on one pillar. The Presidential Palace was where Ho Chi Minh lived and worked. Every building on this property was very yellow and very beautiful! This country loves Ho Chi Minh and it was great to experience some of its history.

I loved experiencing Vietnam. The culture and the way of life is so different from Hong Kong. I spent the past week teetering on the edge of the unknown and I loved it!

If you have read this whole post- Thank you! And sorry it was so long!

Stay Tuned!

Love,

Sorrell

“I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” -Ephesians 4:1-2