Short Life, Big World

Our final stop in Vietnam was the capital city of Hanoi. It is very similar to other big cities but I did find that it had some individual charm of its own. We stayed in the Old Quarter and mainly just explored that area but it had no shortage of interesting things to stumble upon. Let me start by introducing you to the toilet in the bathroom of our hotel…Remember my bathroom post? Well this would be a nice addition to that! Ever had to sit on the toilet sideways?! The good news about this hotel was that we got a bonus room so we each had our own space…

From Halong Bay, we took an overnight bus to the far north where the small village of Sapa lies in the middle of the rice farming region. This bus ride was something else. By now, we have taken many bus trips, but this one is full of firsts. It was the first where we were loaded into a random SUV (without any communication on why) to be taken to the bus; the first where we were the only white people; the first in which we stopped nearly every 30 minutes to drop off packages to random people on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere; the first…

Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in the Gulf of Tonkin. It is home to around 1600 karsts, which are limestone islands, that are mostly uninhabited and untouched by humans. That said, the area around the islands has been completely overrun by human activity and the area attracts around 10 million people annually. Luckily for us, we came in the winter, so there were only about four other people in the whole place (that is an exaggeration, of course, but its emptiness had a weird feeling of eeriness to it, particularly in Halong City). We spent our first night in the area on the island of Tuan…

From Ho Chi Minh City, we decided to head north to the central part of the country where the temperatures have been much cooler. Unfortunately, what we did not realize, is that it is also rainy season here which put a bit of a damper on things, but we still were able to make the best of it. Prior to heading to Vietnam, I had inquired with a dive shop about the possibility of scuba diving from Hoi An and they said it was not possible due to the weather. I now understand why! Anyway, we visited the cities of Da Nang, Hoi An and Hue, each of which had…

Our first stop in Vietnam took us to Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon which was the capital of South Vietnam prior to the Vietnam War. We reconnected with our friends, Kim and Kevin, whom we worked with in Abuja. It was so wonderful to see them and get to do a little touring of their new city with them. We spent a lot of time trying out new restaurants! We did a little walking through the city, but at this point in my travels, all of the big cities are starting to look the same, so I am trying to focus on just seeing a few things…