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| 1st Day: a walk through one of the many street markets |
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| 1st Day: Silka buys a traditional hat |
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| 1st day: hungry and jet-lagged, we ate our first meal in the famous Ben Thanh Market |
I could write a small book on our adventures in Vietnam. It was truly an intoxicating place. The noise from an astonishing amount of motorcycles rumbling by and their horns blaring, the cries of street hawkers, the exotic smells and sights, and the kindness and generosity of the people blew us away. And we cannot forget to mention the amazing food (Tom and I thought so - give the kids a few more years to break in the taste buds).
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| 1st Day: we bought our first of several kilos of lychees - mmmm... |
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2nd Day: frog, fish and turtle offerings at the Jade
Emperor Pagoda | |
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| 2nd Day: travelling puppies |
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| 2nd Day: motorbike naps, a common site in Saigon |
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| 2nd Day: Motorcycle Madness... |
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| 2nd Day: Rein and Silka make friends in a local park |
We felt that we ended up with a good balance of experiences. We spent about a third of our time in the countries largest cities, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and Hanoi, some smaller cities, such as Hoi An where it was a little slower paced and you could revel in some historical sites that were miraculously untouched by the American War (as they call it there). Hue, a three hour drive from Hanoi, wasn't so lucky. There were many ancient ruins there. In some of the places we visited, you could see what was before you and envision in your mind how beautiful it would have been in its day. Our highlights were probably Hoi An's Old Town, and then Sapa and Halong Bay in the northern parts of Vietnam. The views in Sapa were breathtaking and the people from nearby village tribes were wonderful. We enjoyed the perfect ending to our trip cruising through the magical waters of Halong Bay on a junk boat for 2 nights and 3 days. Tom and I ate Vietnamese food as often as we could despite traveling with two much less gastronomically adventurous kids. However, I did manage to eat Pho almost everyday for lunch. We drank a lot of beer while there and I was sporting a bit of a beer belly by the end of our trip. Silka's hair was stroked a lot and Rein was appalled when an older women stopped, got off her bike and kissed him on the cheek. Despite all the beauty and vibrancy that Vietnam encompasses, it is also a place still haunted by a history of many wars. We got glimpses of this through a story told to us by a man whose grandparents died violently in the American war and through the tragic evidence of agent orange's devastating side effects still seen in some children contorted by birth defects. Despite all of this, we were greeted with warm, genuine smiles, twinkling eyes and curiosity. Coming home, Silka remembers Vietnam as smelly and the brown toothed grins she was greeted with more than once but she also remembers the beauty of Sapa, and Halong Bay. Rein remembers the heat, the smells, the energy and the beauty of Sapa and Halong Bay. Tom's highlight would be when he was invited to sit and share a couple of bowls of beer with the Junk boat's crew on Halong Bay. Mine would be trekking through Sapa and the surrounding villages - watching the kids riding water buffalo and steering them by pulling on the ropes attached to the ring in their nose, seeing material dyed indigo hanging on covered porches and rippling in the wind, and joining the nightly crowds of multi-generational families dancing, playing and enjoying each other's company in Ly Thai Tho - one of Hanoi's city squares. We would definitely go back and savour it all again. If you have a chance to get there, you won't regret it.
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| 2nd Day: Rein gets a lesson on the đàn bầu at Reunification Palace |
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| 2nd Day: enjoying a cyclo ride |
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| 3rd Day: Orchid Grarden Homestay, Hanoi | | | |
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| 3rd Day: Lanterns in Hanoi |
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| 4th Day: Fish market in Hoi An |
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| 4th Day: walking along the Thu Bon River |
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| 4th Day: some traditional music and dance at the Hoi An Craft Manufacturing Shop |
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| 4th Day: walking through the Hoi An Craft Mfg. Shop |
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| 4th Day: a kick wheel at Hoi An Craft Mfg. Shop | | | | | | | |
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| 4th Day: walking through Old Town Hoi An |
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| 4th Day: early 17th century Japanese Covered Bridge in Old Town Hoi An |
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| 5th Day: looking back at Danang on the way to Hue |
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| 5th Day: French and U.S. bunker |
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| 5th Day: inside the Imperial Enclosure of Hue's Citadel (Kinh Thanh) |
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| 5th Day: inside the Imperial Enclosure of Hue's Citadel (Kinh Thanh) |
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| 5th Day: Royal Theatre inside Imperial Enclosure, | Hue Citadel |
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| 5th Day: inside Imperial Enclosure, Hue Citadel |
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| 5th Day: Ngo Mon Gate to Imperial Enclosure |
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| 5th Day: Flag Tower, Hue Citadel |
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| 5th Day: Thien Mu Pagoda - its roots in a local legend: an old woman once
appeared on the hill and said that a Lord would come and build a
Buddhist pagoda for the country's prosperity. Hearing of this, Lord
Nguyen Hoang ordered the construction of the pagoda of the "Heavenly
Lady" (Thien Mu). Built in 1601 between a river and a pine forest, this Hue pagoda is one of the oldest and prettiest
religious buildings in the country. Among the many interesting artifacts
housed at the complex is the car that took the monk Thich Quang Duc to
his self-immolation in 1963 Saigon. |
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| 5th Day: Bonsai trees in courtyard at Thien Mu Pagoda |
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| 6th Day: Hoan Kiem Lake (Lake of the Restored Sword) during a night walk |
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| 7th Day: paddling around Ho Tay (West Lake)- fun but stinky! |
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| 7th Day: Water Puppet Show in Hanoi - a form of entertainment that originated with rice farmers who worked in flooded fields of the Red River and is at least 1000 years old |
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| 7th Day: some more intriguing mystery street food in Hanoi |
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| 7th Day: a daylight walk around Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi |
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| 7th Day: Tortoise Pagoda in Hoan Kiem Lake |
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| 7th Day: selling mini pineapples on the streets of Hanoi |
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| 7th Day: riding the overnight train from Hanoi to Sapa |
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| 8th Day: meeting the Black Hmong people, one of the local hill tribes |
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| 8th Day: a very hilly and beautiful Sapa |
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| 8th Day: looking out at plunging valleys of cascading rice terraces with mountains towering all around |
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| 8th Day: trek to Cat Cat Village with our guide, So |
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| 8th Day: our favourite guide, So |
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| 8th Day: amongst the local village children |
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| 8th Day: So shows us an indigo dying vat,a tradition amongst Black Hmong people |
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| 8th Day: Cat Cat Waterfall, Cat Cat Village near Sapa |
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| 8th Day: little chickens on a stick at Cat Cat Waterfall |
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| 8th Day: indigo dyed items hanging to dry, a common site in the homes of Black Hmong |
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| 8th Day: terraced rice fields up close |
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| 8th Day: Sapa street food |
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| 9th Day: morning view from our hotel room balcony |
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| 9th Day: Motorcycle ride to start of trek to Ta Phin Village |
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| 9th Day: Red Dzao man walking water buffalo through rice fields |
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| 9th Day: village home with indigo dyed material hanging outside |
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| 9th Day: us with our Black Hmong guide, Xao, and our Red Dzao companions (red head scarves) |
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| 9th Day: Red Dzao children riding water buffalo |
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| 10th Day: walking the streets of Sapa |
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| 10th Day: Boutique Sapa Hotel, our Sapa home |
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| 10th Day: our trek to Silver Falls |
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| 11th Day: our first day on the Dragon's Pearl in Halong Bay |
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| 12th Day: Rein kayaking to the beach |
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| 12th Day: just another breathtaking view from our boat |
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| 12th Day: View from the beach |
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| 12th Day: walking on the beach |
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| 12th Day: kayaking under one of the stone pillars |
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| 12th Day: the "home run swim team" kayaking halong bay |
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| 12th Day: visiting the Cong Dam fishing village - they live here year round! |
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| 12th Day: Tom shares a magic trick with Cong Dam school kids |
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| 12th Day: Cong Dam school |
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| 12th Day: Cong Dam child rowing home |
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| 12th Day: Halong Bay sunset |
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| 12th Day: Tom plays chess with Sun, our tour guide |
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| 12th Day: more beautiful Halong Bay |
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| 12th Day: the location for our barbecue dinner inside a cave |
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| 12th Day: full moon rising in Halong Bay |
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| 12th Day: getting greeted and seated for cave dinner |
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| just one of the chef's creations |
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| 12th Day: thanking our boat's crew |
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| 13th Day: our last night in Hanoi, watching break dancers in Ly Thai Tho Square |
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| 13th Day: Rein and Silka playing with some other kids in Ly Thai Tho Square |
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| 14th Day: some restaurant table art in Saigon, our last night in Vietnam |
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| 15th Day: a stop in Singapore on our way back - a ride on the world's largest ferris wheel |
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| 15th Day: a 45 minute ride on the world's largest ferris wheel in Singapore |
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