It is time to say goodbye to Thailand and Cambodia and move onto the last part of our Asian journey. We have been dreaming of visiting Vietnam for years as it is one of our "bucket list" items. First stop Hanoi which is the capital of Vietnam. We stayed in the "old town" and got a great feel of this amazing place. It is a very busy city with vendors and traffic it was very alive and full of energy.
The weather is quite different this time of the year in Vietnam. Rain and cold which we had not considered as we sent most of our warmer clothing home thinking we had escaped the winter. Poor us at 7 degrees celsius, we were in shock. Hanoi is intoxicating and the 2 days we spent here didn't seem long enough but it was time to pack up for our very first cruise. Going to Halong Bay. After an early morning pick up and a 5 hour van ride we showed up to a very magical place.
The boat we were on is called a Junk and our cabin was very comfortable and had an amazing view. Halong Bay has almost 2000 islands and has a similar look and feel to Canada's west coast Gulf Islands, it is incredible. This cruise was a guided tour cruise, which is a bit different for us. They sure kept us busy! Caves, kayaking, cooking class, and a bamboo boat rowed by the local women through a fishing village. When we weren't doing activities we were being served an abundance of food. Halong Bay is beautiful!
One more night in Hanoi and yes we found the fun. Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights down from our hotel the streets are shut down to vehicles and the toursists and locals come to enjoy the old city with beers, food and music. Beer on this street are $1 for 5 beers. Hanoi is quite a place to sit and watch everything go by, even in the rain.
Check out this guy selling hats and baskets from his bicycle. It is amazing how creative some of these people are at loading, hanging and tying things onto their bikes. Ingenious!
This was a great week and we sure hope to return to Hanoi again in the future but now we are getting ready for our 2 month stay in Da Nang, Vietnam. We are very excited to stay in one place for longer than a couple days. I cannot wait to unpack my suitcase and hang up some clothes!