HANOI -Vietnam Day 1 & 2

*HANOI* Vietnam's Capital City (northern Vietnam)



Because our flight was delayed a bit it gave us some time to just relax but a bit too much relaxing for us could be dangerous. We literally almost missed our flight - in one of the smallest airports in the world - cute but small!. We were just chatting with a guy who had been working in Taiwan for 20 years (Sara & I immediately made a promise to eachother that we would NEVER let the other stay in Korea for that long) and totally missed our boarding call, and since it wasn't on the screen, we thought we were fine! After boarding and getting a few glares from the people who had been waiting, we were off.



We also met a cute aussie couple who were backpacking for 4 weeks that were probably in their 60's. SO CUTE! It was so nice to see because it gave me hope that it IS possible to travel at any age. So much to look forward to in life :)



When we arrived in Vietnam, there was a man waiting for a Ms. Pham Gaeleinger but we got the point (similar to my Cary Butter) and were off to our hostel. While we were driving, it honetsly felt like we were driving on the 401 heading to Toronto, which got me a little excited for home I must admit. Anyway, traveling with Sara is like living life with a soundtrack because whenever we are in a car & she's in shotgun, she always asks the driver if we can crank the music. Let's just say it definitley adds to seeing things for the first time in a foreign country! Its like watching a movie! Our driver had one of his tapes playing & sure gave Hanoi a cool twist while coming into the city.



When we arrived to the hostel, we realized that there was a bit of a mix-up & we were put into a dorm style room with 12 girls. We weren't too happy about this but there wasnt much we could do. We put our things away into our little lockers under our bunkbeds and went for a quick walk around to orient ourselves but didn't last long and went to bed soon after in our "worse than 1st year university" type accomodations - the shower was cold. (ps...at this point my bug bites on my legs were still really bad, but they are MUCH better now)



The next day was spent exploring town & witnessing the craziest driving i've ever seen & some of the everyday life here. People wearing those traditional vietnamese cone hats, while selling things on bamboo with food or merchandise of whatever you can think of on each end. Went to the Temple of Literature which was pretty & had a great vietnamese noodle soup lunch. Walked around the lake & saw the temple and pagoda in the middle of it. Just as we were heading back to the hostel, it looked like it was going to rain, so we jumped into a taxi and as per usual...Sara put on the tunes and had a ride around town to some of the tourist destination spots with a soundtrack & all (Heart & Boy George)! We saw the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Heroes Memorial, Hanoi Flag Tower & the Army Museum.



The next part of the day was a little crazy! We came back & decided to go on a Snake Wine Tour. When we arrived, the aussie tour guide (that just started the day before) grabbed a snake & started passing it around. For some reason I was a little scared because a professional wasnt helping us (I did it in Malaysia though...so I didn't feel like too much of a chicken) so I only put it over one shoulder. We then watched a guy handle a corba which was insane! The snake was so angry it spit venom in the guys eyes (this was a professional at this point). He then squeezed the snakes mouth & all the venom came out so it couldnt do it again. Crazy to see! We then walked passed a big bag of snakes and went into an area that had little bamboo tiki huts over a pond that had bridges everywhere to have a meal and some drinks. Little did we know it was ALL snake meat and snake wine. First was a small demonstration/preperation of the snake heart shots of alcohol mixed with blood and the BEATING heart of the snake! I couldnt do it, but Sara and Pam were troopers. I just couldnt deal with the moving part of it....the was still BEATING! eww...The rice wine disinfected it though, so it was all okay to have, but it was still quite nasty to watch. After that we tried the snake bile in strong rice wine - it was green (I actually tried this) & then snake springrolls, snake meat, skin & ribs and LOTS of snake wine! Let's just say it got a little messy.



The night ended with my visit to the pharmacy (for my legs) & a nice dinner and stroll (with two crazies - love you girls) around the lake. Our dinner was actually in a restaurant with a great view of the lake and city above a random clothing store and let's just say we had lots of "wataaaa" for Pam! haha. I got some great photos of the Notre Dame looking Cathedral and went to the temple in the lake. Made a quick stop at the rooftop bar (the buildings are all really tall & narrow here) at our hostel before hitting the hay!



Hanoi in a day was good to us!

:)