Hanoi:
My first impression of Hanoi? Traffic is...intense. It's unlike anything I've seen before - and we've been to some countries, like Peru and Greece, with very unpredictable drivers and heavy traffic. When we first arrived in Hanoi, it seemed almost impossible to cross the street. From what I could tell, there weren't many discernible stoplights or crosswalks, and there was a flurry of scooters zooming toward us. The locals told us that the rule for crossing the street is that you make sure to wait until the buses and cars have passed, then you walk across decisively and confidently. If you do this, the traffic will adjust to you, and in all likelihood you will make it across safely; but if you hesitate at all, it t confuses the drivers and you are likely to get hit. No pressure...! The first time I crossed the street, I admit I was tentative, and I made sure to stay close behind Michael and have him lead the way.
Amazingly though, in the time we were in Vietnam, I didn't see a single accident. Somehow, it all seems to work and make sense and everyone understands the system, like some sort of implicit organized chaos. And that kind of sums of my overall impression of Hanoi: it's intense, congested, at times overstimulating and overwhelming, and yet the city has a special rhythm to it. It takes some getting used to, but after a couple of days, I started to lead the way in crossing the street :-) #feminism
One of the highlights from Hanoi was when we went on a 3-hour food tour of the city. We've done a bunch of food tours throughout our travels, but we both agree that this was one of the best ever. Our guide was wonderful and he took us to true hole-in-the-wall spots that we would never have had the courage to venture into on our own. We sampled all sorts of street food - chicken pho, perfectly fried spring rolls with crab, banh mi with egg, etc - and all were fantastic. One of my favorite things that we tried was a local specialty: egg coffee. I know, I know, it sounds iffy, but it is DELICIOUS. Essentially, it's coffee with condensed milk with a raw egg yolk mixed in that is "cooked" by the heat of the coffee. When combined, it tastes like a creamy, coffee-flavored custard. Yum.
Something I was surprised to learn about was when our guide told us that it is common in some parts of Vietnam to eat rats. He explained that the rats are bred on a farm, so "they aren't dirty like city rats", and they are clean and fed well. He insisted that after eating rat meat, most people find it so delicious that they won't go back to eating chicken. I'm an adventurous eater and there's very little I won't try, buuuut...I'm going to take his word for it.
We also did an all-day tour of the city where we saw a lot of the major sites, including: the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (we were in line for 30-40 minutes and only saw the actual mausoleum part for about 15 seconds - but hey, now we can say we've seen it, right?), The Temple of Literature aka the first university in Vietnam, and a pottery village, where we learned the many steps of how each piece of Vietnamese ceramics is meticulously and painstakingly made by hand.
Ha Long Bay
Ha Long Bay is a place I have always wanted to visit, and in its entirety, it's absolutely incredible. When we first set out on the bay and I began to see the layers of all of the limestone islands, it was truly breathtaking. As we made our way through the bay, I found myself thinking that this is one of the most beautiful places on earth. With each viewpoint, you only see about 10-20 islands at a time, and given that there are almost 2,000 islands in the bay, it's pretty mind-blowing to think that you're only able to see about 1% of all the islands at a given time.
We were given the option of kayaking around the bay, which we were thrilled to do. And here's where, unfortunately, we found out just how polluted Ha Long Bay is. There are piles of plastic bottles and other junk that especially collect near the rocks, which is disappointing and detracts from the beauty of the scenery. Also, many people decided to go swimming, but we heard that locals don't even swim in the bay because they call it "acid water". (Hmmm, I think this time I'll stay on dry land). Apparently, according to our guide, all tourism is going to be prohibited by 2020. The first thought that entered my mind was that our kids and grandkids will potentially never have the chance to see this incredible place. (To my future kids: Recycle! Compost! Save the world! Mommy will be very proud.) It's really upsetting to think about the degree to which humans are destroying the earth, and how it's likely only going to get worse.
Some other highlights from our time in Ha Long Bay included staying overnight on a junk boat (it's nicer than it sounds) and getting to meet people from all over the world (and playing a hilarious and memorable game of King's Cup after dinner!), participating in a short cooking class where we learned how to wrap and deep fry pork spring rolls, and exploring some caves on one of the islands!
