Good-Bye Viet Nam

Our tour of Vietnam ended with a stop in Hanoi in the north. Not quite as large as HCMC, it was nice to have most everything within walking distance of our hotel. We stayed at the Camellia hotel, of which there are about 4 . We ended up having a roommate - a friendly and speedy little gecko, that lived with us for the three nights we were there (unfortunately his tail was cut off a little because we called someone up to the room to get it out, which he failed at, but in the process took off some of the gecko's tail.)

Staying in the Old City, we were able to walk around the various streets, each specializing in their own goods. You would easily know if you were on the shoe, clothes, sporting goods, and wallet streets, as whatever the good, there would be tens of shops selling the exact same thing. We were told by more than one person that Hanoi is a great place to shop - and it definitely is. So I made my shopping list, and was able to check everything off.

When we arrived in Hanoi, we met a friend and colleague of Jeremy's parents, Lou, for lunch. He works at the Embassy in Vietnam, and was gracious enough to speak to us about his take on Vietnam and specifically what sites we shouldn't miss. It was a lovely lunch, with a lot of great information shared.

Putting our game plan together, we decided to concentrate on booking our day trip to Halong Bay and window shop.

The following day we went to the Temple of Literature, Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum (outside only), One Pillar Pagoda (not too exciting), and saw a Water Puppet show at the Municipal Theater (a Vietnamese art; nowadays aimed at tourists, but still entertaining). We then started our shopping.

I think one highlight of Hanoi was the shopping (as silly as it sounds) because it allowed us to just wander the streets and take in the culture and country. There is also a lot of really great artwork in Hanoi, many lacquer paintings which we perused. With three big shopping bags hanging from us, we grabbed dinner and headed to bed.

We had the following day to head to Halong Bay, a beautiful body of water with clusters of limestone rock formations. The legend goes that the mother dragon lived in these waters and made the various rock formations with her tail. Taken around on a dragon boat, we had lunch in the bay, and then were taken into a couple caves inside the formations discovered over the past 11 years. Similar to the Carlsbad Caves in the US, there were exquisite stalactites and stalagmites within the caves. I actually think the Carlsbad Caves are better because you're able to see so much more of the caves than the ones we were taken to.

While we enjoy the day trips as it allows us to stay in one hotel a few nights (base location) while still seeing a lot, we often get frustrated with the tour companies. Your time is not of high value - you're kept waiting - waiting to be picked up (once told 7:45am, didn't get pick up until about 8:35am), waiting to get the tour part started, waiting to return(two people on two different tours have missed flights). Sometimes it would be nice to do all of this on our own, but after all the frustration passes, we're always happy we went.

This morning we left Vietnam for Thailand and are in Bangkok for the next five nights. It's hard to believe our trip is a little more than half over - although both of us were ready for a change in location. I'm a little tired of dodging motorbikes on the sidewalks and streets (not that Thailand will be better). And unfortunately, I am beginning to master the box-out (we've found that when you're standing in a line, you need to be really really close to the person in front of you, otherwise someone will just walk right in front of you as if you don't exist).

Jeremy has had his first Pad Thai in Thailand, and he will be using all of his restraint not to have the dish every single day - maybe just every other day. I'm most looking forward to riding an elephant, resting on the beach, and snorkeling.