juele on film... i am loving the grain.

Hanoi & Halong Bay, Vietnam

Gary, Susan and I traveled to Vietnam for his birthday celebration. We landed in Hanoi early in the morning and the traffic on the way to our hotel was a little shocking. There were many cars, trucks and motorbikes. Everyone was wearing a mask to reduce some of the debris and pollution. People were carrying all manner of things on their scooters: goats, chickens, trees, sculptures and families of 5 on their motorbikes. I couldn't take photos quickly enough.


Hanoi has hipsters, locals, the elderly, travelers and there is never a dull moment especially when you need to cross the road. I had no idea there were rules to follow in Hanoi when trying to cross a road. The most important one is to never make eye contact with oncoming motorbikes, for that will cause them to either hit you or for them to crash. Thankfully, we were successful every time, although it was team effort. The busyness and restless people there were the most interesting. No matter their age, they were either cooking on the street with their little coal pots, selling veggies from baskets, shoe shinning or even being a barber in a narrow alley way. All of the chaos was refreshing and exciting.


While wandering around in the afternoon,  I ended up saying yes to a shoeshine man, which I was thrilled about because my boots truly needed it. However, while I ordered my beer he decided to fix the heels of my boot. He used rubber cement to adhere a piece of thin rubber tire on the bottom shoe. I turned around and yelled what are you doing? He started asking for more money to fix my heel and I told him that I didn't want to fix my heel and all I wanted was a shoe shine. Nevertheless, he had to do the same to the other boot because the piece of tire was already stuck to the boot. I was very frustrated at this point, but I also learned a valuable lesson in traveling, which is to always learn how to say no thank you in the language of the country you are visiting.


The next day we left for Halong Bay, which is s UNESCO World Heritage Site about 4 hours south of Hanoi. We met our boat captain and started sailing into the Gulf of Tonkin. Try to imagine islands rising from the water. The gigantic limestone structures were breathtaking. I loved being on a boat in the middle of beautiful scenery for two days. We visited floating markets and floating villages one day. On the second our activities for the day were to go cave exploring or climb a mountain path of 285 steps. I foolishly choose to climb the mountain and I was rewarded the most incredible view and sensational swim. My trip to Vietnam was incredible and I can’t wait to go back someday.