Vietnam: Part 2

To continue our Vietnam travels we headed north to Halong Bay and Hanoi.

Halong Bay

Halong Bay is an iconic stretch of thousands of limestone islands in Northern Vietnam. We did a 2 day, 1 night boat around the emerald waters on a fancy boat. Out of 20 people on our "cruise", there were 4 other couples who were just engaged or on their honeymoon, so we were all in the same boat (pun intended). We had a great time with them and particularly befriended a couple from San Francisco.

Casual background views while we were served delicious food on the boat

The tiny islands went on endlessly and looked amazing with all the layers in the sunset lighting.

We got to kayak around a floating village where people legitimately live on floating houses and fish for a living. They are self sustaining societies that even had schools and police, although recently more people have moved inland and are getting away from that lifestyle. Nowadays they opt to trade with the mainland and bring in fresh bottled water rather than retrieving it from the islands and rely on money from tourism to maintain a living.

Cute ladies selling beer from their boat

Harvesting pearls at a pearl farm in the floating village

Despite it being the off season, we fished for squid using bamboo fishing poles. As expected, we had no success.

The technique involves bouncing the rod up and down quickly

In the morning, we woke early to watch the sunrise and do Tai Chi on the roof deck. It was a great way to start the day.



We went in a cave on one of the islands but it was underwhelming after having seen Jeita Grotto in Lebanon.

And we learned to make fresh spring rolls.

Hanoi

Hanoi is known to be a busy and overwhelming city; however, since we have been immersing ourselves more and more in Asian culture, we were already pretty used the hectic nature of things, so it wasn't a shock. We are pros at crossing streets amid the masses of motor bikes.

And when people weren't riding their motor bikes, they were lounging/napping on them on the sidewalk.

I was stoked to try out the Uber moto.

The streets were filled people eating, playing games, shining shoes, getting haircuts, and selling things. There were bikes loaded with more stuff than you could ever think possible and people sitting on stools you would think couldn't possibly be smaller.

Vietnamese version of a Christmas market

Although Vietnam is technically still a communist country, it was hard to understand why. Its economy felt very capitalist and the few locals we were able to ask about said that taxes were not that high, starting a small business was allowed, and they had to pay for public school. So it certainly doesn't appear to be communist in practice.

Fun fact: the Vietnamese flag is red with a yellow star. We overheard a tour guide saying that the red represents communism and the yellow represents "the color of our skin."



We explored the night market in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. The streets are closed to cars and motor bikes and the streets are filled with street food and stalls selling cheap clothes, electronics, and nicknacks. We got some sweet matching fits.

Sadly there is no better picture of us in our matching fits.......yet

At a cafe we were working from, Sinead received a score of 8/10 for her pronunciation of Vietnamese words from random tour guide who was trying to teach another American. Sinead practices key words and phrases before each country we go to and even looks up Youtube videos of correct pronunciation - so that was a pretty prideful moment for her.



Hanoi was our time for socializing and Sinead and I got to hang out with more people than usual.

We hung out more with our San Francisco boat friends, Annie and Cole, and went to a craft brewery that had legitimately good beers (a big change from the cheap Natty Light equivalents we had mostly been drinking).

I met up with my coworker's sister, Ilyse, and we checked out the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum (though we couldn't go inside to see the body due to construction - pretty disappointing), some pagodas, and walked around the lake and neighborhoods to find hidden gems. It was the next best thing besides seeing Emily herself.

Sinead and I also met up with my cousin Huan's cousin who lives in Hanoi. Duy, Ngoc, and their 2 year old son took us to a delicious authentic dinner. They ordered fish dishes that we had never heard of and they all ended up being delicious. It was a stretch of a connection but it was great to get to talk to locals about the politics, quality of life, and the best local places to visit.



We followed Ngoc's recommendations for food highlights of Hanoi and weren't disappointed. I'm officially obsessed with Vietnamese food.

Banh cuon (rice papery goodness filled with pork and mushrooms) - my new favorite

Bun bo nam bo (marinated beef with vermicelli) - Sinead's favorite

Bun cha - where Anthony Bourdain took Obama in Hanoi. It was worth the hype. (Note the photo of them in the background.)

Egg coffee

Massive mound of green tea snow for dessert

Everyone told us to go to the Women's museum in Hanoi. A museum centered around the role women play in Vietnamese society and the history of female empowerment? How could we not go?





It started off cheery and interesting learning about matriarchal societies of some of the ethnic minority groups in Vietnam (including one group that had a "husband hunting" season where the young women have 3 months to pick out a husband), birthing rituals, and marriage traditions.

We nerded out with audio guides. Sinead, who has a hard time standing still, treated it like a silent disco.

It then shifted focus to the Vietnam War, or as they called it, the American War, and the role Vietnamese women played in it. Hundreds of thousands of women participated in the guerrilla units in all kinds of roles including as soldiers. Women comprised up to 40% of the militia forces in the south. It told the story of the war from their perspective...which was a weird perspective for us. Women were commemorated as heroes for "killing and wounding more than 600 of the enemy"... but Americans were the enemy. 

There was a lot of anti-American propaganda.

"Nixon owes the Vietnamese a debt of blood"

"We will destroy the American planes"

"Be determined to prevail over the American air attacks"

Women honored who had lost entire families to the war

I learned more about the Vietnam War here than I had ever been taught and it challenged me to reflect on Americans' perspective of communism and our role in all past and current wars.

We found that, in general, the Vietnamese people like Americans now and there is little to no animosity. A few people we talked to said that they want to have America as an ally now to protect them from China. They like American people and American culture and embrace it all.

From Hanoi we had to make our way to Europe to meet my family for Thanksgiving. We flew to Vienna but had a layover in Moscow. We took in the Russian culture from the airport. The airport shops were filled with Trump and Putin paraphernalia...you can guess how we felt about that.