Saturday, December 03, 2011

Day 1 - Hanoi

M&M at Hoan Kiem Lake
Street traffic

Today we wandered around Hanoi. It's very interesting to walk around the city. The sidewalks are extensions of homes, stores, scooter parking, restaurants, etc. which means you end up walking in the street to get anywhere. Of course the streets are packed with cars, busses, scooters and other pedestrians, so it's quite an experience. We are thankful we had Cairo to teach us that you just walk out into the traffic to cross the street - they will stop or swerve to miss you!





Bridge at Hoan Kiem Lake
This morning we went to the Hoan Kiem Lake. It's in the middle of the Old Quarter where we are staying. It's a peaceful oasis in the midst of all the hustle of the city. There were a number of bridal parties taking photos out by the lake because it is so pretty.

We lunched at big cross street by the lake and sat and people watched. The ladies in their skirts and high heels on their scooters are entertaining. The pedestrian traffic was also fun to watch. After lunch we went to the spa for a traditional Vietnamese massage. It was very relaxing and a great bargain too!

Pho!

Night Market in Hanoi
We had pho for dinner at a street restaurant. We sat at these little kiddie tables with tiny seats and had a wonderful time. We were the only tourists sitting along the ares we could see, so we felt like we were getting a taste of the culture as well. We also wandered by the Night Market, a street that fills up with stalls on the weekends, and it was insanely crowded.

Heading off to Halong Bay tomorrow for an overnight on a junk.

Friday, December 02, 2011

In Vietnam!

We finally made it to Vietnam. Had a few more delays and another scare about our connection, but it all worked out and our luggage showed up too! The only thing we missed was our layover in Seoul. That just means we'll have to travel back there someday.

Haven't seen much yet but the drive from the airport, which was quite harrowing. The traffic laws are apparently nonexistent, which really shouldn't surprise us anymore, it's just crazy in a different way in each country.

We'll get up and see the city in the morning and post more!

Thursday, December 01, 2011

Bumps on the way...

So, you may be able to tell by the picture.... we aren't in LA and on our way yet.

We hit a couple bumps in the flight plan. Thought we were going to have to worry about snow out of Denver, but it turns out the Santa Ana winds in California were the real issue!

Our flight was diverted to Phoenix. We are now scheduled to get to LA in the morning and we changed our Korean flight to the next departure. If all goes as planned, we will still make our connection to Hanoi.

We are getting all travel issues out of the way now! No more bumps!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Heading to Vietnam

We are heading to Vietnam via Los Angeles and South Korea. It's going to be a long flight, but we will have a chance to go into Seoul for a day before heading on to Hanoi.

We will post as often as we can. The most recent post will be at the top and you can scroll down to see past posts. The archive is at the bottom.

Please enjoy our chronicle and comment back!

M&M