First FULL DAY in Hanoi…

First FULL Day….Busy Girlies!

Breakfast always my favorite meal of the day….started with a beautiful spread at our hotel. First a tomato, mushroom cheese omelette, yummy! Rach had scrambled eggs- which I tasted and HAD to have also, if you know me well this is my staple daily meal. Along with all the fresh fruits, breads, cheese etc. We had juice and Vietnamese coffee. Since Marc requested the Egg Coffee explanation (which by the way was detailed in initial post) sorry. Don’t think you would like, its an Egg Yolk with their dark sludgy muddy coffee, very thick and creamy. Im not a fan, yet R enjoyed it. 

We headed out after breakfast to take on this City. We truly are no longer scared of getting run over or killed by the motor bikes, scooters, people, or cars. We hold onto each other and keep saying “Sticky Rice”. It’s become the running joke yet a true safety precaution. We took a 25 minute morning stroll to the Temple of Literature. I am Maps(Ms. Direction) and Rachel is learning the language( our interpreter). Her eagerness to say these unpronounceable words cracks me up, yet she is truly mastering the main phrases. Only issue is the word for prostitute is the same as street and the same for the soup pho. When said with slightly different vowels its all 3, similar to Mary, Merry, and Marry. I will give her an A for effort for sure! This language is impossible for me. I’m good with Thank You. Anyways……Temple of Literature, the grounds were stunningly beautiful. Everything is based on symmetry and is perfectly landscaped. Its the place of intellect for education, teachers, doctors, culture, training for development. It was very spread out with lots of symbolism in meaning. Dragons, turtles, the Phoenix bird, a temple/sanctuary filled with an ornate golden buddha, incense burning, a body of water called “ the well of heavenly brilliance”. They taught to encourage good and prevent evil, a past and present representation, the moon and lunar calendar is a big deal. So much to see that we had purchased the Audio guide to listen to as we walked through soaking up all these facts. 

Than off to the One Pillar Pogada….another stroll. We saw monks and read all about Buddhism. We stop in fancy hotels to use the toilets as we are Americans who need to guarantee there is toilet paper and get clean facilities with a refreshing amount of A/C. It is sweaty moisture in the air here. It’s hot, but not as bad as I anticipated, just serious humidity! Like sweat dripping all the time moisture 🙂 Anyways…..we make our way to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex. This place is massive. We take lots of photos and have walked miles. We choose to get in a Taxi, guy says there is a meter. We should have known better with all my research, but we were scammed.  The easy scam to have avoided, but they get tourists right at the most touristy places, had I been more refreshed and confident with the money we would have did better. This guy charged us basically $25 for a 10 min taxi ride. 600,000 Dong. Learned a lesson and it wont happen again. This was all to get to Pho 10. I have texted Scott a photo as he loves it! This is the most famous place to get Pho in Hanoi. It was delish! I had mine with flank steak and R had hers with brisket. We got fried dough to dip in it too. 

Next, first foot massage….we negotiated to $100,000 Dong, basically $4.31 USD. Made up for Taxi rip off- gotta find the silver lining. After walking 4+ miles our feet loved us. This was good…..we had a small laugh attack as R used her language skills and said, “thank you daddy” instead of requesting “stronger hands for massaging”. We all laughed and the girls massaging us were great teachers for her skills to be refined. It was a had to be there moment, hysterical laughter. We went back to room to rest up for a free local guided walking tour of the French Quarter. 

My new Best Friends name is Jenny. We love her and she is now my FB friend. Before describing the rest of the day you need to know about Jenny. She is a freaking genius, impressive is an understatement by her knowledge and love for her culture and country. Thank You to Woodley for recommending this company. She is a 20 yr old student, a libra, the youngest and only girl in a family of 3 older brothers. She is the only one to be in college and in Hanoi. Rest of family lives in small town 50 km away. They work hard for her to be able to have this opportunity and are very proud of her.  She is studying Foreign business at the FTA school which is considered the Harvard of Vietnam. She plans to get her Masters abroad. She does this work to practice her English abilities. She lives in the dorms and was the sweetest girl EVER! I told her she was the highlight of our trip to date 🙂 Photos to come…… She was SO smily, happy, full of energy, and constantly said, “ Welcome to Vietnam”. So much crazy shit happens before your eyes that truly your blown away in shock constantly walking these streets. Welcome to Vietnam! 

She brought this city to life for us in a whole new way. Its why I love tours as it makes the walls and streets speak. We learned so much history about why symbols are on the money, street signs, the ladies carrying the baskets on shoulders are called “ carriers”, names of fruits, more foods, drinks, and saw the French Quarter. Holy freaking smells again, this city has made me realize I truly don’t think I could handle visiting India. The stench in some spots is soooooo disgusting, I cant do it justice with words. The aromas are SO strong, Mommy- you would be dying :-). We shared with her our Sticky Rice saying we learned from Mango and she begins to use the phrase with us. She is so worried for us walking in the streets I think she was amazed with our confidence. She shared that no one in Vietnam follows the traffic rules unless the police are around. Otherwise you go on green, yellow, and RED. As well the street vendors if set up in middle of rd, pick up to move their stuff if police drive by, but the second police are out of sight they stay. Also, the small child like chairs and tables for eating on side walks…..these are so tiny and little so they can be lifted and carried quickly for police, if drive by. This is really crazy, as everyone eats on the streets yet, it is illegal. They are all rule breakers in this country, lol. A good thing not bad. 

We continue through a wholesale market, once again insanity how many products are in sight, rows and rows of vendors. Selling EVERYTHING, shoes, clothes, wallets, purses, clothing, glassware, dishes, trinkets, all items to be bought cheaper and sold on the street in your own personal store. Outside of this market was fresh fruit and vegetable markets. Along with meats, turtles, pigs, fish, and most scaring for the eyes- was chicken feet. They were skinned and cut. I wanted to vomit 🤢 I will include a photo if you can handle it. The colors of the fruits and veggies were out of a crayola crayon box. Bright purples, reds, orange, etc. I have decided that not only is everyone wearing face masks to keep the pollution away but it also must help them with the smells. We passed by a “ Community House”, basically the projects of the area. This rundown building is huge and where many vietnamese live in a room with entire family and one toilet. We are fortunate Americans to say the least. This building looked like it was right out of a movie set. 

We walked to the train station which is a BIG DEAL. Jenny was super excited that a train was there and wanted us to pose for many photos. We waited and watched train depart. Not many locals take train and its a luxury. I retold stories of Jules and I’s Thai train adventures. Not so sure it was a luxury, lol. We are spoiled in the USA for sure. We walked on the tracks to look over the edge of the famous Long Bien Bridge. Lots of photos taken again. This was built by the same guy as the Eiffel Tower in Paris. They call it Hanoi’s Eiffel Tower. So much french influence due to the invasion, war etc. We also learned that Vietnamese do like Americans and have forgiven us from Vietnam war. This is all according to Jenny’s opinion. 

She took us for actual Sticky Rice as I wanted to try it. This has been my favorite dish so far, it was dense yellow rice with fried onions. So good with added salty sauce, similar to soy sauce but different. I noticed a corn picture on the wall, thinking I was ordering a bowl of corn…..the most delicious drink was served. We gotta make this for Hillary once Im home. It was an iced corn milk drink made from only corn, sugar, and water, served over ice. The most interesting flavors in my mouth. Rachel ordered one too after trying mine. Across the street for a coconut ice cream coffee. Yumminess with Jenny. We sat at both places learning so much more about her life, she shared with us her favorite American movies, wanted to know more about America etc. We had such a lovely day in her company. 

Lastly we walked to the Opera House, another take off of Paris themed landmarks. This building was gorgeous and quite the same as in France. As we walked we stopped again to pee at hotels. She was surprised that we chose hotels. The Metropole, where Kim Jong-un just stayed while here for the Summit. This was a fancy Tracy spot. Photo ops, potty breaks, and were back out. We walked home past the Lake again, which at night was all lit up with people exercising all around. A Four Seasons is being built here too. Much fancier shopping stores were in this area too. 

We ended this 2:30 tour at 6:30 pm, both tipped Jenny and hugged her good bye. Offering to be her private guide when she makes her way to the USA. We were set to have dinner at the restaurant Obama at with Anthony Bourdain but postponed it to tomorrow. We are beat, tired little puppies. Alarm is set for 5:30 am as we get picked up at 7am for Ha Long Bay. So looking forward to a relaxing day in Paradise on a boat. We have changed our flight to head to Hoi An 4 hours earlier than planned as we are ready to escape the city chaos. Its been enlightening, eye opening, and a life time experience, but are ready to slow down. 2 days at full speed already. Its an early night in…….

Love Laurie Sue, aka Dora the true explorer