After a night train returning from Sapa we were back in Hanoi for a quick stop before we headed for Halong Bay where we enjoyed a two day cruise.

Our Halong excursion was with V’Spirit and was an action packed, fun filled, great two days. During our time on board the V’Spirit, we had 4 outstanding meals, excursions to visit caves, beaches and mountain lookouts, kayaking, cooking classes, squid fishing, a Magic show and even a morning Tai Chi class.

All the staff were absolutely fabulous, but our favorite was this guy. He reminded us all of my nephew. Couldn’t help but love him…seemed like such a genuine kind person.

Of course, the views were stunning no matter which way you looked.

Even the spring rolls we made ourselves were great. Callum is totally hooked on Vietnamese spring rolls now. I expect we will be eating at Saigon Kitchen more often when we get home.

Once back in Hanoi from Halong, we hopped on yet another night train and headed South for three days in Hue. Glad to have the three night trains behind us, we all loved our stay at the Romance Hotel that included a bathtub, which we had not seen since Canada. That’s 4 months without a tub…words can not express how good that felt.

On our second day in Hue we toured the city with our guide Sunny. The tour included the Imperial Citadel of Hue with the Purple Forbidden City, some of which had sustained a substantial amount of damage during the war and is under reconstruction.

Your Royal Highness, King Paul with his beloved, princess Lydia.

A quick stop for frog coffee (cheap coffee sitting on low stools) with Sunny before we head over to the market.

After the market we stopped to see the Heavenly Lady Pagoda. One of the oldest religious structures in Hue dating back to 1601. Today, The Pagoda grounds are still used as an active Buddhist Monastery.

Then we were off on a boat tour of the Perfume River.

Our cute little companion as we see the sights of the Perfume River.

Our last stop took us to Tu Duc Tomb where the Emperor of the Imperial City built his own Tomb. On route to see Tu Duc Tomb, Sunny asked if we would like to listen to songs. Of course we all said sure, as a little music when you’re cruising down the road is always nice. But instead of fiddling with the drivers radio he turns to face us in the back seat and starts singing “I miss you like crazy” by Natalie Cole. A true fan of karaoke Sunny is and a pretty good singer as well. Gotta give him props…I could never do that.

The next day Sunny accompanied us on our drive over the scenic Hai Van Pass on route to Hoi An. Having his company was great, not only for his singing voice, but also because of his knowledge of the local area.

A quick stop at the beach in Da Nang to stretch our legs.

Then we reached historic Hoi An. The lovely little city of Lanterns, which is beautiful both by day and by night, when the lanterns are all aglow.

The Japanese Covered Bridge.

Bike riding through rice fields in Hoi An to spend a day at the beach.

From Hoi An we took a flight to Ho Chi Minh. Unfortunately, Lydia and I were both sick for our visit to Ho Chi Minh so we stayed pretty close to our hotel. After a two night stay we drove down to our Homestay in the Me Kong Delta.

When we arrived in Cho Lach (village in the Me Kong) we started our visit of the area with a boat tour.

Followed by lunch which included fried Banana Flower (a first for me) and Fish. After a quick bite we headed off on our first of 3 bike tours of the area.

After our first bike and river tour, we made it to our home for the next three days, Le Jardin Homestay with Vinh and his family. We had our own villa at this homestay and a little doogie named Na that liked to hang out with us on the veranda. We were all very comfortable here and did not want to say good-bye.

Shortly after arriving at Vinhs we did a cooking class with the women of the house. Not sure what they are called in Vietnamese, but we made curry flavored crepes with shrimp, pork and bean sprouts. The women are preparing the veg and spices while Paul is “Churn’in up the Batter”.

Once Paul was finished preparing the batter, Vinh’s sister-in-law helped us make the delicious crepes.

For desert, the family surprised us with a birthday cake for Lydia. Still not sure how they pulled it off, as we only told them it was Lydia’s birthday when we were doing our cooking class. A nice Surprise indeed.

On one of our bike tours, we visited the Cho Lach local market. Definitely saw some things you would never see in Canada.

One thing is for certain in Vietnam, you can pretty much transport anything you need on a motorbike.

We saw it all. Anything from fruits and vegetables, fishing gear, chicken cages, chickens, pigs, a family of 5, building materials and birds to beer.

Even though the pace was quick, we had a great time in Vietnam and found the people very friendly. The fast pace of our tour however,  left us poor, small town folk from Canada, feeling a little over stimulated so we decided to skip our planned visit to Cambodia. Paul and I have been before and the kids were ready for some beach time so we headed straight for an ocean front condo in Thailand. A little holiday from our holiday you might say.

Callum’s favorites at Legoland were the Star Wars exhibit (of course) and the Lego Robotics Centre where Paul and Callum won the robotics competition. Callum attributed the win to all the practice he had when him and his buddy Rodi took a Lego Robotics course last summer.

We all had a blast on the rides in the park.

Lydia especially liked all the Lego people.

WARNING!! Some kids may be freaked out by a couple of the pics below so parents please have a look first to be sure.

After a few days in Johur Barhu, we headed for Hanoi in Vietnam. In Hanoi we stayed at the Chezlinhlinh Homestay with Thuy, her husband and 3 daughters. We had a lovely stay with this family and they went above and beyond to help us get situated in Hanoi and Vietnam.

The Homestay was close to a little lake that offered a quiet area to walk and get away from the hustle and bustle of Hanoi. In the evening the lake is used by young lovers who park their motorbikes all around the lake and share a moment together. So Cute!! We loved this spot and headed here once or twice a day.

Ok, so we head to the “old city” of Hanoi and as soon as we cross the street a local lady hands me her load and hat for a photo-op. Well, I think this is all kind of cool and we are all having a laugh while Paul takes my picture. Of course after the photo is taken, they want us to buy some pineapple and as we r haggling I hear Lydia say, “dad, he has my shoe.” I look down and sure enough, Lydia is only wearing one shoe. Turns out, a man figured the shoe needed repaired and he took it upon himself to do so. I see him working on Lydia’s shoe and go over to tell him “no” when Callum pipes up and says, “that guy took my shoe mom.”  So now both of our kids have only one shoe and Paul and I are running back and forth between the two shoe repair guys trying to get the kids shoes back. In the end, we did get the shoes back at no cost to us and I only lost my cool a little bit!

Enjoying some street food in Old City Hanoi with both shoes on.

I took this picture for my dad and good friend Bill H. Check out the wiring! Wouldn’t you wanna be an electrician here?

Streets of Old City Hanoi

While visiting Green Lake and the Temple we witnessed a man and his wife each free a basket of birds on the temple grounds. Always nice to see something set free. Couldn’t help but smile.

On the move again!

We headed to Sapa in the Northern reaches of Vietnam on the night train. We had our own sleeper cabin with 4 bunks. Once we arrived in Sapa we had a quick breakfast then headed to the small village of Lao Chai.

We were so lucky, as on the day we arrived, the local villagers, the H’Mong people, were holding a festival that only happens for one day, once a year.

Once we arrive at the festival, the first thing we see is this! A bit gruesome for my liking, but I guess it is tradition to sacrifice a horse for this festival every year.

As for us, we much prefered the animals that were living.

Kids had fun with all the activities like the wishing tree and climbing the greased up bamboo post.

Locals enjoying the day.

Another tradition that occurs during this one day festival is called “pulling a wife”. A man can pull any unmarried woman he wishes and take her to his home. He will keep her at his home for three days and during this stay, he will try to convince her to marry him. At the end of the three days, he will take the woman back to her family and ask permission to marry their daughter. The woman also gets to decide if she wishes to or not. On the day after the festival, we learned that one woman was pulled. I guess she is quite beautiful and has been pulled twice before. Sadly, We will never know if she said yes or no as we had to carry on with our travels.

Rice wine stewing in the pot, pork on the grill, and some 5-color sticky rice all amounts to a fine lunch. After spending the day at the festival we walked up through the rice terraces to our homestay.

Our home for the night was a very traditional village home. No washing machines here. All the laundry is done by hand.

The kitchen party! Even in a remote Vietnamese village, the party always ends up in the kitchen. Our beds were basic mats on the floor with mosquito netting and were surprisingly quite comfortable.

The homestay had a pig pen, a fish pen to grow their own food fish and of course no house would be complete without a doggie.

Some of the working animals around the village.

Leave it to us to find the bar in the village and during happy hour to boot!

The next day we said good-bye to our homestay family and trekked through the rice terraces to another village called Giang Ta Chai of the Red Dzao people. Our volunteer trekking companions were two lovely ladies that were 50 and 70 years old. Just a wonderful pair of ladies and we very much enjoyed their company while we hiked.

A nice stop by the waterfall and gorgeous views of the village and rice terraces below.

After trekking around the different villages we had a couple of days in the township of Sapa. As you can see from the pic, the weather here was much cooler than everywhere else we have visited thus far and we even had to pull out our coats. Kind of nice to cool things down for a few days.

Street pictures while walking around the township.

After all that walking the Nixon’s get some R&R with a foot massage before we carry on with our travels through Vietnam which leads us to….

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