Adventures in Vietnam

Last year I had the pleasure of meeting and photographing this one family (whom I had never met before).  Their daughter was just graduating from gr.12.  Because I talk to everyone about everything, we got to talking about a trip they were in the midst of planning (with their whole family)…. to Vietnam.  I had never been to Vietnam (but we had always wanted to go).  We had recently been to Thailand and Cambodia a couple years before that.  I was raving about my husbands trip planning abilities and long story short, they came for coffee to talk about it and Christian gave them all sorts of advice about trip visas, how to book accommodation, what to look for when your booking flights (do you have to pay for your luggage separately etc.).  Christian also looked up some prices for flights, and when he did, it very much tweaked his interest… We both glazed over in imagination land… the possibilities… when he saw the cost of the flights, the imagining of an adventure became real and we locked in the dates.  So instead of just helping this couple plan their trip, we started planning our own adventure.

The timing wasn’t the most ideal… In Vietnam, Tet (New Years) is one of their biggest celebrations during the year and literally the WHOLE country shuts down for 1 week.. they all go on vacation, back to their families/homes.. which means that a Huge portion of the businesses were closed… but on the other hand, the traffic was a little less intense, but with that being said it was still very much intense.

We flew on Air Canada flights to Vancouver, then to Incheon (which is an AMAZING airport, I’ll say more about it at the end of this post), then to Hanoi (The largest Northern city in Vietnam).  The flights were handleable. Its 13 hours time change from where we are, so it took about 5 days to swap time zones.  The kids do pretty well given the circumstances.. we hand them devices & lots of snacks & drinks on the flights.  They are all too familiar with the drill.

When we finally stepped off the plane and into the airport, the small of Vietnam hits you… To me, it is this charcoal burning smell, mixed with incense and humidity.

We took a taxi to our first hotel.  The Alisa.. This quaint, vintage hotel that is skinny and tall, like most buildings in Vietnam.  It had a lot of floors.. 12 to be exact,  with this beautiful curved staircase.  The staff at the front was wonderful, showing us where to go… We tried our first egg coffee… we learned how to walk across the street with thousands of motorbikes, we saw beautiful lanterns & flowers, we tried lots of yummy food.  I think one of the funnest things to do in Vietnam is to keep your eyes peeled for the most obscure things riding down the street on a motorbike.. One lady had about 15 dogs (all wearing sweaters and had easter colour ears, she must have used hair dye)…. lots of people were taking their businesses around like berries, flowers, fish, trees (yes that is correct, an 8 foot Tree), boxes and many other items. We even saw a whole family of 5 people!

We planned this trip around Christians 40th Birthday.. So a couple days after we arrived, we went on a boat tour to Halong Bay, Vietnam. Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that covers some 150,000 hectares. It is located on the Gulf of Tonkin in the north eastern province of Quang Ninh. Aside from its size, the most impressive thing about the bay is the 1,600 islands and islets that rise up out of the water.

Christian found a travel company in advance that was still running the tours during Tet. We had a wonderful experience with Vega Travel.  Our boat was beautiful, inside and out.  The staff was wonderful and the food was all delicious.  We only stayed for 1 sleep.. but with in that time frame we got to go kayaking, biking on one of the islands, & even squid fishing. Would highly recommend this tour!!

The following day we headed back to town, stayed at a different hotel (because the Alisa Hotel was closed due to Tet), then went on a day trip to Ninh Binh.  Our guide took us on a bike tour through rice paddies, up a big mountain with a million stairs, on a boat ride through rice paddies and back home again.

We took a few internal flights in the country, I had no idea that this country was so long!

When we went to Hội An, it was quite rainy. We toured around as much as we could and on one of the rainy days, we stumbled upon lantern making at a shop the road right behind our hotel.  By this time we had enough space in our luggage to take them home. They folded up pretty tight. So we spent a couple of hours learning all about lanterns and how to make them.

The town of Hội An also had the famous restaurant that Anthony Bourdon ate at… Anthony LOVED Vietnam.  In all of his books he talks about how much he loves the culture and food.. so when we were here we had to go to the little bahn mi shop that he said had the best Bahn Mi in Vietnam.  It did not disappoint! that sandwich was delicious!

When we were there we also tried egg coffee.. to my chagrin, it was DELICIOUS!. who would have thought!! We found this one specialty coffee shop that the hotel manager suggested we try.  I would always suggest to go outside of your comfort zone!.. you just never know what you might end up loving.

One of our favourite spots on the trip was Sun World.  It is almost like the Asian style Disney World.  It was located in the Ba Na Hills.. You take a 22 minute gondola ride all the way through the clouds and right at the top of this “hill” (I would call it more like a mountain) is this amusement park!  There were places to eat, rides, buildings to take photos at. Literally every corner we turned was another photo opportunity.  The day we went it was so cloudy that we couldn’t take the roller coaster, but there is even a roller coaster!. we might have to go back and try it again.

One of my favourite things to do during the whole trip was to take in the architecture.. The buildings are so beautiful and tall and usually covered in plants.

We made sure to go to lots of markets, the boys always love these adventures.. you see so many things.. different foods, local specialties, clothing, and so many flowers!! One market area the man was prepping his frogs.. one started hopping away so Oliver passed it to him.. they he took it, slapped it against a rock and chopped off its head… not exactly what I thought would happen after Oliver handed it to him, but to see Oliver observe this man prepping his stuff for market (frog legs), is one of the many reasons I love taking my boys traveling around the world.

We had such a wonderful time in this country!

On our way home our flight went through South Korea.  We only had 12 hours here so we had to make every minute count.

Let me start by saying that the airport is AMAZING! Incheon International Airport

I had watched a bunch of YouTube videos about Incheon and what to do with your time there.  The video talked about these free tours that the airpot offers.  When we looked into it, they had just started up again since covid, so Perfect timing for us.  We had done all the paper work ahead of time (you need to organize a day visa before you land).  We took it to the front help desk and they directed us to these two ladies who gave us jackets (Yes! they  actually lend you a jacket to be in the cold weather).  They also gave us these wonderful little boxes filled with a passport holder, luggage strap and magnets.  Then we went on our FREE tour (Peaceful Korea(Odusan observatory, Imjingak,Dokgae bridge).. they drove us there, gave us a whole lesson on the relationship between the North and South.  There was an observatory bridge to see North Korea, then we went for lunch, then back to the airport.  It was Wonderful!!! I highly recommend these tours if you have a quick layover.

Once we were back at the airport, the fun didn’t end.. We were literally running on little to no sleep, but who has time for that when you are at the best airport in the world.  We went walking around to find performances (singers, traditional flute player, people dressed in traditional clothing walking around for photos), then we went to the kids zone where we dressed up ourselves in traditional clothing & made bracelets.  Then Noah and I found this other area where we made this Bibinbop puzzle that we got to take home.. It was the best experience I ever could have imagined and Seoul South Korea is now on my list of places I want to go.  The Korean hospitality we experienced was incredible.