Hanoi and Beyond

Greetings from Tam Coc, Vietnam, an area of Karst Mountains, rivers and A LOT OF tourists. How did we end up here? Well we asked some people where they recommended going, and now we are here. Welcome to traveling Rob-and-Leanne-style: making it up as we go along.  Sometimes successful, and other times not so much. We are staying in a beautiful guest house with a lovely garden very close to the river. There is amazing biking through rice fields and by Karst mountains. However, all our bike rides end up at heavily touristed places with tour buses and occasionally even brides in billowing gowns arriving to have their pictures taken.

I walked up a lot of stairs to get to the top of this mountain. Not pictured in the photo- the hordes of other tourists who also trekked up!

Biking near Tam Coc along the river

We spent our first few days in Hanoi, a big and very busy city. There's nothing like letting your kids loose with cameras in a new place. They were fascinated by the lanterns, the people dressed up in their traditional clothes taking pictures by the lake, and the never-ending flow of traffic. They also liked the the many pig pictures we saw around the city in honour of the new year. The pig topiary was definitely the top pig-sighting. 

Pig Topiary

During our time in Hanoi we also visited Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, wandered along boulevards lined with beautiful buildings dating back to the French era, and saw a performance of water puppets. The kids also experienced their first mango drink, which they pronounced "legendary." They've since tried

Makaio and an amazing mango shake!

banana juice, passion fruit juice, lemon juice and drinking directly from a coconut. They weren't taken by the latter, but mango juice continues to be a popular choice. Rob, despite having a cold, has managed to sample beer at multiple times of day. I knew we were really on vacation when Rob ordered a beer at 10am on a Hanoi corner. To his credit, he'd been up since 4am, so it was a perfectly acceptable time for a drink.

Hanoi Street Scene

Walking along a Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi

After Hanoi we went to Cat Ba Island with a stopover in Haiphong, a shipping town on the coast. In Cat Ba we enjoyed a day hike through a National Park. We hiked 18 km over four very steep peaks. Some people might hire a guide, we just followed our not-so-great map. We had a few uncertain moments, but

Hiking on Cat Ba Island

found our way to a little village with a tasty lunch.  The hike was by far the favourite thing our family has done so far, although we did enjoy a boat tour the following day through Halong Bay. We tried fishing (not so successful), did some kayaking and cruised through the karst islands. The highlight of the day was a trip to Monkey Island where we climbed to a very sharp peak. Having had less-than-positive experiences with monkeys in the past (one stole my lunch in India) I avoided them, but Dassa was completely entranced.  

View from Monkey Island

Although Vietnam is proving to be more touristy than we imagined, the food has not disappointed in the least. Makaio's only disappointment with our current location is  "there is not enough street food." He wants to go somewhere where we can point into vats, and "be surprised." This has mostly worked for us. We've eaten delicious pho (noodle soup), interesting rice noodle pancakes, yummy pineapple with beef and onion dishes, and a hot pot - a veggies, noodles and meat combo that you cook at your own table in a lemongrass flavoured soup. Less appetizing was what Makaio has dubbed "the ugly chicken," a very black and very small chicken we accidentally ordered on the street, that came with the feet and head still attached. Unfortunately we didn't take a picture of this bird. The kids were also a little freaked out that the shrimp I ordered for the hot pot came with the heads and antennae still on. Since I'm not the most adventurous eater, they were impressed at my ability to pop those heads off and still enjoy my meal.  
  
Dassa is less interested in adventurous eating and is happy with banana pancakes and Vietnamese baguettes, or as he says it, "eating as many carbs as possible." He is taken with the animals he has seen: goats along the side of the road, kittens on Cat Ba Island, and the many dogs. Today he declared, "the dogs in this country need bras." We explained that most dogs at home are spayed, whereas dogs here have multiple litters, hence the difference. Just one small part of our home schooling adventure!

In case you don't actually believe we are homeschooling the kids, here's a picture of an idyllic math lesson with Rob in our Tam Coc garden. 

Bicycling along the Tam Coc River

Bar Mitzvah practice in Tam Coc