Hello Vietnam!

When I mentioned to anyone that I was going to be traveling to Vietnam for holiday, a puzzled look struck across their face as they questioned why on Earth would you vacation in Vietnam? Ok, Ok, fair enough question... 5 years ago, I probably could not have even told you were Vietnam or Cambodia was on a map, let alone had an interest to visit either. Vietnam is rich in history, culture, and beauty and is the home to several UNESCO sites, along with the newly appointed Natural Wonder of the Modern World - Ha Long Bay - but we will get to that...

I was excited to be traveling again with my favorite travel buddies, Anna and Amy, plus the addition of Michelle (my other roommate). Of course, it was risky to choose two of my roommates to travel with, but we were confident that we would make it the full 16 days without leaving one on the side of the road. Backpacks loaded up (packed much more efficiently than our last adventure), our journey began early on Tuesday morning heading to the PuDong International Airport. After a short layover in Hong Kong and one last pizza stop, we were headed to the capital city - Hanoi, Vietnam. We landed in the evening and headed straight to our hostel - Hanoi Backpackers Hostel Downtown - where we checked in, freshened up and headed straight back to the Hostel bar to get our first taste of Vietnam beer. Like many hostels, it was a very social environment, full of young travelers looking to meet people and share their stories. Right away after sitting at our booth, we were approached by half a dozen people telling us all about Hanoi and the Castaway Island Trip.

Side Note: my good friend Paul had recently visited Hanoi, and recommended the Backpackers Hostel to us and the Castaway Island Trip (a private island owned by the Hostel in Ha Long Bay)... he said it was one of the most amazing trips he had ever done in his life. However, we were a little more than skeptical A. because of knowing the way that Paul parties and B. the website portrayed it has a total drunken fest on an island for two days... and after talking to the people who barely survived the Castaway Island trip with bumps, bruises, stitches and broken bones, we decided to look into different options. 

The next morning, we booked the Cristina Cruise - a three day, two night trip around Ha Long Bay and a stay in private Bungalows on the beach. SOLD! Our first day in Hanoi, we did a walking tour with Hen from our Hostel, and the "city" was nothing as I had imagined. The pictures will never do it justice, but it was small, crowded, busy, loud and very poor. The traffic put Shanghai to shame, consisting mostly of motorcycles zipping around narrow streets with no traffic signals (and no sidewalks for us to seek safety). It was also much colder than we had anticipated. I had expected slightly cooler weather for the north, so I packed one pair of jeans, and one sweater, along with one long sleeve shirt and yoga pants for traveling... I wore these same clothes for the first week of our vacation (as we all did), because I was very unprepared for the 12 degree temperatures! 

  We made a couple new friends from our walking tour - an English guy named Rob, and a Swedish girl named Fredrika - both traveling solo, so we instantly took them under our wing (as we do). We had lunch with them after the walking tour (the best lunch ever!) and by the end of the day, they both also signed up for the Cristina Cruise with us! Nirada arrived in Hanoi that evening, as she was to go to Ha Long Bay with us the next day. That night, we all went to the traditional Vietnamese Water Puppet Show at the local swimming pool-like theater. It was rather interesting…