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Tag Archives: hanoi
Vietnam – Not to Miss
(in our opinion, which we think pretty highly of)
Places we have seen and enjoyed.
All of these places can be reached easily from Hanoi. Halong is a few hours by van to get to – but sooo worth the trip.
- First impressions
- More impressions
- Perfume Pagoda
- Tam Coc
- Halong Bay sunset and another shot of the sunset in this beautiful place
You need a visa BEFORE you an travel to Vietnam – its easy to do this ahead of time. I found this place http://www.myvietnamvisa.com/ for visa on arrival. Quick and fast – but make sure you have it done before you leave.
Hanoi Hotel Review – Hanoi Lake View Hotel
Link: Hanoi Lake View Hotel
The first thing that comes to mind about this place is…Five Star Service!
We stayed at this hotel for several days and then took a side trip and came back for a few more days and so enjoyed our stay there. The staff is absolutely fantastic and ready to help you with anything you need.
Rooms are clean and the food at the breakfast is good too. But the great staff, everyone of them, is what really makes this place great. We could bore you with details of what they did to help us and take care of us but why waste the space with details you can find out for yourself if you stay there. I know we will be staying there the next time we go to Hanoi.
Vietnam – Tam Coc
Tam Coc, Vietnam
OK! So the picture looks small! It is a Panorama and this was a way to give a broader idea of what this place is like. They call this place the “wet Halong bay”, go figure that one. Halong is on the ocean and this is up a river with a marsh on both sides. Doesn’t that make them both wet? Like DUH!
It was an amazingly quiet trip being rowed by this little Vietnamese lady. But, she needed an Oscar for her performance on trying to get tips. Be very aware of this on any tour there. Her hands hurt, (note she rows this same route everyday); She was thirsty, (we bought her a drink that she didn’t open and kept until the end); She had a ships container of wares to sell us, (I don’t think so); You get the idea. Just remember, no matter how sweet and friendly they are, they are searching for the best tip they can get.
It take about 2 hours to go up the river and back but it is so very much worth it. We even saw Goats up high on the cliffs too.
Vietnam – Stairway to Heaven
Stairway to Heaven
I know we haven’t been around the last few days but there have been a number of good reasons, and now that we have Internet again we can get a few updates in too. I know exciting isn’t it.
We went to the Perfume Pagoda a pleasant little jaunt outside of Hanoi; by car for an hour and a half then another hour by row boat then start climbing. It such a pretty place it is worth the trip, and as you can tell it is a trip getting there and we haven’t even gotten to the Pagoda. We took the cable car up to the Pagoda, a seven minute ride, and once we walked near to the Pagoda we were rewarded with two of the longest staircases in the entire world! You can trust me on that one for sure.
After going down, and no I am not going to describe what we saw, you will have to see it for yourself, but…By the time we came out and I reached the last staircase, you see it in the picture, like a flash the words to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” started running through my head. Low and behold I had an epiphany, I completely understood the song as I looked up the staircase you see in the picture!
Now just imagine, you are huffing and puffing after climbing up and down about 3 Gazillion stairs. On top of that you are dripping with sweat like you just stepped out of a swimming pool and you look up and see the last staircase with the warm glow of soft sunlight at the top… ok you got the picture now. Wouldn’t you have an epiphany too? Like yeah!
As I panted trying to regain my breath and when I looked at the top of the Staircase it had this almost heavenly glow like you were about to have a spiritual connection. Well ok, it could have been that I was about ready to pass out from the heat and all the climbing. But I prefer not to think about that aspect. To me it was all about the song and the spiritual connection. You believing my story so far?..
Vietnam – Enhancements to first Impressions
Dave here again using Patrice’s account. Someday I might be able to use my very own account, on my very own computer sniff, sniff…
Ok don’t expect this all the time but, I had time while we did our tour today, (more on the later), to double check what I wrote yesterday. I don’t have to worry about what I am putting in here either cuz, Patrice is out like a light and can’t be reading over my shoulder. Isn’t total freedom a wonderful thing? Oh yeah!!!
Today we did the “City tour” with 16 of our closest friends in a bus built for about 10 Vietnamese sized people, and that I am not. I can tell you first hand that the “low cost” airlines have more leg room than our van did. The good news was that we only had 10 to 15 minutes in between stops. Now on to the “enhancements” that are the subject of this little writing.
Remember when I talked about the use of 40 quart Styrofoam coolers for saddlebags? I thought you would. Well today we saw upgrades! Oh yes… they have been enhanced and worthy of a note here too. I know you are just dieing to know what the enhancement is so I will spare not a nano second to fill you in. Use tape, strapping tape seems to work best.
The key to using strapping tape on the containers seems to be to carefully over lap each piece while running each round of tape totally around the container. One does have to have a totally even work for this fashion statement. Something less might work in rural Alaska but not on the mean streets of Hanoi! Oh and don’t forget the top too. One must be thinking of “stylin'”. Ok now that you have that down, don’t forget the “green” plastic rope to strap it down. These little buddies won’t be flying away anytime soon. Am thinkin’ the reuse is way up too. These guys are always thinking for sure.
Remember when I talked about the bikes yesterday? Well, what I didn’t tell you about was the cute little masks they wear over the face. Now granted these are mostly women, the men don’t seem to mind the road debris nor other flying things hitting their teeth or face. But the women, now that is totally different. They use these “totally cute” face masks. These usually cover the mouth and nose but not much more. Most, if not all seem to look like something out of an operating room with one big exception. Don’t ask I will tell you the exception. The exception is they are cute with sometimes their favorite animals or other precious things on them. One that caught my eye today was on this young lady totally dressed for an office in a suit with a helmet that looks like a baseball cap but was metal and hair pulled back and tied. Well you have to do that so you aren’t a mess when you get to work. Ok, the mask… Hers had pink edges and and the cutest Poo Bear on the side of it.
Now what would be more cuter than Poo Bear I ask you? NOTHING! But I don’t want to get into all the fashionestas that we saw today driving or we would be here all day. But I did have to get you thinking about it.
Watch out New York and Paris, Hanoi fashions are on the way! Think about it…what a market for the totally scooter crowd…Scooter fashions, “the coolest way to work”, what a slogan huh and I just thought it up too! Am sensing a copyright on that one – oh yeah!