When we hear someone mention Vietnam our heart starts to beat faster and we fill up with joy. Vietnam is an amazing place filled with kind people who are always willing to help. Food and fruit that is just so cheap and tasty it blows your mind. Filled with beautiful scenery and tranquil places. The National parks, surrounding islands and a butterfly season that is spectacular.
When you arrive in Vietnam, you exit the airport doors and you are then greeted with the humidity, it is a different kind of hot. We took a taxi to Hanoi. Arriving in Hanoi city there is more bikes and scooters then there are cars. Everyone is hooting and overtaking and we just thought oh my gosh how are we going to cope. So we met up with Odette’s brother and it so happens that everyone hoots to let you know they are passing you or next to you, crazy I tell you.
We tried to cross the road for the first time but no one stops at the pedestrian crossing so we standing there looking at each other and honestly didn’t know how we would get to the other side. We hesitantly walk and the vietnemese just move around you as long as you keep moving they don’t hit you and we finally reach other side of the road. Its almost as though its their responsibility not to hit you. Off we go the next day to rent a scooter and Jerome gets lost, one and a half hours later he arrives at the meeting point white in the face. Driving a scooter in the traffic of Hanoi takes a bit of getting used to but it is exhilarating. We started our 4 hour scooter journey to Tam Coc homestay which is based in Ninhbinh. Arriving at our hotel, we were surrounded by rice fields and a pool built into the side of the mountain. We toured around for a bit, hiking up to see the lying dragon at the top of a mountain. Later that day we headed into town where ladies would paddle us down the river through some caves it was really relaxing. There were snack boats selling fruit and drinks where you could buy things while enjoying the rest of your relaxing paddle down the river.
Next in Ninhbinh we went to Cuc Phuong National Park where we spent 2 days. Exploring a few hikes, we got to see ancient and tall trees in the dense forest. It was butterfly season in May and there were thousands of butterflies. They would gather in groups and when getting close they would scatter, flying around you and some even landing on you.
Our next adventure was Cat Ba Island. After a 6 hour road trip, we finally reached the harbor where we loaded our scooters on. A short ferry ride to the Cat Ba island and we started making our way to a place called Woodstock where we camped on the beach for 3 days. We arranged a private boat for really cheap which took us around to private beach islands, we stopped over to snorkel and enjoy some fresh fruit.
On our way into the town and all of a sudden Jerome pulls over, runs down the road. Everyone stops and looks at him like, what the heck? So he explains that his gear peddle had fell off while riding and he could not change gears, so his bike was stuck in second. Jerome took off his shoe and hammered the leaver back on, and off we went.
The final excursion we took in Vietnam was to Ba Vi National Park. This great national park was a short 3 hour scooter ride out of the city of Hanoi and you are met by a superb area with lush tropical foliage and plenty of forest trails. We stayed at a homestay, which belonged to the sweetest little granny. At the ripe old age go 67 she was determined to learn english as we spent our evenings going over the alphabet, its pronunciation and phrases she should use with future customers. She had a Jackfruit tree in the garden and gave us one to take back with us. We made an amazing yellow curry once we got back to Hanoi. It came out perfectly.
Once we got back to Hanoi we did some volunteer work teaching Vietnamese children english and really enjoyed the experience. We also took some kickboxing lessons at Dragon Fitness. Our stay was 3 months and I tell you it really didn’t feel long enough, we were definitely sad to move on. We connected extremely well with the people of Vietnam and will always love and respect them.
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