Hoi An

Vietnam

wow! we arrived in Vietnam and what a change!!! First thing, our taxi driver was swerving and finally told us he was falling asleep so needed to stop the car. scary. Luckily, we made it. Also, Vietnam airlines is so serious about the wight of your bag. when you get 7kg, you cannot have 9kg, even if you don't mind carrying it. also, you must put your whole name on your ticket. when it says first and last, you still need middle if that is on your passport. so these two things cost an extra 50 bucks before we could get through security. Back to Vietnam. so hot and humid. i loved it, but it was not ideal walking conditions for the kids. haha, memories. The hotels were good, Hanoi was exceptional with cleanliness, both Hoi An and Hanoi were very well located. Only downside to Vietnam, we didn't know they would clean our room every day and we left our stuff everywhere and someone stole money from iur room. I had read it could happen, but wasn't expecting it. Luckily the hotel credited it to my bill. very nice and not expected. Night market in Hoi An was sooo busy, very cool to see the city all lit up, lantern boat rides, food stalls. I loved the calm of the mornings before tourists started heading out. wonderful iced coconut coffee, banana pancakes and spring rolls. Some of the food was out there for us and in Hanoi we found most restaurants were on the street, in alleys or in people's homes. Hanoi was sooo busy with street traffic, motos everywhere and no rules. We never knew if we would make it crossing the street, whew. The girls tried their first massage, but the ladies climbed on the table which I wasn't expecting, had to explain that it isn't how it is done in Swiss or US.😅 Cruise in Halong Bay was beautiful. The rock formations are amazing, kayaing was cool, squid fishing, learning to make spring rolls and eat them, sunset party, tai chi at 6:00, bamboo boat ride. We said Emilie was vegetarian as the food had been an issue for her. To our surprise she got 8 plates of food served to her as she was the only vegetarian and they wanted her to have choices. So great. the boat only had 36 people on it, so we felt like Vip. sadly though, Halong Bay is filled with trash. while we were kayaking or fishing we had to watch out for so much trash. so sad. we also went back to Hanoi after the cruise and then found out that a typhoon was heading for the same bay we were just in so got lucky that we were able to go and had such good weather. We had never experienced a typhoon so luckily we were also able to Dat our plane home despite the rain. overall Vietnam was amazing. So different. Language impossible to learn and nose habits that we don't want to see or hear again, but an experience that we will never forget. Also, sooo cheap. 50 bucks for amazing hotels and 9 francs for all of us to eat. insane!!