"Congratulations! Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places! You're off and away!

You have brains in your head, You have feet in your shoes,
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You're on your own, and you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go."

Monday, October 1, 2012

Good Moooooorning Vietnam!


Hello everyone! Unfortunately this has to be a quick post because I just got back from Vietnam this morning and am heading down south to the islands tonight!

So Vietnam was AMAZING. 

A lot happened in the week Lauren and I were there. We started off in Hanoi on Tuesday, our first day, and we just walked around all day seeing museums and looking at the sights. We saw such a large part of the city that day, and it was especially nice because all we needed was a map and our sense of direction!

That first night, we hopped on a sleeper train to head up to Sapa (near the Chinese border). We arrived early in the morning on Wednesday, and got in a van to head up to Sapa form the train station. Unfortunately, it had been monsooning really badly there for awhile, and before we reached the top of the mountain, there were several landslides and we were stuck. Lauren and I decided to take matters into our own hands and climbed over the landslide to then get a ride up to the main town at the top of the mountain. 

After climbing through the landslide 


     So once we got to Sapa, we arranged our trekking tour through the mountains. This trek involved two days of hiking through the mountains of Sapa and Lao Chai, with a one night homestay in a local village. Our tour guide was a 22 year old H'mong woman named Ker (pronounced Kuh). She helped guide us through treacherous mud puddles and saved us from falling off hills of rice paddies more than a few times. While on the trek, I saw some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen in my whole life, and the pictures just cannot do it justice.

Ker, the H'mong woman who 
was our tour guide through the mountains 

Other H'mong women who helped us on the trail

View while trekking 



 View from our homestay

     Once we returned to Hanoi from Sapa, we did a day trip to Halong Bay, which is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. We got to go out on boats and check out the rock formations of the bay up close, which was just amazing.

Here are some pictures:
 Halong Bay


In Hanoi 

Sorry this was such a rushed post! I hope I'll have more time to post more pictures when I come back from the islands :)

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