Welcome to Hanoi

DAY ONE:

Not going to lie… Bernard and I agreed that we could have done without Hanoi. The airport hotel was fine and served its purpose. We got into town just before bed time so we had dinner at the hotel (subpar) and hit the hay. In the morning, we were woken up by crowing roosters and crazy traffic. The beeping, the honking, Jesus it was unpleasant. 

We got up early and decided to head into town to make the most of our day. We had to opt to take the bus which was like a cent versus taking a cab which was many dollars out of principle (aka I’m frugal and screw you, I ain’t paying half my VND for transportation! Stupid…)

 

After the hour long bus ride (which was kind of fun and definitely scenic), we got to Hanoi city centre. We hopped off the bus and immediately got hit by 83 scooters. I’m kidding, but it was possible! So Shanghai is heavily populated and riddled with billions of scooters, but Hanoi made Shanghai look like a deserted ghost town! It was crazy. 

We were both stressed out the entire time and only snapped a few gorgeous photos of some train tracks and livestock. We picked up a road Banh Mi (Vietnamese sandwich) from a stall and roamed around to try and find a famous prison museum. We never actually found this prison and no one seemed to know what we were talking about when we mentioned it. Stupid Hanoi...

The most entertaining thing that happened in Hanoi was when we finally found an area that wasn’t just pollution and scooters. We crossed the street and an old woman on the street tried to shove a donut-like treat at me. I shook my head and trudged on but then I turned around and saw my darling husband smiling and chewing that donut treat!! Damn it. I sighed and walked over and reluctantly ate one from the woman. It was alright. Then, the woman started putting a bunch of them in a bag and quoting a price. We thought she said 50,000VND (which is like $2 USD which in my opinion is ridiculous because I’m cheap), but when Bernard gave her a 200,000 and expected change, she asked for more! We then realized she said 250,000 VND and I was like “WHAT?! No!” I was offended and yet my beautiful, smiley nice ass Canadian husband just nodded and gave her the money! He then thanked her for scamming the shit out of us and skipped off. I was like, “Bernard do you realize how much 250, 000 VND is?!” He just looked at me sweetly and started eating his “treasures”. He offered me one and I felt like I had to eat it because I just paid $10 USD for this shit! It tasted like it had been made by Noah when he built the ark and it had a hint of car exhaust and rotting garbage. Also, it was stone ass hard. Bernard felt so bad and I had a really good laugh at him for being so nice and trusting in South East Asia! TIP: You gotta keep walking and not make eye contact and always watch your wallet! Bernard then confirmed that he would eat and enjoy all of these treats and the million dollars he spent would be worth it. I said not to worry and we laughed about it for a bit. When you travel, you have to account for stupid stuff like that. Besides, it makes for a great story! As we walked along a pretty river, I turned to tell Bernard how much I just enjoyed being here with him and saw him sneaking his “treasures” into a nearby garbage bin! “Babe, I’m sorry. I can’t eat them. They’re so gross!” We laughed for like 3 hours about this and added at least 5 points onto our power couple status as we linked arms and made fun of ourselves for being so damn polite and oblivious. At the end of the day, we hopped that the woman who just earned a bucket worth of money by Vietnamese peddling standards was having a nice dinner and smiling happily at her bounty. Speaking of a nice dinner, we laughed so hard that we were starting to get hungry… since the rock car exhaust treasure didn’t satiate in the least.

 We had a bowl of Pho (rice noodle soup) before deciding to just head back to the hotel after a few hours of attempted strolling the cluttered streets of Hanoi. The bowl of Pho was only okay and I’m pretty sure it nearly killed me because later on the plane I started feeling mighty deathly. Luckily, gravol was invented and I remain a happy and alive person on this planet!

After the Pho, we found the bus stop and hopped on. Sweet Jesus, it was a long bus ride. We were told it would take less time to get back towards the airport, but after an hour and a half, I was dying of a headache and you can only imagine what my weak 80 year old stomach was doing: circus flips!

We settled the bill at the hotel and got a lift to the airport. We were frankly quite happy to leave Hanoi. The scamming, the busy atmosphere, the pollution… were we not just in Shanghai?!

Until the next adventure,

The stressed Wuns

Welcome to Hangzhou

Bernard and I arrived back in Shanghai after Thailand and had almost a week before we headed off to Vietnam and Cambodia. We both didn’t really feel like sitting around in Shanghai twiddling our thumbs, so we decided to hop a fast train to a nearby city in China: Hangzhou! We booked two nights in a cute boutique hotel on West Lake (the main “attraction” in Hangzhou). After what was supposed to be a warm vacation in Thailand, Hangzhou would be the polar opposite! We bundled up our scarves, hats and mittens, and head out for snowy scenery!

Instead of writing about our experience in Hangzhou, which was essentially two full days of nonstop walking and soaking up the beautiful views, I’ll just post some pictures. Hangzhou reminded me of a beautiful walk through Northern Canada in the wintertime. The snow was perfectly placed on the trees and barely scattered the ground that we walked on. It looked as if the snow was placed for photos only. It was perfect! We were in Hangzhou for almost three days and the first day was a snowy wonderland, the second was sunny and melty, and the third was almost fully melted. It was as if we watched seasons change in 72 hours!

Hangzhou was a lovely little chilly trip in between our international destinations. I’m glad we did it because Shanghai is no fun during the New Year holiday! We get plenty of Shanghai all year round, so getting out of it is great. However, I didn’t appreciate being stared at four thousand times more in Hangzhou (I was one of maybe 3 white people in a sea of billions) but Bernard reminded me that people from all over China were traveling and therefore probably had never seen anyone like me. Makes sense.

Onto the next trip! When we got home from Hangzhou, it was only one sleep until Vietnam and Cambodia! We would be in Hanoi, Vietnam for about 22 hours and then head to Cambodia to experience the famous Angkor Wat. Then, we would hit the beaches of Da Nang and eat all the noodle soup we could! Bring it.

Welcome to Chiang Mai: Day Four

DAY FOUR:

I’m not going to lie, I don’t really remember much about day four. I remember it being one of the warmest days and we were thankful for that. I remember eating a lot, walking around a lot, and just generally enjoying the last minute sites and temples of Chiang Mai. I remember, of course, getting yet another massage and eating yet another Pad Thai. I remember loving it and leaving Thailand with a big smile on my face. I also remember arriving in Shanghai at 4:00am and that was the only part I could have lived without. Stupid flight…