Good Morning, Vietnam!

The busy streets of Hanoi

Standing in a red sea where the sea is literally red (Doson Beach)

I tried...

Leaving the North of Vietnam, just in time for a beautiful sunset

The food market in Hai Phong (Lucy's town)

And I'm backkk! What an incredible and eye opening trip that was! I have to say, Vietnam is a country that should be on everybodys bucket list. It is such a beautiful and spiritual place and being there felt like I was in a whole other world. It is hard to explain in words the stunning sights you see and the feeling of complete zen that came over me when I visited Buddist temples in caves over one million years old. The six nights I was there felt like a dream that I never wanted to wake up from.

Lucy was such an incredible host! I literally felt like I was on an organized tour since the moment I stepped off the plane, she was there to greet me and inform me of our weeks itinerary. Our days began at dawn and ended at dusk. Her family was more than accommodating and even though her parents could not speak a word of English, they wanted me to live like a Vietnamese person would, and even gave me a Vietnamese name. My new name is "Duyen" (pronounced: Zuen), meaning 'charming'. Her mother is an incredible cook and before I arrived, asked Lucy to teach her two very important English words that were spoken to me by her parents at EVERY SINGLE MEAL... "Eat more!" So for you Jewish mothers reading this, no, it is NOT a "Jewish Mother" thing... it is just a "Mother" thing. haha

The second day I was there happened to be Lucy's fathers birthday and since the whole family was together in Vietnam (which is quite rare since Lucy moved to Canada and her sister to England) it was a huge celebration. They rented the top floor of a restaurant and had about 40 family and friends come together to celebrate. It was an amazing evening and I was honored to be part of such a memorable occasion. There were a lot of firsts for me that night which included partying in Vietnam being the only foreigner, as well as drinking Remy Martin Cognac. Vietnamese people love to drink ALMOST as much as Koreans.

On Wednesday her family and I drove 2 hours South to Halong Bay where we rented a private boat and sailed the waters for 6 hours! The sights were spectacular- nothing like I have ever seen before! I think what makes Halong Bay so unique is that the large rocks you see in the pictures have their roots underneath the water. We sailed to a 'floating town' in the middle of the bay where the captain anchored the boat and encouraged us to get out and take pictures of the scenery. The staff on our boat proceeded to fish for our dinner (literally) and I have never eaten fresher sea food in my entire life. I was officially living in a fairy tale and never wanted out. However, every fairy tale has a culprit and mine just happened to be pirates- no joke! When we returned to our boat after taking pictures and enjoying the backdrop, I noticed my wallet had been tampered with and eventually realized that about $50 had been stolen from me. I think Lucy's mom was more upset about it than me, but I wasn't going to let a couple of pirate thieves ruin the rest of my time in paradise. And anyways, who else can say they have ever been robbed by pirates??

The floating town

Me, Lucy her sister and her dad on our boat in Halong Bay

The private boat we rented for the day

After that exciting tour of Halong Bay, we drove back to Lucy's home and went out for authentic Vietnamese food- snails. I know you are probably thinking of escargot, but these snails were nothing fancy! Lucy, her mother and I walked to a market where we came across buckets and buckets of LIVE snails. Her mother chose the ones she thought tasted the best and the snails were then tossed into boiling water, put on a plate and onto our table. I was hesitant at first but tried a couple different kinds and actually really enjoyed them!

Her mother was so proud that Lucy had a foreign friend willing to try just about anything since she mentioned to Lucy that she was worried how different their world is then ours. Now I say I was willing to try "just about anything" because the next day we went to a restaurant that served fresh... Bull's penis (I honestly don't know how to write that any other way?!) and I was NOT about to eat a reproductive organ, but thanks anyways! All in all it was another experience and something I can cross off the list. After dinner we went back to the house and fell right asleep since the next day was going to be another unpredictable adventure.

Thursday morning we woke up at 4:30am, went for breakfast (noodles) at 5am and were on the road by 5:30am headed for the Perfume Pagoda. This is an ancient temple that was built in a cave on the top of a mountain in the north of Vietnam. It took about 4 hours to drive there which is why we woke up so early since we were making this a day trip. We then packed her family of 5 as well as Lucy's aunt and uncle in a canoe and sailed through the paphoon for a good half an hour until we reached the first temple. There were about 6 different temples that we stopped in along the way before we reached our final destination. It is customary to leave money in each temple with the Buddah and then pray for luck, health, wealth and happiness. It was such a unique experience and something I will always remember.

My packed canoe

Standing in one of the old caves

Since Lucy lived 2 hours North of Hanoi, we decided to spend my last night in the big city. Unfortunately the Sheraton was sold out so we ended up spending the night in a small, ant infested motel room, but by the time we fell asleep, it wouldn't have mattered if we slept in a hampster cage! We spent the night partying in Hanoi and then spent my last full day riding motorcycles on the busy city streets. I couldn't have imagined a better time! It was sad to leave and weird going back to Korea, not Toronto, but this is now my life and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Miss you all!

Signing off,

Gillian xx