Saturday in Hanoi
Saturday! What a day!
Last night we went and saw the water puppets. That was fun but kept us out way too late.
We woke up around 3:30am today. We just had fun talking and decided that we'dget up and get ourselves ready and go see Hoan Kiem lake early in the morning. This is the lake with the giant turtles and legend has it that a king of Vietnam had won a battle and while boating on the lake, a giant turtle came up and demanded the return of the sword. Well I hope that I got it right, if not then Tina will correct me or someone will comment. As it was, the streets were dead and getting through traffic was easy. It was very humid and misty out.
We found the lake and walked around it. We took photos which you can see by clicking on the picture on the right bar. We saw people practicing aerobics and tai chi on the lake. We also saw people lifting weights... it was like an ourdoor gym!
We got back in time for breakfast and went off with our group to an optional tour of Tho Ha village. This village lives on making rice paper. It was a long drive out there but we made stops to take photos and got to ask Quang, the tour guide, lots of questions about how Vietnam culture and society work.
We walked throughout the village and got to see rice paper making the old fashioned way and also see a new machine. We got to interact with the local people and got a feel for life outside of the city hassle.
Tonight we get to go to a home-hosted dinner and eat with a family.
We're checking out of here tomorrow so you probably won't get another entry until we get to Hue. Our next stop is Halong Bay for an overnight stay. You'll get tons of photos from the Halong Bay trip though I hope. This is one of the areas that we really want to see.
*** STORM NEWS
Some of you may ask about the storm that is coming. We have a typhoon that is coming to Da Nang... this storm is supposed to be as powerful as hurricane Katrina. They are evacuating people to Hoi An and other cities and have advised alll fishing boats to dock. Their biggest concern is loss of life right now. They've made arrangements with other countries to accept fishing boats if they can't dock. We shouldn't be in the path of the storm at all. It's expected to make landfall tomorrow or the next day, but we'll be north of the storm. Let's keep everyone in our prayers and hope that things go well. They've had a lot of time to prepare and know what to watch out for.
I'll try to get photos uploaded, the network here is horrible. Oh and feel free to post comments back to either the photos or the blog entries if you'd like.
Last night we went and saw the water puppets. That was fun but kept us out way too late.
We woke up around 3:30am today. We just had fun talking and decided that we'dget up and get ourselves ready and go see Hoan Kiem lake early in the morning. This is the lake with the giant turtles and legend has it that a king of Vietnam had won a battle and while boating on the lake, a giant turtle came up and demanded the return of the sword. Well I hope that I got it right, if not then Tina will correct me or someone will comment. As it was, the streets were dead and getting through traffic was easy. It was very humid and misty out.
We found the lake and walked around it. We took photos which you can see by clicking on the picture on the right bar. We saw people practicing aerobics and tai chi on the lake. We also saw people lifting weights... it was like an ourdoor gym!
We got back in time for breakfast and went off with our group to an optional tour of Tho Ha village. This village lives on making rice paper. It was a long drive out there but we made stops to take photos and got to ask Quang, the tour guide, lots of questions about how Vietnam culture and society work.
We walked throughout the village and got to see rice paper making the old fashioned way and also see a new machine. We got to interact with the local people and got a feel for life outside of the city hassle.
Tonight we get to go to a home-hosted dinner and eat with a family.
We're checking out of here tomorrow so you probably won't get another entry until we get to Hue. Our next stop is Halong Bay for an overnight stay. You'll get tons of photos from the Halong Bay trip though I hope. This is one of the areas that we really want to see.
*** STORM NEWS
Some of you may ask about the storm that is coming. We have a typhoon that is coming to Da Nang... this storm is supposed to be as powerful as hurricane Katrina. They are evacuating people to Hoi An and other cities and have advised alll fishing boats to dock. Their biggest concern is loss of life right now. They've made arrangements with other countries to accept fishing boats if they can't dock. We shouldn't be in the path of the storm at all. It's expected to make landfall tomorrow or the next day, but we'll be north of the storm. Let's keep everyone in our prayers and hope that things go well. They've had a lot of time to prepare and know what to watch out for.
I'll try to get photos uploaded, the network here is horrible. Oh and feel free to post comments back to either the photos or the blog entries if you'd like.
posted by Chuckle-Bunny at
1:52 AM
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