Hoi An and Hanoi

Our last 2 destinations have been the anagram cities Hoi An and Hanoi, united by a little train trip of 15 h.

In Hoi An we had a beautiful home exchange with a pool - but due to the crappy weather it was hardly used. We lived 1,5 from the beach and 3 km from old town, and it was fantastic to cruise around by bike between the rice paddies. Here we also met up with Swedish friends, and as they have 3 girls the same age as ours, all activities became twice as fun! (And all meals twice as good with minor buffets of different dishes.)

Pottery making

Fishing for crabs among the water coconuts 

In the process of making rice paper

Cooking course! 

Cruising 

Lantern workshop 

After a week in Hoi An we took the train - 15 hrs - to Hanoi. The journey went surprisingly smooth (even if we had some doubts about how often the sheets were washed), and 5.30 we were waking up together with the capital.

In Hanoi we did our best to eat all kinds of street food and fruits we hadn’t eaten before (mission impossible), shopped (how fake are all north face products?) and took a day trip to the compulsory Ha Long bay.

Pomelos…

Train street

Houses are very slim in Vietnam. Apparently there is a tax reason for this.

A very common Vietnamese situation…

And of course we got our nails done!

Beer street. Junia will return in maybe 10 years.

Ha long bay - blue sky for the first time in 2 weeks!

On our last day we had sun and 25 degrees - so then we planned to go to a water park (despite the big risk of a stone hard 1,40 m limit to do anything fun, which we have experienced earlier. Don’t know where this safety concern comes from all of a sudden as I’ve never seen a kid on a moped wearing a helmet.) Even if both the website and google claimed the park would be open - it was closed. The google translation of the guard: “the door is closed, public holiday until April”. Big disappointment. Instead we walked around and discovered some new areas of the city. Walking in 25 degrees and sun made us realise that we had probably been quite lucky with the weather anyhow - don’t think the girls would have coped with so much walking and cycling around in cities with this temperature…

Last ice coffee

So, what will I miss most from this country? The food most probably. The best meals have often been the cheapest - a filled baguette for 0,7 €, fresh fruit juice for 1,5 € or a whole family dinner for 25 €.

The early morning city walks to the bakery, getting bread and croissants, and getting fresh fruit from the street vendors.

And of course, being together the whole family for so long, having time for each other. When and where will that happen next time?

Bye Vietnam

Now we are sitting in a bus from Ha long bei to Hanoi. We did a day trip there. We went kayaking in turquoise water and saw monkeys on a cliff with baby monkeys on the back. They were very cute. 

Before we were in Hoi an with our Swedish friends. There we lived in a beautiful house with a pool. 

There we went to a night market. It was very cool because of all the lights and decorations. 

There we also e was in a foto shop with a very big wardrobe full of funny clothing that you could have on in the picture. That was very funny. We did that two times , one with are family and one with all the kids from are Swedish friends.

We also rented bikes and we bicycled everywhere. It was very beautiful on the road and we saw many buffalo’s. 

Tomorrow we are supposed to go to a water land. That night we are also flying back to Sweden.

My favourite thing here in Vietnam was when we did canyoning. That is going to be a memory for life. I also liked all the swimming places and the beautiful animals.  I hope I come here again sometime.

BYE VIETNAM❤️

From Junia :)

Happy New Year!

After my last post it was time for some beach life, in the pittoresque fishing village Bai Xep where we had hoped for snorkelling and seafood. Unfortunately the sun said bye bye about the same time as we reached the coast (and we haven’t seen it since…)

Qui Nhon - fantastic clean beach but a bit off season…

The waves were too big to go out in, and no visibility for snorkelling. Even if Justus has muttered quite a few words about our bad luck with the weather we still had a good time - fun waterfall climbing, new years karaoke next door - and fresh seafood every night.

A less nice thing is the amount of trash that can be found on streets, along the roads - and on the beach. During our beach walks in Bai Xep we collected 11 garbage bags with rubbish (didn’t even cash them in - 1 garbage bag —> 1 beer, brilliant idea at our hotel.)

Spring rolls under construction 

Interesting cakes…

… and we landed in this budget version.

Beer sponsored new year celebrations in the city PN, 20 min from our little village

New year’s dinner

Then we continued to Unesco listed Hoi An - and our 7 days here in a fantastic home exchange has offered daily rains - and no changes in the forecast. When we leave there will be 28 degrees and sun though…

Apart from the fact that it is impossible to get towels and the floor in the bathroom dry, we are having a really good time here. We have rented bikes and cruise along rice fields (daring each other who drives though the biggest pile of buffalo shit) as well as in the total mayhem of beeping overloaded motorcycles, street dogs and cars. As we have also met up with friends from home with 3 daughters, the girls are playing constantly and we’ve had time for more adult talk than ever this trip…

Alma’s favourite dish - meat in leaf. She’s fantastic with the sticks!

Helmets and road safety… room for improvement.

The food is above all expectations!

Typical round boats. The sea is too choppy for us to try them though.

Hoi An old town.

Outside of every shop and in all houses there are small altars with incense and food to sacrifice to the ancestors. Here we got the occasion to participate in the burning of “clothes and money”, to send off to the ancestors in another world (we also ate their cookies, which were very tasty.)

Vietnam by Junia:)

Today we rented bicycles and we were supposed to bicycle to the water and take a boat to the other side but we did not find the boat so we bicycled to a restaurant and we ate lunch there.

 I like all the pools here and the beaches. There are not many ice cream places but there are very many good drinks that you can by. My favourite drink was when we was at a pool and I ordered a pineapple juice in the bar in bai Xep. 

Here in Hoi An there are very many buffalos. There we live there are always walking by buffalos. One bad thing about Vietnam is all the dogs. There are very many dogs that lives on the street and the most of them are very very very cute. I wish that all the dogs had a lovely home like I Sweden.

Today we also ate dinner with the other Swedish family. They also have three daughters. The oldest daughter is the same age as Alma and the youngest daughter is one year younger then Kiara.

This morning Alma Kiara and I made breakfast for mum and dad. We made different smoothies and fruit sallad. Mum ate very mutch:)