Hanoi
Waking up in Hanoi on my birthday was such a treat! I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear every second of the day. We were jet-lagged, so we didn’t think we’d plan for much as we got our bearings. But we walked the streets and took in all the smells and the electrifying city!
We first stopped at a bank to exchange some money. But the bank was in someone’s home, with a couple of tiny side rooms where people were doing hair. We slid past a man with a pot of fire he was burning inside the cement house/bank. It was quite smoky, and we were a little shocked he was doing it inside the house. We later found out that he was burning money for his ancestors — fake money, that is. He actually let our boys take some of the money and, with his very broken English, told them to think of their ancestors as they put the money into the fire.
Lots of awesome shopping in Hanoi! Patagonia, Arc’teryx, North Face, Lululemon. So many fun things and for so cheap!
Brandon found a real, authentic place to eat bun cha — a dish well known in Vietnam. It might have been a little too authentic too quickly. If you've been to Asia, you know that raw meat sitting outside, guts and blood are a common sight, and we may have walked past some fully roasted dogs. That was pretty hard. After walking down a very “local” alleyway past all the food being cooked by other shops, we found this tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant. The boys tried their best to get the bánh mì down. It was really good and so authentic, but I think most of us had lost our appetite on the way over.
We took a break back at the hotel and did some school work. We are taking a class on the religions of the world and we made sure to take the class on Confucianism before we go to the Confucious temple tomorrow.
We bought tickets to see the traditional water puppet show in Hanoi. It “traces its origins back to the 11th century, blossoming from the fertile river deltas of northern Vietnam. During the annual rice harvest, villagers gathered in fields transformed by water and entertained each other with puppet plays staged on pools or flooded paddies. The wet environment of the countryside became C both stage and inspiration for their creativity.” The show opens with a live band of Asian instruments and singers. It melted my heart into a puddle to be able to witness such deep culture in music — to hear such different sounds and singing that none of us are used to. The puppetry was very cool and artful. We had a really good time.
To end my birthday, we walked around the lake and found a bunch of locals having a dance party! One woman opened her arms wide to me and invited us all in to dance. She grabbed our hands and immediately made us feel welcome and included. We danced with her, all smiles! What a fun little cherry on top to finish my birthday night.
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