Good morning Vietnam!

I know I have said this before, but Vietnam is turning into our favorite place (except for the Himalayas,  nothing will ever top that). Tyler has fallen in love with Hanoi and said it's his favorite city he has ever been. The traffic is hilarious. Apparently there are over 3 million motor bikes in Hanoi alone. When crossing the street it is impossible to wait until there are no more vehicles, so instead you walk across VERY slowly and without hesitation into a heavy stream of motorcycles. The idea is when you walk slowly the drivers have a good idea of where you are and can maneuver around you. If you were to cross the street quickly, as we are accustomed to doing, you would be squashed like a bug on a windshield. 

Close to Hanoi is the beautiful region of Sapa where thousands of rice paddies line the misty mountains. We booked a tour that consisted of one of the local Hmong people taking our group trekking through rice paddies to a small village where we spent the night at a local home stay. The first day of our trek our entire group was literally slipping and sliding down the muddy slopes of Sapa desperately grasping onto the hands of local tribeswomen who helped us on the way down. It was hilarious! Every single person fell AT LEAST once and we were caked in mud by the time we arrived in the village. After a quick rinse off, we helped our guide (Bamg) and her family plant rice on their farm. Later that evening we drank the "happy water" aka rice whiskey, and had a very good night's rest. After a couple days we headed to Halong Bay.

Halong Bay is one of the newly named seven wonders of the world and consists of almost 2,000 limestone karsts. We booked a two-night boat excursion that cruises through the amazing islands. This was extremely relaxing and we were able to go fishing, swimming, and kayaking through some eerie caves. After some chilled out time we returned to Hanoi for one last day and took a 15 hour 
train ride to Hoi An where we will be spending a few days. Really enjoying our time in Vietnam!