goooobye vietnam….

chao (hello) to all. well, the vietnam portion of our trip is coming to an end, and we have really enjoyed our time here. we love the friendly people and the unique culture. since our last blog, we have explored halong bay via “junk boat” and taken an overnight train to the quiet mountain town of sapa.

halong bay: after spending quite a bit of time in the busy cities and dodging motorbikes, we decided to head for the sea for some relaxation aboard a modern-day “junk boat” (an ancient chinese sailboat). we spent our days sailing around the bay and enjoying the views of the limestone karsts and islands from the deck of the ship. we explored limestone caves and even kayaked around a floating fishing village. we had a great group of foreigners on our boat as well, so we exchanged stories with a couple from australia on their honeymoon, another couple from denmark on a 4 month trip around se asia, and a solo traveler from england. the honking motorbikes seemed like a world a way!

cap'n fletch and julie with limestone islands in background

"junk boat jam" in halong bay...traffic jams are not reserved only for the roads in vietnam!

great weather, calm water, beautiful view

fletch kayaking with the floating fishing village in the background

our new mates on the deck of the boat

sapa: from hanoi (the capital of vietnam), we hopped on an overnight train to head inland to mountainous sapa. sapa reminded us of home a little bit, which was nice. the town has a nice lake near the center and is surrounded by mountains in ever direction. the mountains that make up the area, are at the very eastern end of the himalayas. from sapa, you can view the tallest peak in vietnam, fansipan (3,142 m or 10,308 ft). it’s dry season in this part of the country now, but during winter snow covers the peaks in this area.

we LOVED sapa. this town was way quieter than other vietnam cities we have been in. also, we had an opportunity to experience the minority ethnic groups of the region. the tribes still live in the mountains farming rice and corn and maintaining much of their traditional culture and language. we even had the opportunity to take a jeep tour (down a very steep rugged road) to a couple of traditional villages with our h’mong tour guide. it was so interesting to see such welcoming people, still living such a traditional way of life in the mountains…even though many of their traditional houses did have TV’s inside!

on our overnight train - thankfully, julie is not too much taller than a local vietnamese person

ladies from a nearby village surprisingly speak excellent english and - like smart business women - try to make a personal connection with you before hitting your pocketbook

fletch gazing out off our hotel balcony

the lake near the center of town

beautiful mountains and steep rice terraces

julie and our h'mong tour guide

kids hard at work in a small tribal village

fletch and our guide in another tribal village

and that sums up our travels in vietnam, and we have a feeling we will be back one day. we learned a lot about vietnam and met so many welcoming people here. we have already started our list of places we would like to return to and new places we would like to go!

we are now in hanoi, and tomorrow we are flying to laos and meeting up with jen (julie’s sister) and some other friends from back home. we will spend the next month making our way through laos, cambodia, and thailand…so stay tuned!

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