And I do feel sad.....

Since February 10th, Katy and I have spent so much time looking at each other with ear to ear grins and saying, "I Love My Life!!!!".....that a ways back we wondered....are there going to be things to feel sad about during these six months?  I know it seems like a foreign concept, but as long as everyone we know from home is doing alright, we are on an adventure that just seems to get better and better with each passing day. New cities, languages, food, smells, friends, experiences.....were we ever going to encounter any emotion other than excitement?

Well today, we definitely are.  We have both slipped into some strange state of depression as we spend our last hour in Southeast Asia.  Sure, we are headed to Nepal next and in just five days will be meeting a group of people that we will be traveling with for two weeks as we hike Annapurna Sanctuary.  That's definitely something to look forward to. And we have had amazing experiences in this part of the world for the past six weeks.  But for the rest of today, I am letting myself mourn the loss of pad thai, pho, millions of motorbikes, annoying street vendors, dong, kip, and baht, and the sweaty, muggy air we have been living in for the past month and a half. 

This guy was feeling sad as well....we tried to cheer him up with some cards and beer :)

Now that you all know my emotional state, lets tap back into happier times: our last week spent in Hanoi, Vietnam.  We rushed and rushed from the South to the North because we wanted time to fit everything in Hanoi, with Halong Bay being our priority.  We booked a Halong Bay cruise (2 days, 1 night on a "party boat") first thing when we got into town on Thursday and headed out towards the UNESCO site Friday morning.  Unfortunately, after our four hour bus ride into Halong City, we arrived and the wind was too strong for boats to go out. I guess there have been multiple accidents over the past year so they are being extra cautious as to not kill any more tourists....so I guess better safe than sorry, as sad as it was for us.  We waited around with our group for about 3 hours in hopes of the winds dying down but our cruise director called it around 230pm and we headed back to Hanoi.....not without some supplies for the drive home, however.  Our group turned the party boat into the party bus.....and then we continued our festivities all around Hanoi well into the night :)

The closest we got to Halong Bay.....

Some of the junks we would have potentially sailed on

What would have been our Halong Bay crew: 3 Americans, 2 Sweds, 2 Brits, 2 Aussies, and one grumpy German guy (in the backseat......and this scowl is even after I shared my beer with him!)

View from our dinner spot

Out on the town in Hanoi

A few card games always speeds a friendship along

So what else did we do with ourselves now that we had all of this extra time in Hanoi?  We spent a lot of hours just wandering around, taking in all the sights the city had to offer. This place was like a toned down version of Ho Chi Minh and I really came to like the city. We stumbled upon St. Joseph's Cathedral and for a brief moment had to remind ourselves that we were in Asia, not Europe.  

A peek inside during mass proved that this church could have easily rivaled those seen all over Europe.

Simply walking down the street at any time in Hanoi is an entertaining (and overstimulating) experience. Life happens on the sidewalk in Vietnam and especially during lunchtime the streets are filled with people cooking and eating, children playing, and women selling fans, donuts (weird), and the masks that you see everyone wear here.

Noon in Hanoi.....these are the same stools they use on the buses as extra seats

Local lunch

We also spent some time at the Hoa Lo Prison, which was one of the coolest museums/historic places I have been thus far. The Hoa Lo prison, built by the French in the late 1800s, was used for Vietnamese political prisoners who were revolting against the government. It was also used for American POWs and for all of your war buffs out there, you have probably heard it referred to as the "Hanoi Hilton."

It is probably one of the creepiest historic places I have been.....they have mannequins in shackles were prisoners used to be kept and eerie music playing throughout. The information that Hoa Lo offered regarding the treatment of American POWs was contrasting to the things that I learned in school.....Megan, Katy, and I decided that further research is definitely in order if we really want to learn about the events that happened here.

Fake prisoners in shackles....imagine walking in here alone with creepy music playing....I moved through the room quickly

Escape route

A picture of McCain being treated at Hoa Lo

 

John McCain's flight suit....he was a prisoner at the Hanoi Hilton from 1967 to 1973

After the prison......more wandering

We attempted to eat street food with the locals.....but when they served us this (chicken) and then tried to charge us about 12 USD (at most a good meal would be 5), we walked


And what ELSE did we do with our time? Sat around on Bia Hoi corner, home of 5000 dong (25 cent) drafts that taste like feet (don't worry, you can also get bottled beer)

Minor traffic jams came with the territory

You just had to watch out for the cars as you were sitting on the street

We also got up early one morning to go pay our respects to Ho Chi Minh, who is forever on display in this mausoleum (despite his wishes to be cremated).  The line just to walk past his body took about an hour (and it is like this every day from what we hear).  If you don't know, Ho Chi Minh was a Vietnamese leader (prime minister and president) who played a big role in Vietnam's independence movement.  Saigon was named after him in 1975 after it was captured by the North, ending the war.

We were there on a Sunday yet there were multiple school groups visiting.

Final stop on our tour of Hanoi: The War Remnants museum, which offered some not-great information about the war. But it did have some pretty cool remnants as far as planes and helicopters go:

Katy and I are literally about to board a plane.....destined for Kathmandu (after layovers in Bangkok and Delhi).  Megan left us this morning to go back to Shanghai.  Next time you hear from us, we will be on to our fifth (!!) country and gearing up for an amazing hike in the Himalayas. If you want more details about our trek, check out our itinerary:  http://www.gadventures.com/trips/annapurna-sanctuary/ANAS/2012/itinerary/ But first, a short jungle safari in Chitwan National Park!!  Hope everyone at home is well :)