Tourist in Hanoi

Temple of Literature

I feel like I fall more and more in love with this country every single day. Still recovering from jetlag, I was up and about this morning at 6:30 am and kept busy by attempting to upload my first Vietnam video diary. The internet is kind of unreliable not to mention my laptop malfunctioned, so a successful upload did not quite happen in the morning but I managed to have better luck this evening (check out the previous post to watch the video!). At 9:30 am Alyssa, Vicky, and I met Dan and his roommates, one of which is a girl who has worked long term with WUSC, and the six of us spent the whole day visiting different tourist areas of Hanoi. Today was also the first time we took the bus in Hanoi, which I plan on taking more often considering it costs a mere 3000 dong (that’s not even 25 cents Canadian!)

Vicky and I at the Temple of Literature

 Our first stop was the Temple of Literature, which apparently was the first university constructed in Hanoi (perhaps even Vietnam, though I am not certain of this fact). The architecture was beautiful and an odd, yet flattering thing happened while we were there. Vicky and I were sitting on the steps trying to catch a breath from walking around all morning and all of a sudden, a Vietnamese girl asked to take a picture with us! Vicky later told me that she wanted to be in a picture with me because I looked foreign and she thought I was cute haha! Anyways, after the Temple we had lunch at a more western – style restaurant (I ordered pizza believe it or not!) and then we made our way over to another tourist area, a park sort of place if you will, but I can’t quite remember the name of it. We took some pictures there and then went to the Old Quarter. This is basically a large market filled with countless street vendors selling everything from clothes to shoes to bags to bedding to so much more! We stayed here for an hour or so and then finally made our way back to Vicky’s house for dinner.

Our biggest fan in Vietnam!

I am absolutely crazy about her hospitable and sweet family! We ate spring rolls with vegetables, fish sauce, mint leaves, and noodles and then gathered around her living room to have fruit. During my short time in Vietnam I have discovered yet another favourite fruit of mine (I basically eat fruit in bulk, and if I was stuck on an island with nothing to eat but different fruits, I think I would be okay) – pomelo or bưởi as said in Vietnamese! Vicky’s family made me feel like I was a part of it and this cross - cultural family experience is one that I definitely longed for prior to my arrival in Vietnam! Alyssa and I then made our way back home and ended off the evening by talking to our host mom’s eldest son (we live in an apartment on the 18^th floor with our host mom and her two sons, one who is in grade school and the other who is a bit older than us). All in all today was a tiring yet remarkable day, and Vietnam manages to steal a little more of my heart with every passing moment.