Leaving Sapa was really difficult for me. I really enjoyed spending time with the Hmong tribal women. I forgot to mention in my last post that I sat in the market with Chi and the other tribal women. Chi was hungry and wanted a chocolate croissant and took me to a bakery. I realized that when I got to the bakery with Chi she was nervous to go in. Since I was a tourist I was allowed to go in and buy us the croissants. Chi stood outside and waited for me. We took them back to the market and sat and talked about her life. I couldn't help but feel that I am extremely privileged after hearing her stories.
When we arrived in Hanoi we had a lot of time to walk around the city before our night bus to Hoi An. The first time we were in Hanoi Liz and I wanted to see all these museums but they were closed. Today they were all open and we headed to the Woman’s Museum. It was extremely interesting to see how much of a role woman played in the Vietnam war. The women fought in the war and there were pictures of women with guns and pictures of women who received awards for blowing up tanks and killing soldiers. We also read about the marriage rituals of the different tribes around Vietnam. They also had an area where you could dress up as a tribal woman and the three of us attempted to construct the cloth head wrap around our heads and Liz was the only successful one.
We tried to get into the War Museum to see the some tanks and Anti Aircraft equipment used by the VC during the war but it was closed. Chris' friend told him that if you walk around west of the Old Quarter you can find wreckage of B-52 sticking out of them. After not getting into the museum we walked around trying to get lost and find one of these ponds. Today Chris has great sense of direction....NOT! We started walking through streets where families lived and no longer in tourist areas. People were looking at us like we were aliens. Luckily we ran into a woman and I think her mother. The woman spoke English and we asked her where we could find the wreckage. Her mother, who was a tiny little old lady who didn't speak any English, realized what we were looking for and guided us. She lead us down narrow alley after narrow alley. We ended up near a small swampy pool of water where there were parts of a plane sticking out.We wanted to pay the woman for helping us but when we turned around she was gone.
After our walk around the city we were all hungry. Chris took Liz and I to eat at Bam mo Nam mo They only serve one dish and it was amazing. It was a beef and noodle soup with something like green apple in it and thin onion rings. So good... good work Chris.
By the time we were done eating it was time to go back to the Drift hostel to catch our bus to Hoi An. Kait, who Chris met in Thailand, was joining us and Liz befriended this girl Emily. So it was 4 girls and Chris on a sleeper bus. Oh fun another long overnight trip on a sleeper bus. To Hoi An we go!
When we arrived in Hanoi we had a lot of time to walk around the city before our night bus to Hoi An. The first time we were in Hanoi Liz and I wanted to see all these museums but they were closed. Today they were all open and we headed to the Woman’s Museum. It was extremely interesting to see how much of a role woman played in the Vietnam war. The women fought in the war and there were pictures of women with guns and pictures of women who received awards for blowing up tanks and killing soldiers. We also read about the marriage rituals of the different tribes around Vietnam. They also had an area where you could dress up as a tribal woman and the three of us attempted to construct the cloth head wrap around our heads and Liz was the only successful one.
We tried to get into the War Museum to see the some tanks and Anti Aircraft equipment used by the VC during the war but it was closed. Chris' friend told him that if you walk around west of the Old Quarter you can find wreckage of B-52 sticking out of them. After not getting into the museum we walked around trying to get lost and find one of these ponds. Today Chris has great sense of direction....NOT! We started walking through streets where families lived and no longer in tourist areas. People were looking at us like we were aliens. Luckily we ran into a woman and I think her mother. The woman spoke English and we asked her where we could find the wreckage. Her mother, who was a tiny little old lady who didn't speak any English, realized what we were looking for and guided us. She lead us down narrow alley after narrow alley. We ended up near a small swampy pool of water where there were parts of a plane sticking out.We wanted to pay the woman for helping us but when we turned around she was gone.
After our walk around the city we were all hungry. Chris took Liz and I to eat at Bam mo Nam mo They only serve one dish and it was amazing. It was a beef and noodle soup with something like green apple in it and thin onion rings. So good... good work Chris.
By the time we were done eating it was time to go back to the Drift hostel to catch our bus to Hoi An. Kait, who Chris met in Thailand, was joining us and Liz befriended this girl Emily. So it was 4 girls and Chris on a sleeper bus. Oh fun another long overnight trip on a sleeper bus. To Hoi An we go!
