Surf and Sandcastles: Vietnam- Hanoi and BFF's!

I was so excited for Vietnam, my very best friend was coming to visit us and I couldn't wait! Annie is quite a traveller, has been all over the world, so it was pretty hard to find a place that she had never been, but was on our list. She chose Vietnam mainly because of the kite surfing, Mui Ne (which is was down at the bottom), is known for it. The plan was made and we were meeting her up at the very top and slowly working our way down. We had 2 weeks and a packed itinerary, starting in Hanoi. We chose the Spoon Hotel, beautiful little boutique hotel within walking distance of the Old Quarter, cheap, clean, comfy beds, and a delicious breakfast, couldn't ask for more and it was only $45/night!

The view from our hotel

We got into Hanoi quite late so quickly had to usher the kids to bed, (after hello hugs and tears of course), Annie and I stayed up until 2am gabbing away...(we had so much to catch up on), I finally tore myself away to get some sleep.

The girls LOVE their Aunt Annie

The next day came quite early. After Breakfast we quickly sorted tickets to Ha Long Bay as well as the overnight train to Hoi An, and away we went to explore the city. Chaotic, yet spell binding, it's hard to describe, through all the traffic and noise, there is still this calm sense of beauty..most building you looked at, even the crumbling ones had something charming about them. Every space seems to have something crammed in it, whether it's a make shift patio to enjoy yummy coffee, or street food carts, there is something to look at on every corner, talk about sensory overload.

No lights anywhere, its every man for themselves when crossing the street

this is quite a calm intersection compared to the rest of Hanoi

My favourite picture, these ladies are everywhere, selling the most beautiful flowers for super cheap. I wish we had them in Toronto

We headed to the Old Quater, it was about 20min walk, but so many sites to take in along the way.
Now you may have heard that in Vietnam some people eat dog. It is not as common as you may think, but it is still around. We had prepared the girls for this, explaining that in some cultures they eat different things. It is not everywhere, however there was one part of the street where we came across some cooked "meat" and unfortunately Livy caught glimpse of it and was devastated. I read a great article about eating dog in Vietnam, the author wrote about her experience when confronted with dog meat, she worded it much better then I ever could so I will simply refer you to it, she also has pictures so warning if you do not want to see do not open the article. To sum up I loved her conclusion...

We believe the correct answer is that nobody is wrong. Given our culture, Westerners are “right” to be shocked by eating dog. Given theirs, the Vietnamese are “right” to consider it normal. Here’s the deal: if you don’t cram “Roasty” down my throat, I’m not going to cram my ethics down yours. We’ll just agree to disagree on this one, and move along.

http://hanoi.for91days.com/eating-dog-vietnam/ but seeing some cooked dog on the

After I read this article to Livy, she actually felt much better, she said the author made her see that her ethics are hers to choose, and she will try not to judge...all in all it was a pretty good life experience...still, ewwwwwwww

We arrived at Hoan Kiem Lake, a very pretty area, right in the heart of the city, surrounded by cafes and walking paths. In the centre of the lake is Ngoc Son Temple where you have to cross a little bridge to get to. We then hopped on a small little cart, (kind of like a Tuk Tuk, but slightly bigger), and had an hour tour of the Old Quarter,