Author: jgourley

By Evie And Lucy

Our first day in the hot, humid Vietnam, Hanoi was more than an experience. No one expected the roads to be as busy and hectic as they are. The first time we crossed a road we were all shocked that we just had to put our hand up and walk straight in front of 74 motorbikes travelling at any pace they wanted, as there are pretty much zero road rules.

We began our day by visiting the Ho Chi Minh building, which holds the first president of Vietnams body, who died in 1969 (Ho Chi Minh). The people of Vietnam worship him the most out of everyone, as he tried his best to achieve independence for Vietnam. We took our classic tourists photos along with all of the other groups of people and lined up in a huge line to see the house that he lived in. First we saw the men that were working on the pathway that Ho Chi Min exercised on, and they greeted us with friendly hello’s and winks. Our bags were checked and our first sight was of a huge yellow building where we assumed the president would stay but we soon found out he was a very humble man who chose to live a very simple life. They used that building for visitors and meetings and he lived in a little house with a bedroom smaller than most of ours, a kitchen and a living room. He did not have a wife or children as he chose to dedicate his whole life to his people.

We then went to an awesome restaurant that was huge compared to all the small local ones. We had a room upstairs for ourselves and got served amazing food, pho, fried rice and Vietnamese pancakes. The staff were so friendly and Hoang (our tour guide) showed us how to properly make our pancakes. We then visited the Australian Embassy and learnt about what they do and how they help Australians in Vietnam. We got the bus back to our hotel and stopped at a jewellery store to exchange our money to dong. We had a short walk back to our hotel where we had an hour to relax and get ready for the water show.

We walked into old town markets and were allowed and hour to go off to all the stores and Hoang gave us some helpful tips on bartering. Both of us (Lucy and Evie), Bella and Elle all went as a group and scored some cheap pants, Lucy was harassed by a lady selling a hat so we had to run for our lives. Then we went and saw the water show which was very traditional but interesting, obviously not for the old couple next to us who fell asleep in the first five minutes.

We are now at a restaurant called Little Hanoi where we have been served very interesting food, no one liked the catfish but Lucy didn’t complain about that as she got the whole plate to herself. Our waiter loved to say ‘Oooh yeh’ every time he handed us our food.

Our first day was loaded with activities and it feels like we’ve been here for so much longer than a day. The big experience has certainly been a ‘big experience’ already and we can’t wait for the next 17 days.

We’re all missing you,

Lots of love, E and Luc xoxox