I’ve finally uploaded all our Vietnam trip pics so I’m almost back on track on our blog but this’ll still be short and sweet. I hope you enjoy the pictures!
Early this morning we were awakened by the boat’s generator as they prepared our breakfast and lunch. It was good though so that we woke up and took a shower and were up for breakfast at 7:30. We didn’t have alarm clocks so I’m thinking they may have done it on purpose.
After a simple Western breakfast, we boarded a small boat to head into the grotto nearby. We saw some birds and a couple of monkeys checking us out. We just took a short cruise around the grotto then back out. The junk then took us to another place so the guys could go for a swim. Only three of the guys decided to dive in for some swimming. The water was very salty according to Ron and it was easy to float.
When they were done splashing around, we checked out of our rooms and I wrote some postcards before we had lunch. As we finished up our lunch, we arrived back at the harbor and it was so crowded that we had to climb across five other boats to get to the dock. Our driver was waiting for us there so we drove back to Hanoi.
In Hanoi, it was still early so we visited the oldest pagoda in Hanoi then we took a rest at Sofitel The Plaza hotel. We had some drinks and snacks then our tour guide took us to a place for dinner. We were craving some authentic PHO so we ended up at PHO 24 which is open 24 hours a day. In US, I always order “#1” which is combo everything so some of us wanted that same thing in Vietnam. The menu wasn’t labeled that way but when we asked for the combo pho, our tour guide said just to ask for “#1”. So it ends up being the same thing… but about half the price, I think 2USD a bowl.
We had our fill of PHO before heading to the airport which took about an hour. Once there we also searched for “weasel coffee”, aka CHON coffee. It’s famous here apparently as these weasels only eat the best coffee beans and when they poop out these beans, they’ve also been fermented a bit. The beans are cleaned, roasted, then ground up. If you brew it, it’s supposed to be a really good cup of coffee. Anyways, we did find it in the airport and are going to try to brew it when we get home.
Our flight departed a bit late so we’re set to arrive back in Singapore around 1:30AM. It’s my (Jen’s) first day at work tomorrow so hopefully I won’t be too tired.
To check out our pics, click HERE!