Learning about Vietnamese Culture Past and Present

Today we visited the Museum of Ethnology to learn about the many ethnic groups in Vietnam. The museum was huge, with many replica buildings from different regions we could go in and see. There was tons to learn about and do, so we spent about 3 to 4 hours reading, looking and asking questions. We learned a lot about Vietnam’s many ethnic groups and how they may have lived. The interactive exhibits helped us see the way they organized their houses. Houses were mostly built of bamboo and mud construction (with no nails!) and there were sometimes steep stairs, almost like a ladder to get into the house. Often the house was a central room for cooking, gathering and hosting guests or sleeping. There may also be a small sleeping room or storage room off the main room. It was a busy day at the museum as many young local people were there in their best traditional Vietnamese clothing taking pictures for the upcoming Tet celebration. Tet is the biggest and most important holiday in Vietnam, the first day of the Lunar New Year and we are excited to get to watch the preparations underway.

After the museum we went to Tay Ho Lake, also known as West Lake. We heard the 17-km shoreline was lined with cafes, ancient pagodas and pretty gardens, but the part we ended up in was filled with heavy traffic and cafes that sold coffee but no snacks so we kept walking to find food. We walked a long way hoping that each corner would have a spot for lunch, but no luck. So, we ended up settling for some roadside fried food, our most disappointing meal yet, but the smoothies and lemonades were good! :)

A highlight this evening was exploring street corners and dining with local people as we tried new things. Mom went for Pho, a traditional soup, and we tasted about 4 other dishes with noodles, rice and delicious spring rolls. We saw several guys walking around with large portable speakers (the size of a recycling bin) and we wondered, what are they doing? Then, some of the locals in our restaurant called one guy over and the karaoke began! Everyone at their table took turns singing and recording one another. We also loved the balloon sellers with their huge colourful bouquets. After dinner, we wandered the vendor stalls. The market seemed like a spot where there were as many locals as tourists, which was nice. There were a lot of stalls, they lined the streets in every direction on both sides, store after store - many of the stalls sold the exact same things, plus there were sellers walking with their goods in strollers/carts. It was quite a colourful experience!

On the way home we went to train street. Train Street is right close to our hotel, and a huge tourist spot! It is popular because of the crazy conditions, the train runs just about a meter away from the houses and shops lining either side of the railway. When the train is coming, everyone brings their tables, chairs, stands, etc. into their shops and houses so that the train can go by. For a few years, Train Street was closed because a tourist almost got hit, but it has opened again and everyone, including us, loves it!

Seeing the Sights in Hanoi

After many full day adventures with guides in Thailand, it is nice to wander around Hanoi without much of a plan, and there is so much to see and do. Everywhere you look there are colourful shops, temples, small parks and mysterious alleys. We walked just about everywhere and are beginning to feel like we are learning the landscape of the old quarter. It is hard to get tot know a place in just a few days, but thanks to lots of walking and sightseeing, we have settled in nicely! We are close to lots of cute food corners and markets, which are helpful landmarks.

On Saturday we visited Hoa Lo Prison, to some it may seem strange to visit a prison (though lots of people come to Kingston to do this as well) but this prison has quite a history and we learned a lot. For example, the word ‘Hoa Lo’ means stove or furnace. This was a big prison built by the French in 1896. A village was moved or demolished and people displaced to make the prison. After the French were driven out of Hanoi the prison was converted to a Vietnamese facility. It was originally intended to house about 450 inmates but may have had as many as 2000 men and women. In 1964, the prison was nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton by the American prisoners of war who were housed there until 1973. We were surprised to learn that over 100 people escaped from the Hoa Lo Prison through sewer systems and other secret exits.

In the evening we went on a mission to find the weekend walking streets with markets. In Hanoi, they close a significant set of streets in the old city near Hoan Kiem Lake for evening markets and walking Friday-Sunday. The whole area is fun - there are lots of light up toys and cars, families sitting around, music playing, street food, vendors and much more! The atmosphere reminds us a bit of the Malecon (boardwalk) in La Paz, Mexico which comes alive with families in the evening and the Ciclovia (cycleway) in Bogota, Colombia. What we love is that it is not just tourists but full of locals out being active. We thought thst this walking street was an amazing way to be active and socialize at the same time! It was a great chance to get a glimpse of local life, sine it wasn’t just tourists there. If Kingston or London did this, I think it would be a huge hit! :)

Love from Vietnam! 🌴☀🩷

We have arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam!

In December we applied for visas online to enter Vietnam and we were approved a few days before our flight! Cutting it a bit close… and at the airport we discovered one of Alex’s many names had been cut off, thankfully the gate agent was able to correct it as the visas in Vietnam are quiet important and specific.

Hanoi was named in 1831 by the Minh Mang King - Ha means river and Noi means inside - so this city is known as the land between the rivers. As you can imagine, there are rivers (the Red and Black rivers) as well as some lakes to wander around, pathways and streets closed to traffic on weekend evenings where people are out strolling, children are playing on push carts and groups are dancing.

The first thing we noticed on our ride from the airport was the traffic, it was intense! Now we didi arrive at rush hour… but it seems like it may always be rush hour! It took us over an hour to reach our hotel, our driver was great and he used every tool possible to keep us moving amid the cars, scooters, pedal bikes, people and parked cars! After the girls napped, we passed our time playing eye spy with the fascinating sights around us.

We also noticed that the streets are narrow with busy shops and cafes spilling onto the city walks. There are mopeds and scooters everywhere. Many buildings are gorgeous, with old narrow buildings side by side with new ones… later we found out that many of the old houses were narrow to avoid property tax, which is based on the width of the building according to French law in the 19th century (not sure this applies). Our first night here we wandered in search of dinner and arrived on train street, very near our hotel. This is a narrow street filled with cafes and lights where an active train whizzes by throughout the day! It is free to visit and you can wander and wait to grab an egg coffee!

Coffee is a huge thing here, there is a real cafe culture as part of a social pastime. Vietnam is the second largest producer of coffee in the world and therefore very inexpensive here (as is the tea, which is often locally brewed with ginger and lemongrass). Some of the cafes are entirely on the street with a series of stools and others are inside/outside - there are lots of open-air seating everywhere. It is a shame our family does not drink coffee cause they have some exceptional blends here - egg coffee and coconut coffee. Both of these types of coffee were solutions to a lack of milk during war time when eggs and coconuts were still accessible.

You might notice in our photos we are bundled up, it is cooler here than Thailand - ranging from 16-20 during the day and getting as low as 12 at night. It feels cool for us coming from a warm country but we anticipated this and brought our layers and mitts!

A Thai Cooking Class in Chiang Mai

Today we had a cooking class at the Smile Organic Farm cooking school. After riding around in a van to pick up around 12 people, we stopped at a local market so we could taste Thai fruits from the area. These were all new to me, I had never even heard of the fruits we sampled! After getting back in the van and driving some more, we finally arrived at the farm to start our cooking class. 

Once we arrived, our guide, Chef K, gave us a tour of the garden where they get their fruits, herbs and vegetables for cooking. We wore pink aprons and big hats to protect us from the sun. As we learned more about the garden, we discovered it wasn't just food they grew - they also had herbs as well as flowers that stained your hands purple! Chef K continued the tour and explained what each vegetable was and if we would use it in the class.

Chef K showed us how to make the inside of a spring roll and taught us how to properly stuff and wrap so we could eat them. They were delicious!

We made multiple dishes that night and used a mortar and pestle to crush up the things we needed to make the curry paste. For the stir fry, we used a big wok to put in the vegetables, rice, herbs and other ingredients to make the dish. There were different kinds of soup we could choose to make, I wanted to learn how to make chicken and coconut milk soup. It was delicious!

The best part of the night was getting to eat all the delicious foods we made together with the rest of our class! We took home enough leftovers to have another meal - and it tasted just as good when we reheated it. 

Trekking In Chiang Mai

Today was an amazing, and tiring, day! We had to wake up at 6 am in order to be ready for our van at seven. We got into the car and headed to our Trekking adventure. ❤️

Our first stop was the highest point in Thailand, which is 2,565 meters (or 8,4115 feet) above sea level. The hike wasn’t very long, but we got to see the special marker that showed the exact highest point. ⛰️Our guide told us that if a Thai person wants to have good luck, they take a coin up to the highest point and try to balance it on the little metal marker. If the coin falls, you will not have good luck, but if it stays, you will.


Next, we drove to the trekking starting point, our original second station, but there was not a local guide available. Our tour guide was required to have a local guide with her, so we could not do our trekking then.

Instead, we went to the Twin Pagodas. The structures are exactly what they sound like- identical pagodas that celebrate King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit, the longest reigning monarchs in Thailand. The King's pagoda is very simple, with not much decoration. The walls inside the pagoda show the Enlightenment of Buddha. ☸️ The Queen’s pagoda was beautiful, with lots of tiling and pictures inside and out.

After the Twin Pagodas, we finally got to do our trekking! 😀 Our local guide's name was Long Dah, and she led us in the 2 hour trek through the mountain. The first 30 minutes of the hike were pretty steep, and only went uphill. Then things leveled out, but we began to climb again in order to reach the top. We hiked through a cloud forest, which is a rare type of rainforest covered in clouds, mist, or fog. There are only 763 cloud forests in the world, and only three in Thailand. 

The view at the top was breathtaking! We could see other nearby mountains and the villages nestled in the valleys. Everything was so small. 😂 The hike was long and hard but the view at the top was well worth it. We got some great pictures, and I was terrified we would fall over the edge… 😣

I really enjoyed the day, but we were hot and exhausted, so our last stop was perfect, the biggest waterfall in Chiang Mai! Standing at the bottom, and even in the parking lot, we could feel the cool spray. We walked along the bottom of the waterfall and took pictures before getting in the van and driving back to our hotel.




Lot’s of love from Thailand!

Bella
🌴 ☀️ ♥️

A day exploring the region...

Today was a spectacular adventure! Early this morning, we got in a van with 12 people and drove to our first stop of the day- an elephant sanctuary. We did a lot of research before coming to Thailand to learn about 'ethical elephant sanctuaries' - we wanted to visit a place that prioritized the well-being of the elephants so we chose a small family operation that has no restraints, riding or performances with a natural environment for the elephants. Bonus for us, they also had a baby elephant! Did you know it elephant pregnancy lasts 18-22 months? We were so excited for this part of our day, and excited to see the elephant, because it is the national animal of Thailand! 🐘 

When we arrived, we put on a red shirt, because the elephants can recognise that colour and they are traditional shirts of the Karen Hill Tribe people. In the daylight, elephants can only see two colours, red and green. Since most of their food is green, we definitely shouldn't wear that colour! Our group got to feed the elephants some 'snacks' of sugar cane stalks and bamboo leaves. 🥬 Then, we went to a station with a huge mortar and pestle machine made of wood. Together, we added ingredients like medicinal roots, plants, bananas, anice, and more, to create vitamin-meatballs for the elephants. 

After feeding, we got to play near the elephants and take pictures. The baby elephant were super playful, (🩷) but the older animals liked their food more than us! The elephant keepers, in Thai they are called Kwan-chaang, had to lay out some food so that the elephants would stay put to play with us. 

Lastly, we were given little buckets and scrubbers to help wash the elephants while they bathed. Two of the animals were led into the water, again being enticed with food, and we helped bathe them - mostly we just watched. The older elephant used his trunk to spray us with water. :) :) 

Next, we drove to a river about an hour from the elephant sanctuary. Our group split into smaller groups and we each got onto our own bamboo raft. The bamboo rafts is one of the oldest forms of transportation in Thailand and it is made of long pieces of bamboo tied together to float down a river. There were wooden benches on top of the raft, so we wouldn't get completely soaked! The ride was very smooth, and quite long. Our feet got wet, but that was it. There was a man who helped steer the boat through the rocks. When we got to the end of our raft ride the van was there to take us to the final part of the adventure - the sticky waterfall. 

The sticky waterfall, also known as Bua Thong Waterfall is in the Namtok Bau Tong-Nam Phu Chet Si National Park. This is a beautiful national park with a think forest, if you did not know the waterfall was there you could miss it! The waterfall is made of porous limestone rocks with minerals that make them sticky. You walk down a long path past four entry tiers and then climb all the way up using different paths. In our hour, we had enough time to climb twice, sometimes using the rope for stability. 

It was a fabulous day, each activity was so fun and we met nice people from other parts of the world and we learned about cultural and natural aspects of Chiang Mai. 

Love Bella and Alex

Adventures in Chang Mai

On our first full day here, we made our own 5-6km walking tour of local vegetable and flower markets finding paths to wander while we practiced our basic Thai words. We bought some fruits for breakfast and the beloved elephant pants that many tourists have. 





Lunch was enjoyed along the Ping River with lanterns hanging overhead and delicious fruit shakes.
The food here is amazing!!! Every meal offers some new thing to taste and the presentation is interesting from serving in a fancy carved pineapple to plastic bowls. 

Many evenings when we go out to eat, we take along a game to play, sometimes Yahtzee or LCR dice game - almost everyone in our family has got a YAHTZEE! We've taken tuk tuks and red taxi trucks but mostly we like to explore on foot.