Until we meet again

This is sort of a sad post. I've been packing all day, dropped off my sim card at work and signed a bunch of papers, got a book for the airplane and now I'm writing my last post from Trich Sai, Hanoi.

On Tuesday I said goodbye to my lovely colleagues at FAO. I couldn't have asked for a better and more supportive team. Living in Hanoi for four months has been a great experience. Coming from a small city like Copenhagen (not to speak of Vasa), let's be honest, I never imagined myself living in a big bustling city like Hanoi. Big city life has it's ups and downs. The biggest down here would be the pollution and crossing streets on foot. But even my second point has gotten better over time (my pulse stays fairly normal now). I'm (or was) a light sleeper, but I think Hanoi has cured me of that. Now I sleep through my neighbourhood's 5 am aerobics practice, motorbikes rounding the corner (honk honk beep beep), the dogs and the roosters.

As for the good things, the list is long. To mention a few: midnight pho, the alleys, Westlake at 5.30 am, the friendly people of Hanoi, the temperature in December, suprisingly well functioning bus system and every Grab driver who took me safely from A to B. Not to mention all the fantastic friends I have met here. And this is just Hanoi. Northern Viet Nam has so much to offer.

Now I will spend some quality time with my homies here in Hanoi before I head back home to get no sleep at all because I have to wake up at 03.00 am to go to the airport. Ugh

So being a person who strongly dislikes goodbyes (it's such a final word), I will just say: until we meet again! Because we will :)

Last day at work

Winter in Hanoi

When I arrived in Hanoi in August I was told Hanoi has a winter season. I laughed a little and didn't think much more about it. Until late November. As the tough Finn I am, I refuse to turn on my heater (yes, you can reverse the air con function). The result has been that I sleep with two layers of clothes and two blankets. And I'm not gonna say what the outside temerature is because I'm worried Finland will force me to denounce my citizenship if I do.

To get to even cooler weather, last weekend the dream team left the hustle and bustle of Hanoi and took the very local bus to Mai Chau, a village in a valley between mountains. Depending on who you ask, the bus trip could be rated anything between terrible and excellent. But it sure is cheap. Someone had the great idea to meet at the bus station at 5.45 on Saturday morning, to avoid the morning traffic out of Hanoi (not mentioning any names but it was me). Well, there was no bus to Mai Chau until 7.50 (apparently you can't trust everything you read online, who knew!) but luckily we found an alternative route through Hoa Binh with only one bus change. We were in Mai Chau by 10ish. The view from the bus was stunning and the entertainment on the bus was good - the ride provided a few adrenalin peaks.

Mai Chau is lovely and once you get off the main road, the countryside and rice fields quickly take over. There are several small villages, some a bit touristic but December is definitely not peak season here so everything was pretty quiet. Our homestay was a cute little place between some hills and rice fields. On our first day, we borrowed bicycles and biked to Gò Lào waterfall. Our homestay host said "it's hilly" but hey, how hilly can it be?! Well, pretty damn hilly cus it's in the mountains. We did a solid 12 km uphill and the same way downhill. Big uphill, beautiful waterfall, nice downhill.

Our homestay cooked a fantastic dinner and the rice wine was on the house. The evening was pretty cold and the dorm had no heating but had the best blankets ever. So most of us managed to keep warm.

On Sunday our active holiday continued and we climbed one thousand stairs (took a solid 20 min) to get to Hang Chiều, or the Chieu Cave. It was worth the climb and now there was also no need to do any more exercise for the next week. Except we also had to get down the one thousand steps. We took a quick peak at the local Sunday market at headed back to one of the villages for lunch. For our ride back to Hanoi we chose a private bus company this time. So much leg space.

Mai Chau was wonderful! Thanks guys for making it the perfect weekend getaway!

Comfy ride, eh?

Waterfall action

We have the band picture, now we need the band

Step no. 786. Taking a rest

Vacay and Staycay

Xin chao!

It's been busy! I will do a short summary of the past few weeks' happenings.

A few weeks back we decided to do a staycation in Hanoi and explore some of the city's pearls. Bat Trang, also known as the Pottery Village, is a small village-like area in the outskirts of Hanoi. Bat Trang is know for its pottery, which is everywhere in the village. If you eat at a local restaurant in Hanoi and turn your bowl or tea cup up-side-down, it's likely that it will say "Bat Trang" on the bottom.

Pottery, coffee and good company made a perfect afternoon!


The evening program was jazz at Minh Binh Jazz club <3


The next two weeks I was entertaining a dear visitor! I took a day off from work and we took a plane to Hoi An for some real vacay! The hotel we stayed at was lovely and had a repertoire of interesting characters as their staff. Interesting in a good way! I now named them the Smoky Quebequois, Sir DJ MIN and Buddah In Disguise.

Hoi An is Vietnam's Venice. The town is packed with tourists, boats, canals and tailors. We did some compulsory sightseeing, had clothes made, took a Vietnamese cooking class, went to the beach and attended a "cultural spectacle" at the Hoi An Bamboo Circus. The cultural spectacel made a huge impression on me. It was SO good! If you go to Hoi An, go see the A O Show.

The second staycation happened this Saturday. K and I took the bus to Van Phuc Silk Village, 10 or so km outside of Hanoi. Van Phuc is a part of Hanoi that feels like a small village. everything slowed down a little here. Money was spent on silk and cider. T'was a good day!

Bat Trang Pottery Village in Hanoi

Part of a Painting - Bat Trang

On a beach

Cool jump in Hoi An

Ole vs Vietnamese Tank outside of McDonalds

Van Phuc Silk Village

A Post About Pollution

I think I have mentioned pollution a few times already. When I first got here, at the end of the rainy season and summer in August, the air quality was decent for being a city of 8 million.

Now that "winter" is coming and the rains are fewer, the rice fields are being burnt, the winds from the big neighbour blow in this direction and the haze from the Indonesian forest fires spread around South East Asia, the pollution in Hanoi rocketed sky high a few weeks ago. And the city itself sure contributes too. A The air quality index (AQI) was all the way reaching over 300, which is considered hazardous for humans.

This week we enjoyed good air quality again for a couple of days (the firsy two screen shots from my phone are from Friday and Sunday this week)! Lovely! I was fighting off a cold though and stayed indoors the whole weekend. But let's not focus on that.

Today the air quality is back to its normal "unhealthy" levels. I was feeling better and took a stroll along West Lake to people watch after a weekend in bed. West Lake is beautiful, as long as you don't take a took close look at the water. Look at the picture, you'll understand why. And it comes with a smell too.

I usually trak the air quality with an app called Air Visual to know if I should avoid the outdoors.

West Lake 

West Lake. On a clear day you can actually see mountains behind the buildings. I've only seen them once. 

Unicorns and Yoga mats

I've always been a pony girl. Not a lot of horses in Hanoi though! So I need to spend my time (and money) on something else.

Since I moved here, like everyone else, I joined a yoga center. And I kind of enjoy the yogi life. Maybe like being a pony girl, being a yogi is not just a hobby but a lifestyle. Kind of like bubble tea. Bubble tea is a lifestyle too, according to some. 

Anyways, there is a super nice yoga center conveniently close to the UN bulding where I work and I happend to see that they were arranging a yoga retreat. It's good to try new things so I signed up for the yoga retreat weekend that served vegetarian food only on the retreat. I've kind of missed a good veggie meal here - Vietnam is all about their pork and chicken!

So last Saturday morning I jumped on the bus with a bunch of other lovely yogies and we headed for Ba Vi national park outside of Hanoi for a weekend with yoga, veggies, waterfalls and unicorns!

The place was absolutely lovely. There was a waterfall right next to the traditional open-style house where we lived and everything was so GREEN and the air was so FRESH! 

We wen't for a swim in the waterfall between yoga workshops. The second day it was pouring so no waterfall swimming - the waterfall had turned into a dangerous mud colored beast becasue of the heavy rain. 

On Sunday afternoon I was super relaxed after a weekend of peace and quiet in the jungle. I wasn't too excited about going back to the pollution, but then again Hanoi always throws these small pleasant surprises my way. This morning my motorbike taxi driver recognized me "Hey I pick you up yesterday!" he said with a big smile. It's always nice with a familiar face in this city of 8 million people. 

A unicorn in the jungle

Off the beaten track

This weekend was quite an adventure. With a dream team of five people from four different countries, we headed into unkown land, off the beaten track. When the locals from Hanoi asked where we were going, they had to look it up on map.

Hanoi is great. It's a bustling city that only sleeps between 01:00-05:00. The noise, the crowds and lately also the pollution can really make you long for trees, and some peace and quiet.

So last week I looked on Google maps and zoomed in on a big green spot not too far away from Hanoi. I keept zooming in, until I found signs of civilization. A few "homestays" popped up on the map. With a little help from google translate and my local neighbour, I managed to book one night for five people in a homestay in a village called Ban Coi, in Xuan Son National Park.

Saturday morning we all met with our backpacks and were picked up by our driver, Mr T, who took us to Xuan Son about 3,5 hours from Hanoi. When we came into the national park, the roads were narrow, dusty, partly paved and with the most spectacular scenery I have seen so far in Vietnam! Rice fields, tea plantations, mountains, rivers and valleys - Xuan Son is beautiful.
Mr T had to turn back to take another road once, because the road simply disapeared into a river.

When we fianlly arrived at the homestay, a local home cooked meal waited for us.

On our first afternoon we hiked to a cave near by, Hang Coi, and explored the narrow passages and big openings in the cave. Later we walked back through the village, where we saw the locals harvest the rice fields, children palying volleyball and chicken ang geese running around on the small farms. We headed for the local "swim hole" to cool down after a day in the sun.

In the evening we had dinner cooked at the homestay. I liked most of the food but some if I would describe as "interesting". Sometimes it was difficult to know what we were eating. But we all recognized a chicken foot in the soup.

On Sunday we hiked to the "Waterfall in the sky", a 5-6 km hike in total. The path took us along a river, up a mountain side, down again, along the river and to a beautiful waterfall where we put our warm beers in the cold water and went for a swim. When we got back up, the beer was cold!

I think we all agreed that the weekend had been fantastic, and definitely above my expectations. Tourism is not big in the national park, yet. We got a lot of smiles and "hellos" from the locals who we passed on our hikes and got to see glimpses of their daily farming lives in the middle of the national park.

Vietnam really has a variety of experiences to offer!

Thanks for an amazing weekend (and the pictures) guys  <3

Our homestay

Waterfall in sky

Buffalos!

Happy Pride

Happy Hanoi Pride everyone!

And the right answer to how many family members can fit on a scooter in Hanoi is 5!

Like a new city

I like walking and running. The first few days after arriving in Hanoi I was terrified to step out of the door (only slightly exaggerating) because of the chaos on the streets. It took me a few days to realize that it wasn't so bad after all. But Hanoi is definitely not a pedestrians paradise, or a runners paradise for that matter. Or so I thought. 

Today I discovered a completely new world in Hanoi! It's the early-morning-world. I'm so grateful for the local friends I have made here, who asked if I wanted to go for a Sunday morning run at 6 am. Of course I said yes!

It was like stepping out in a new city at 6 am. All the motorbikes and cars were gone. Instead cyclists, runners, power walkers, aerobic ladies and kids running around had taken over the streets. I think I have to become a morning person when in Hanoi. 

The aerobic ladies are actually a funny story. So since I moved from the 2nd to the 3rd floor in the building, I've woken up a few times at 5 am to very loud music (terrible music...) and I cursed my stupid neighbour for having such a bad taste in music so early in the morning. But now I realized that it's the local aerobic ladies from the block, doing their morning aerobics session. It's entertaining to watch. 

This weekend I went to The Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi. I heard it was one of the better museums in the city and it didn't let me down! The museum is focusing on the 54 officially recognized ethnic groups in Vietnam, each ethnic group with their own language. Pretty impressive. And in Finland we're struggling with two official languages. What a joke. 

Question: how many Vietnamese family members can fit on one scooter? 

(The correct answer will be in the next post)

Vietnam Museum of Ethnology

Traditional bed. My bed is just as hard as this one.... Getting usied to it

Water puppet stage. It's a thing here. I still haven't seen a water puppet show

Traditional house in the museum

Outside of the museum

Scenic goat route

Saturday in Ninh Binh! The BIG sightseeing day.

After a lovely homemade breakfast with the hotel owners father (or uncle?) and her 2 month old baby, I was ready to venture out on the road with Mr. Crappy for a second day of sightseeing. The weather was sunny. The forcast promised me I would sweat again today in 35 degrees celcius.

On today's agenda was a slightly longer drive to Tràng An landscape complex, a UNESCO world heritage site and later in the afteroon the Bái Đính pagoda.

The Tràng An river/cave/limestone mountain complex can only be seen by taking the official UNESCO boat tour lasting 3-4 hours.

The tour had spectacular scenery, peaceful temple areas and claustrophobic caves. The tour I chose took us through a 350 m long cave where we all had to sit down on the floor of the boat because the cave was so low and narrow. And depending on what tour you took, there was a chance to catch a glimpse of King Kong himself. The movie Kong: Skull Island had a few scenes filmed in Tràng An.

After 4 hours in a boat Mr. Crappy and I drove to a local restaurant where I tried goat meat. Ninh Binh is very famous for its goat meat and you see goats (the live kind) and restaurants with with pictures of goats everywhere. I quickly learned that goat is "dê" in Vietnamese. You can even buy a whole skinned goat from the side of the road.

In Bái Đính it took me ages to find the parking for the temple area. After a good 30 min of searching I finally found it and later laughed at how I could have missed such a big entrance gate to begin with. The temple area was huge and I could easely have spent half a day there.

And now we get to the part where Mr. Crappy really earned his name. I had forgiven him for a small incident earlier, when the seat came off while I was filling the tank with gas. But now he didn't start. Just dead! It took two security guards to kick start Mr. Crappy. And the same happened again at a restaurant later in the evening. Good thing the weekend was coming to an end, according to Mr. Crappy.

Ninh Binh, I will miss the scenery and the lack of traffic!

Tràng An UNESCO tour

Tràng An

Yes we went through this 320 m long cave

One of many temple areas on the tour

Sweating like a pig

Mr. Crappy

Stupa at Bái Đính 

View from Bái Đính pagoda

Buddah at the end of the stairs

Ninh Binh and Mr. Crappy

This post will be about my weekend in Ninh Binh, a city 90 km outside of Hahoi and Mr. Crappy, my scooter.

My last weekend before the serious business would start I wanted to see some of the beautiful nature in Vietnam that I've heard so much about but not really seen. I was told that a city called Ninh Binh was the perfect weekend getaway from the bustling big city life.

Ninh Binh really had it all! Rice paddies, goats, rivers and limestone mountains. What more could you ask for? Oh, and did I mention, no traffic. Not compared to Hanoi at least. 

On Firday I took public transportation (the bus!) to Ninh Binh. The bus trip itself was an adventure. Busses in Vietnam apparently also operate as a mail delivery service. When I got to Ninh Binh after a surpringsingly comfortable ride I realized I wasn't in Hanoi anymore. There were no "Grabs" or taxis anywhere. No-one stopped and asked if I needed a ride. My hotel just a few km away so I was fine, just sweaty! I was thinking that getting around Ninh Binh would be difficult, without transportation... Maybe I should rent a motorbike? The traffic was nothing compared to Hanoi after all.

The hotel (Thành Đạt Hotel) was lovely and felt more like a home than a hotel. Well, it was a home since the family running it also lived there. My window faced a big rice paddy and the owners were very helpful and gave lots of advice on how to get around and what to see.

I ended up renting a motorbike from the hotel! I would later name the motorbike Mr. Crappy.

On my first afternoon Mr. Crappy and I drove to see Hoa Lư, the ancient capital of Vietnam during the 10th and 11th century. I strolled around the temple grounds after a friendly guard let me in for free (the ticket office was hard to find!).

When Hoa Lư closed its gates for the day, I continued to the Am Tien cave and temple. Am Tien cave was a short walk from Hoa Lư and had a peacful walking route around a hidden lake. On one of the mountain sides there were stairs leading up to a temple inside a cave.

When the sun set, Mr. Crappy and I headed home.

The ancient capital of Hoa Lu

Am Tiên

Am Tiên

Chùa Am Tiên - cave temple