Hanoi (The Final City in Vietnam)

We left Hoi An late in the evening, catching a night train up to Hanoi.  We left around 6 pm and arrived in Hoi An, tired and a little hungry, at 12:30 the next afternoon!  We opted out of the sleeper cart and huddled down with the masses in the chairs.  This was the least expensive way of taking the train and after booking everything in Japan definitely a necessity!  All in all it was not too bad an experience, I slept a couple hours, although the stinkyness of the tons of people, and the screaming child at midnight did not help.  The views were nice and really looking back is was a good decision.  Definitely an experience!

We arrived in Hanoi in the afternoon, took some time to shower and relax and the headed out to explore.  For the next two days we spent time walking around the Old City exploring and enjoying the the busy streets.

Nice Shrine in the Middle of the Lake

Cathedral in the City 

Busy Streets!

We also spent time eating as I mentioned, lots of different foods!

Yummy Vietnamese Food!  Noodles, Beef, and Herbs!

Cool Designs on the Wall at an Amazing Burger Place Near Our Hotel!

Yummy Steak Dinner for 3 dollars!  And Not Even That Bad!

After two days in Hanoi we headed to Halong Bay for a night to explore the amazing sights there!  (This will be my next post).  We then headed back to Hanoi for another two days.  These were jam packed as it was the last couple days we had in Vietnam!  The first day back we spent exploring the city some more!

Watchtower Near Where We Had Lunch

Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum 

Changing on the Guard

We Got There Right on Time to Watch This!

These Guys Stand Here in the Blazing Sun!

After a nice day walking around we headed to the night market, which is only open on weekends!  We spent some time enjoying our final market (at least cheap one)  We bought sunnies, and ties, belts, all those good things that are so cheap in Asia!  Definitely needed to repack my bag for my flight to Japan (luckily it only weighed 19.5 Kilo)

Our last day in Hanoi and Vietnam we spent lunch on the water, enjoying the view and watching people cross the busy streets.  Then we headed to a small coffee place that is famous for serving its coffee with whipped egg.  It tasted like a marshmallow on coffee or hot chocolate, we tried both!  It was pretty amazing.

Small Seats at the Coffee Place!

Marshmallow Coffee and Hot Chocolate

Great Coffee Place!

After the coffee we headed back to the hotel to make sure we were ready to head to Japan the following day!  Then for our last night we went to a Vietnamese Water Puppet Show. It was an hour show, all in Vietnamese, preformed on water with puppets and traditional music.  It was pretty awesome!  Definitely a cool experience.

Water Puppet Show!

And then of course our final dinner.  It was a cute place, on the street where we had great Vietnamese food for the last time!

Yummy Dinner 

Now we are leaving Vietnam and heading to Japan, our last country on the list!  Bye Bye South East Asia!  What an amazing experience you have been!