Day 38 - Back to Hanoi!

Wow! Has it really been 38 days?! This trip is flying by. But, at the same time, it feels like a lifetime ago that we were getting on the Greyhound in Richmond to head up to JFK back in early September. I could stay in Hanoi forever. But I also miss my cats. And everyone and everything else. But I'm also not even close to ready to come back.

Anyways, today we traveled back to the amazing Vietnam capital, Hanoi. We relaxed in our hotel room in Sapa until check out, then we ventured out to lunch. Our entire time in Sapa, we had been watching groups of people eating a dish called a hotpot. We wanted to try one but they seemed to be best split between 4-6 people (or more) and we weren't sure if we could find a smaller one. We couldn't, but we got one anyways. We decided to go with a salmon hotpot (1 kg was the smallest they would let us have!). About 5 minutes after we ordered it, one of the employees walked into the restaurant with a grocery bag that had a giant flopping salmon in it. Talk about fresh! Then, about 10 minutes after that, they started to bring out the food - a small tabletop stove with a pot of broth (water, herbs, onions, pineapple, and so much more), a plate full of the entire raw salmon (filleted), potatoes, carrots, greens, noodles, tofu, and all sorts of sauces. We devoured almost all of it, over the course of a couple of hours, along with a few beers.

We headed back to our hotel to pick up our bags and wait for our van to pick us up to take us back to Hanoi. The van ride back seemed to take forever, but we made it back, got dropped off at the wrong hotel, walked the quick few blocks to the right hotel, and checked in to another amazing hotel right in the center of the Old Quarter. Then we set off for dinner. We finally got a pho that is possibly better than our favorite spot in Richmond, Pho So 1. A couple have been close, a couple have been worse, but this was definitely the only one that is as good or better. We will certainly be back.

Now, bedtime. A long day of Hanoi exploring and eating and drinking tomorrow. Can't wait - I love this city!!!

(Only pictures today are off our awesome hotpot lunch. Unfortunately my phone was dead for our late night Hanoi wandering and pho dinner.)Read more