Farewell southeast Asia!

After an intense P4, Sammy and I have decided to move to Boston so that he can take a job opportunity at wayfair.com. With our future a little bit more defined, our last month in Singapore went by in a blink of an eye with final brunches and goodbye dinners filling up the calendar.
Before we knew it, it was time to do our final tourist trip in southeast Asia: a 10 day trip to Vietnam!

We arrived in Hanoi on the 15th of June and after a decent dinner, we explored the old part of downtown. We ran into some interesting college students who asked if they could interview us for an English class. They were extremely friendly and it was very nice to meet some of the locals.
After a few hours of walking around town, taking in as much of Hanoi as we could, we went to bed and rest it up for the next part of or adventure.
The next morning our driver picked us up to start our 3 hour long journey to Halong Bay.
We boarded our 3 day "Signature Cruise" which is a traditional Vietnamese boat or "junk", as they call it, and set sail through the beautiful stone islets. The views were amazing and the service and food was really great. We got to see a floating fisherman village and a fascinating pearl farm where Sammy got me some lovely earrings.
On our second day on board, we went on a slightly smaller boat for a day trip to kayak at a different area of the bay. We were lucky that it was raining as the
heat the day before, had been unbearable. Even though he is only two, Alex went kayaking with us and had a great time!
Overall the cruise was a lot of fun however it was very sad to see how dirty the bay was as you always could see garbage floating along. On the third day it was time to leave the boat and head back to Hanoi airport to fly to Da Nang so we could start the final part of our journey in Hoi An.
We stayed at a quaint, nice and extremely affordable place called the Green Apple hotel.

Hoi An is one of those little towns that could have been take it of a story book. The ancient town full of old wooden shops adorned with colorful silk lanterns is simply gorgeous; add to that a charming riverfront with beautiful bridges and traditional row boats and you are in an Asian fairytale.
It was the perfect scenery to celebrate Sammy's birthday a few days after we arrived.

I had very high expectations of the food and was a bit disappointed with a few exceptions. I thoroughly enjoyed the local crispy pancakes and the banana flower salad (sounds wierd, I know but it actually is similar in texture to cabbage and doesn't taste at all like banana) but more than anything, my favorite thing was the Bahn my (ban mi) sandwiches.

In addition to being a picturesque town, Hoi an has amazing beaches. We took advantage of the crystal clear, warm waters and soft sand to relax during the hot days. Alex had a blast jumping waves and playing with the sand.
It was the perfect mix: beach during the day, walking in the ancient town during the evenings (not an exaggeration, that's what it's called).

The town is also known for its top notch taylors that can make any garment you want at an affordable price in just a day or two!
I had to take advantage of this and get a nice dress made for Sammy's graduation.

Overall, I couldn't have asked for a better way to bring our Southeast Asia adventure to a close. Vietnam is truly amazing and I would love to go back someday.

Now it's back to Singapore for a day of packing before heading to Dubai to visit the family.Read more