This is Denise at the KidZania Milk Factory, I think she looks so cute in her uniform.

One job we did was being a news anchor. It was fun and you got paid 12 Kidzos. How you say hello in KidZania is you make a sideways peace sign on your heart and say “Kai” how you say goodbye is you have a fist on your chest and you take it off and do a peace sign and say “C (see)- U (you)” For one of my activities I chose to be in the Peter Pan play at the KidZania Acting Academy. I was Peter, it was fun but kind of weird because all of the other kids in my group were Thai so they were speaking the script in Thai but I was reading it in English. I got paid 20 Kidzos, the most amount of money that I got for one job. Other jobs I did were being a flight attendant, climbing a building, making a frozen yogurt, Denise also paid to get nail polish at a beauty salon.  At the end we spent our hard earned Kidzos at the KidZania store to buy little things, I had 143 Kidzos and I bought a pack of cute little erasers for 120 Kidzos and Denise had 90 Kidzos but she wanted to buy stickers that were 100 KidZos so I gave her 10 Kidzos so she could buy it. It sure was a fun day at KidZania!

There are so many types of transportation in Southeast Asia. Today, I will tell you about all the ways a tourist can get around. 

 

  Another way to get around is a tuk-tuk. A tuk-tuk is kind of like a motorcycle that carries a carriage where you sit. I like riding in tuk-tuks because they are very open air, in the 3 photos above and in the video above. The only con about tuk-tuk’s is that they have really bad exhaust which contributes to overall air pollution, which can be really bad. The second tuk-tuk is a different style of tuk-tuk in Laos.

After getting off the the cruise boat in Halong we waited at the pier for about an hour for a bus that would take us to Trang An. Trang An is a river that has a little village on the outskirts of Ninh Binh. We got to our beautiful homestay at around 5pm and we relaxed for a little bit in our room. Then we went to our homestay’s restaurant to order something to eat. Green Mountain Homestay had a pool table, a dart 🎯 board and a wall where you could make creations out of recycled materials like bottle caps or coke cans. I played darts while we were waiting for our food, I ordered Bun Cha, a Vietnamese specialty. Bun Cha is rice noodles 🍝 with pork patties and herbs 🌿. The Bun Cha at Green Mountain was good but the noodles were cold. After dinner 🍽 I played more darts and some pool 🎱. I had a great nights sleep 🛏 and woke up fresh and energized. We went to order breakfast and I got eggs 🍳. Denise got Pho Ga 🍲 (Chicken Pho). We did schoolwork for the morning, I am working on a research project about Japan 🇯🇵. After lunch me and my daddy rented a motorcycle 🏍 and my mom and sister rented a bike ( Mom is not a confident motorcycle driver). My dad and I set off to see the biggest pagoda in Trang An , Bai Dinh. But the pagoda was 11 km away so Mommy and Denise set off for the ancient capital of Trang An, Hoa Lu. The first time we tried to get to Bai Dinh we got lost so we went back to the homestay to get further directions the 2nd time was more successful but we did not go on the pagoda because you had to park your motorcycle and take a shuttle and you had to pay so we just looked at the pagoda from the outside. We came back just before the girls and my dad got a beer 🍺. When they came back they said they also got lost and had not found the ancient capital but they ended up at a beautiful lake where people were getting their wedding pictures done. We relaxed for a while until dinner time . Then we went to bed 🛌. We woke up and had breakfast, this time I ordered pancakes 🥞 and so did Denise . We decided to take a boat tour on Trang An River. We got on a boat with a a Dutch guy named Morris and set off on the river. On the river we went through a lot of caves and stopped at some pagodas. The caves can be seen in picture 3 and video 1. The Trang An River was where they filmed the second King Kong Movie 🎥 🍿🦍. The boat was very fun. We biked 🚲 back to Green Mountain and had lunch 🍴. We did more schoolwork and made creations on the recycle wall. We went to bed early and had a deep sleep 💤. The next morning we woke up and had breakfast 🥞🍳. After schoolwork Denise started to feel sick 🤒. Our plan was to go on an overnight bus 🚌 the next night to Sapa to do a trek but we could not do a 10 km trek while Denise was sick. I was sad that Denise was sick and that we were not going to Sapa. Unfortunately Denise stayed sick and we had to take a bus to Hanoi where there would be an English speaking doctor 👨‍⚕️. I m writing from our Air B&B in Hanoi. I really like it here. Bye!There is always so many boat drivers waiting in line to get customers, it is the main attraction of the area.

We have been in Vietnam for over 2 weeks and I have been vowing to write this post for almost as long! I have learned that Vietnamese food is so much more than salad rolls and pho, and in general has been a different culinary experience than other countries in our travels so far. First off, there is very little spice. The flavour profile is a mix of sweet and salty, with sour entering the mix here and there. We began our travels in Central Vietnam so I will begin the food tour with these dishes.

Our first night in Hoi An we tried Cao Lau. It is made with Japanese style wheat noodles rather than the rice noodles found in Pho. It is served with greens (fresh herbs if you are lucky), roast pork, bean sprouts, peanuts, crouton like crisps and a soupy sauce. The locals eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The verdict- delicious!

Another Hoi An specialty is Banh Xeo. We never captured the best photo of this dish but you are served a plate of fresh greens, cucumber and herbs alongside fried pancakes that are stuffed with shrimp, pork, quail egg and bean sprouts. You take a sheet of rice paper and roll up the pancake with the greens and dunk it in sauce. We were served peanut sauce and fish sauce with this dish. We definitely preferred the peanut. This dish was a lot of fun to eat.

Next up is Banh Mi, a more familiar meal but we tasted so many variations beginning in the Ho Chi Minh City airport upon landing in Vietnam. The traditional style is made with a pork pate – salty and saucy and topped with sliced pork or a spam like product (I prefer the former), fresh veggies like carrot, onion and cucumber, fresh mayo and chili sauce. The bread is a half wheat half rice flour baguette that is light and fluffy and delicious when served warm. Our favourite Banh Mi was at Phi Banh Mi in Hoi An- chicken, avocado and a homemade chili sauce (that apparently brews for 2 months) along with veggies and mayo. Our least favourite Banh Mi was when they went overboard on the sauce. There is no limit to the amount of mayo that one sandwich can hold here, but occasionally we beg to differ!

These dumplings are called Banh Vac or White Rose Dumplings in English. They are made with shrimp and sometimes pork too, topped with fried shallots and green onions and served with a chili garlic fish sauce for dipping. I would say they are a lot like dim sum but have a lighter taste and often ended up on our table as a sharing appetizer at dinner.

Next up is Pho. Truth be told, I never really enjoyed this dish in Toronto but apparently I have just been eating the wrong kind. It is a Northern Vietnam speciality that we tried on our first day in Hanoi. Here is Evan getting his slurp and his chopsticks on!

We had our fair share of both Pho Bo (beef) and Pho Ga (chicken). The secret truly seems to be in the broth which is rich and salty. The bowl comes with broth, meat, rice noodles and green onion. You can add chilis to your taste and lime juice for that shot of sour. I love it with the citrus but apparently that is a newer phenomenon and true pho lovers leave it out. The chilis gave us adults the shot of spicy we had been missing, while without them the kids slurp it up. If you are in Hanoi head to Bat Dan street for the best pho spots (a tip a local Hanoian shared with Cle!).

Potentially my favourite new taste has been Egg Coffee or Caphe Trung. It is a true treat- a shot of coffee topped with a whipped egg that is smooth, silky, creamy and sweet. We took quite a few stops at coffee shops in Hanoi to indulge in these sensations and luckily they make egg chocolate too for the kids. This one is from a second story cafe across from the Lake Hoan Kiem, the perfect spot to sip and watch the world go by below.

The only danger of egg coffee is it is a little hard to keep your mustache clean! Dan is at Cafe Giang here – a famous Hanoi spot for Caphe Trung.

The coffee culture in Hanoi is fabulous. Locals sit on the tiniest stools outside countless shops sipping coffee or tea at any hour of day. Once again it is usually the men who are relaxing around here!

One evening in Hanoi we paid for a guide to take us on a street food tour. We were hoping to try new dishes we may otherwise have strolled by. Our first stop was Nom Thit Bo Ko (that shows off the roadside blue plastic stools perfectly).

I never would have ordered this Nom Bo Ko but it was probably the best example of the salty and sweet combination. Lots of shredded green papaya, herbs, peanuts, candied dried beef, pork and a vinegar / fish sauce dressing.

Another dish on our tour was Banh Cuon. First a rice flour crepe is steamed over muslin and then filled with a pork and mushrooms, topped with crispy shallots and dipped once again in fish sauce. It is served with cilantro or fresh herbs.

Nancy, our guide, told us that when you are going for street food always choose the shops/stalls with older cooks. She said grandparents cook it best with the traditional flavours and this Banh Cuon at Banh Cuon Nong was definitely the best we have had so far.

Here is Nancy instructing our group on why this is the best pho ga at Pho Ga Bun Thang – apparently it is all about the broth. Our street food tour basically involved us eating 5 dinners instead of one. By the end we couldn’t eat another bite.

One thing we had hoped to try on the tour was authentic Bia Hoi ( fresh draft beer brewed without preservatives and meant to be enjoyed that day). By the end of the tour it was too late to find any as it is usually served up by early evening so the next night we headed for Bia Hoi corner (pictured below) and sampled some of this light Pilsner for 60 cents a glass. There are Vietnamese men here at all hours of the day and a fair share tourists too.

On Cle’s final night in Hanoi we went for Bun Cha, another northern speciality. We sought out Bun Cha Nem Cua Be Dac Kim which is listed as the #1 spot since 1966. We would have to agree. You are served pork patties, fermented cucumber and carrots in a warm vinegary fish sauce broth called nuoc man. You also receive an ample plate of rice vermicelli and another of lettuce and herbs. You mix it all up and enjoy.

A certain Bun Cha restaurant was made famous by an Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown episode with Obama where they enjoy a meal together in Hanoi. It is often served with fried crab meat spring rolls- also good to dunk in the broth.

We decided to seek out this spot Bun Cha Huong Lien on another night but all of us agreed that the first place was better or maybe it was just the first time we tasted it!

No eating post would be complete without mentioning dessert. On our food tour we sampled the mini donuts that women sell all over the streets of Hanoi. I think perhaps Canadian donuts are just too good to be that impressed by these street eats. Evan and I did try Sua Chua at a popular storefront right at the end of our hotel’s alley Sua Chua Thách La Nep.

Sua Chua is basically sweet yogurt with flavoured gelatin cubes, large tapioca style balls, piles of fresh fruit and black sesame rice if you wish to add it in there. Definitely an interesting dessert and locals lined up for it, but gelatin and tapioca just aren’t my thing- the black sesame rice however was pretty scrumptious. And that is a wrap on eating in Central and Northern Vietnam. Let us know if you have a favourite Vietnamese dish we should seek out and try!

4 days ago we boarded a bus from Hanoi to Halong Bay. We were going to board a boat that we would sleep on for one night and sleep on an island called Cat Ba for the 2nd night, we were taking a cruise called Vega Cruise. There were 12 people on the boat including us, 3 from Quebec, 2 from Romania, 1 from Italy, 1 other from Toronto and 1 from Germany. 8 Canadians!!!!  Our guide Thang, pronounced Tongue was very nice and funny. Our boat left the pier at about 12:30pm. We had two rooms on the boat, one room with two twins that me and my mom were sharing and another room with a double for my dad and Denise. Soon after we left the pier, we were called up to the dining room for lunch. The lunch was so delicious and it was a very big portion, after lunch I was very full. For a little bit we hung out on the Sun Deck on the roof of the boat, although there was not much sun 😩😭. I read my book called “The Serpent’s Shadow” and enjoyed the scenery of Halong. After that we took kayaks around the bay for 2 hours and stopped at two caves. Trong Cave (Drum Cave) and Fairy Lake Cave. When we got back to the boat we had showers and relaxed for a little bit in our rooms. We anchored in a pretty spot for dinner, which by the way was very good and stayed in that spot for the night. I had a little trouble falling asleep but luckily I fell asleep not too late because we needed to have breakfast at 6:30am!! The reason for that is that we needed to get to the biggest cave in Halong before it got too busy. The biggest cave was called Surprising Cave, you can see it in photos 5&6. In the cave Thang told us the legend of Halong Bay. Vietnam was in war with China and China was coming with a lot of soldiers on a big boat to fight the Vietnamese in Halong Bay. At that time the Vietnamese did not have any boats except some small fishing boats. They had no other choice than fighting so their best soldiers set out on a fishing boat. They were all thinking “We are about to die”. They prayed and prayed for good fortune. Suddenly some dragons came and dropped rocks and diamonds into the water which became all of Halong’s islands, then the Chinese could not come in to the harbour so they just went back to China and Vietnam was at peace. There are over 2000 islands in halong but they say 1969 have names because that is the year Ho Chi Minh died. Surprising Cave is said to be the home of the dragons. The Vietnamese name for Surprising Cave is Hang Sung Sot. After that we made our way to Ti Top Mountain, Ti Top was a Russian general who supported Ho Chi Minh. We climbed Ti Top Mountain and at the top got great views of Halong Bay. After Ti Top we changed boats to a boat with no sleeping rooms, just tables. We took that boat for about an hour to Cat Ba Island. We rented bikes and rode on Cat Ba to a village called Viet Hai. We stopped at a rice wine making house and the adults drank rice wine, it had snakes in it!!!!!! You can see the wine with snakes in photo 10. We rode our bikes some more and parked them at a restaurant. We started to walk in the forest and we went through a cave and at the end there was a very hard hike up a mountain. Thang thought Denise might not be able to do it so dad, Denise, and 3 other people walked back the way we came. Me and my mom started the hike, it was pretty hard, at one point there was a platform that was like a foot wide and behind you was sheer cliff and you had to climb up the other side, it was so scary! You can see photos of the hike, they are photos 11, 12, 13, and 14. The way down was harder but we finally got there and met up with the rest of the team at the restaurant. We biked back to the pier and got back on the boat. As soon as we took off they served us lunch which was very good, as per usual. Then we took the boat to a nice part of Halong and we kayaked for a while, then we went swimming while the boat was stopped. I jumped off the top of the boat, you can see me in Video 2. You can see our boat with rooms in photo 9. Then we made our way back to Cat Ba and stayed at a hotel called Hung Long Hotel. For dinner we went to a restaurant called Casa Bonita, I got a smoothie bowl which was great. Unfortunately the night we were staying there was the Women’s Day Gala Dinner so they were blasting loud music until 9pm. We had to have breakfast at 7:00am so we woke up at 6:30 to pack. We had breakfast at the hotel and took a minivan to the pier, we boarded the boat again, then changed back to the sleeping boat for some relax time. We had lunch just before arriving to the pier in Halong City. After that we boarded a bus to Ninh Binh. What an adventure that was.

Me jumping off the boat.

Yesterday, we went to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam. We got there in the morning because the mausoleum is closed in the afternoon. When we first got there we were so surprised at how big the lineup was, it took up more than 2 blocks! But we decided to go for it and wait in line. Luckily, the line moved very fast and within half an hour we were at the front of the line. The park where the mausoleum was was very pretty and had nice greenery all around. There was no photography allowed in the park but everyone was taking pictures so Cleo snuck a pic of the mausoleum for you, it is pic 5. All around the mausoleum are guards in formal white uniforms, the ones at the door of the mausoleum and inside the mausoleum even had guns. Before we went in, I did not know anything about the inside of the mausoleum except that in a glass case was Ho Chi Minh’s actual body. When we went in everything was silent so I decided to keep quiet too. Ho Chi Minh was lying with eyes closed in a glass case that was dimly lit with a candle glow. To keep the line moving, you only were allowed 1 minute to walk by Ho Chi Minh. Picture 4 is not him in the mausoleum, that is a statue of him in the Ho Chi Minh Museum. The picture below shows a tea set given to Ho by Russia, he was given many other gifts from other countries like Egypt or China. Picture 2 shows a wax Ho Chi Minh at his actual typewriter. Picture 3 shows Ho Chi Minh’s actual clothes, shoes, hat, and exercising equipment (apparently he loved to exercise). Here is the short version of Ho Chi Minh’s life. Ho Chi Minh (at the time, Nguyen Ai Quoc) grew up in a small village with his parents called Kim Lien. He had a simple life working on a farm and exercised whenever he could. He led the movement for Vietnamese independence from the French in the 1940’s. He led the communist government in the north, the south at that time was capitalist and did not want to become communist but the north wanted them to become communist so that they could be united. A civil war broke out and the US gave money to the south because they were capitalist and so was the US, the US wanted the whole world to become capitalist. The south was still losing the fight so eventually the US sent their own troops to fight the communist government in the north of Vietnam. In the end, the north won and the whole country became communist. But the US troops did not leave until after Ho Chi Minh had died in 1969.

P.S. By chance, while we are here the Summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong is happening and there is signs everywhere and paparazzi. I was on Korean TV and Cleo was on Taiwan TV.📺😀

Big Trip 2019

The link above will take you to a map of the places we have been on our trip. It kind of looks like we have been traveling in a Z-shaped formation. If you have any questions about where we have been and what it was like please comment on this post and I will reply as soon as possible.

Hoi An is a city full of vibrant life, colour and culture that is certainly worth documenting! As many of you know, street photography is a passion of mine, so it was hard to not take photographs of everything. For this blog post, I wanted to post 22 photographs but Denise told me that was too many! So now I have to pick and choose which photographs to share with you.

When I’m walking through the streets my eye is caught by the daily lives of locals selling their wares in the markets, or their trade in the streets.

Hoi An’s streets are full of alley ways, many painted a golden yellow, giving the old city a majestic feel. Above are a few shots showing off the golden glow of Hoi An!

Street eats are an irresistible subject matter for me. First of all, I love food and secondly, I love the way food brings people together. Food stalls and vendors can be found all throughout Hoi An, selling noodle soups, Cao Lau (a Hoi An noodle dish speciality) and of course Banh Mi!!

Getting around town is easy enough on bike, foot or moto. But sometimes it can tire a driver out!!

Overall Hoi An is a beautiful city, even if the old quarter is quite busy with tourists. I enjoyed capturing the feel of the city and hope you were able to get a sense of it too!! (I only shared 20 photos with you, clearly I need to work on my editing skills!!)