Ha Noi, Day 2

For whatever the reason, when Chris and I arrived in Ha Noi, we were both exhausted. We made the decision to head back to the hotel early on our first night so that we could relax and get a good night's sleep to start the rest of our trip off right. Well....that didn't happen. At least not for me. See, I am a VERY light sleeper. And what do you know? Club Opera, located just a few steps across the street, was hosting quite the bash. The live music started around 10:30 p.m. (right around the time I had planned to go to sleep) and ended around 1 a.m. when a DJ promptly took over until about 3:30 a.m. It wasn't just low beats of music I was hearing. No, not at all. It was so loud I may as well have just gone over to the club...I felt like I was there anyway. I put my ipod on in hopes of drowning out their awful club music and falling asleep to my own soothing songs, but unfortunately, the music across the street was so loud that I could still clearly hear it even with my own music turned all the way up. So much for a good night's rest. Chris got one though! The lucky gal passed right out and slept the whole night through :)

Needless to say, I was sort of in a haze for all of day 2 and only half aware of what was going on around me. Still, I managed to capture a few good shots which is all that really matters, right?

The large statue is Ly Thai To. Look him up if you want to know more :) There was a show going on on this stage in celebration of 1000 years of Ha Noi.

Decorations everywhere!

As I mentioned in the previous post, there were people in Ha Noi from all over the place and it was absolutely packed!

Somehow I made it through a guided tour in the morning without falling asleep on the side of the road. Once we got back to the hotel, we quickly cleaned ourselves up to attend an afternoon cooking class. The class came highly recommended in 2 travel books and lucky for us, it was taught at our hotel! Now normally I would be all about a cooking class that involved the students, but when I found out that this class only consisted of the chef cooking for us while going over each recipe, I was THRILLED! A chair to sit in, good food to eat and no effort at all? Sign me up!

Following the class and the included buffet dinner, we headed back to the room to rest up for the next day's adventure...Ha Long Bay! I'm happy to report that Club Opera stayed nice and quiet and I managed to get a good night's sleep!

Hello Ha Noi!

So bad news for the 1-2 people that actually read everything I write on this blog...this entry and the next few are going to require you to do most of your own research. With less than 4 days left in Singapore, I just don't have the time or energy to write a well thought out description of the time I spent in Ha Noi, Vietnam. So I'll give brief bits of information and include lots of pictures and if you feel so inclined to find out more about what you're looking at...Google will have to be your friend today ;)

My good friend Chris and I are both closing in on our time here (me with far less days left than Chris as she isn't leaving until January) and decided we better see all that we can see before we move back to the US. We tried to gather a group of girls to head to Ha Noi with us, but one by one they had to drop out of the trip for other reasons...so it was just the two of us. Oh well, we didn't let that get us down or spoil our girls weekend to Vietnam!

It just so happens that Ha Noi was celebrating its 1,000 year anniversary during the time that we chose to go so the place was PACKED! There were people there from all over the place and countless celebrations and shows going on in honor of the big day. We arrived on a Friday afternoon and stayed through Tuesday and tried our best not to miss a beat. Of course, with me being 26 weeks pregnant at the time and Chris being oh-so-patient with me, we managed to fit in several breaks for rest and relaxation. All in all, it was a fantastic trip and I'm so glad I had one more chance to go back to Vietnam and see a totally different part of the country before leaving this side of the world.  

OK, so day 1. We arrived in the afternoon and decided to do a quick over view of the city. We didn't want to see TOO much because we'd hired a guide to show us around the next morning... 

Our first walk down the street outside of our hotel. Motorcycles everywhere...just like in Ho Chi Minh City.

Chris proving that we were actually in Ha Noi ;)

This is Hoan Kiem Lake, a major focal point of Ha Noi. Remember, if you want to read more about the lake and what's around it, Google is your friend today ;)

 St. Joseph's Cathedral, located in Ha Noi's Old Quarter.

Every part of the city was decorated for the anniversary.

After a good 3 hours of walking the city in the HEAT (man, it was hotter than I was expecting it to be), we enjoyed an early dinner and went back to the hotel for some much needed rest. Unfortuantely, rest I did not get....

The Big Race!

Matt caught the race bug bad when we moved to Singapore. True, he was into running before we moved, but somehow he really started to enjoy it here. I'm still baffled by it...the whole long distance runs in crazy heat, but I guess there are some things that I'm just not meant to understand ;)

Well, for the past couple of months, Matt and his usual running buddy, Jason, have been training for the Northface 100 Duo. 100K duo meant they'd each be running 50K...that's 32 awful, miserable, unthinkable miles (my words, not theirs). That's 6 more miles than a standard marathon and quite honestly, I've always thought that one had to be slightly off their rocker to run a full marathon, but again...my opinion only :)

Finally, the big day arrived and this past Saturday they hopped into their running shoes, slapped on their race tags and set off for the course hoping and praying for rain and cloud coverage.

They got neither. No clouds. No rains. Instead, they had the pleasure of running under a bright and sunny sky in the lovely temperature of 91 degrees. Sounds like so much fun...wish I could have done it right along with them ;)

Anyway, they did AWESOME! Given the harsh sun and temps plus the extremely hilly trail, I am so impressed with their finish time of 7 hours (give or take a few minutes). Seriously, just to finish a race that long is awesome enough, but to finish with a decent time like that is even more amazing. Because we're leaving in 3 weeks, that will be Matt and Jason's last big run together for quite some time - and what a way to go out!

Congratulations to both guys for a job well done! I just keep getting more and more proud of Matt and all of his accomplishments! Way to go! :)

All smiles at the apartment at 5:40 a.m.!

Matt and Jason nearing the finish line with only 250 meters left to go!

My super cute husband still managing a big smile with over 31 miles behind him :)

Go, Matt, Go!!

Jason even managed a wave!

The finish line! I'm sure there wasn't a better sight in the world at that moment.

Done with a medal to prove it!

The whole reason we went to China - the Great Wall!

A couple of months ago, while deciding on our very last trip before moving home, I was sure that I wanted to go to a beautiful beach somewhere and do nothing but relax. Then I got to thinking...why would I spend 17 months in Southeast Asia where I was only a 6 hour plane ride away from China and never even attempt to visit the Great Wall? Suddenly I found myself leaning less toward a relaxing beach and more toward a chaotic city. So China it was! Plus, as I mentioned a few posts back, Matt had already been to China, but wanted to go back there with me - so bonus! we were both happy with the decision :)

I imagine most everyone is at least a little bit familiar with the Great Wall of China, but I'll add a little blurb on it real quick just in case you need a refresher. I'm taking this directly from my Lonely Planet book... "The most iconic monument in all China, the Great Wall stands as an awe-inspiring symbol of the grandeur of China's ancient history. Dating back 2000-odd years, the Wall stretches from the border with North Korea in the east, to Lop Nur in the far western province of Xinjiang." I think that's a good description! So basically, the wall is enormously long. It's non continuous length is said to be about 5,500 miles!

Work on the wall begun during the Qin dynasty and continued into the Han dynasty, then the Jin and finally during the Ming dynasty. As my book also states, "the great irony of the Wall is that it rarely stopped China's enemies from invading." It was less than effective for military use, but proved effective in transporting people across the mountain.

The Wall is not only considered to be one of the seven wonders of the world, it is also a Unesco World Heritage Site - so it was definitely something worth seeing! Let's move on to the fun part...the pictures! Get ready for Great Wall overload...I had a hard time narrowing down my pics to share!

Our very first look at the Wall!

Proof that the Wall is a Unesco World Heritage Site...in case you didn't believe me ;)

Me, Matt and baby Benjamin (23 weeks) on the Great Wall. Our little boy is quite the traveler. Such a shame that he won't get to travel nearly as much after he's born!

We were expecting huge crowds, but it turns out it was pretty empty! A weekday visit to the wall is definitely the way to go!

Here we are with our wonderful guide! We booked with Beijing-Travels and highly recommend their trip to the Wall :)

The tower at the top of these steps is as far as you can travel on this section of the Wall. I had every intention of going up there, but upon seeing the stairs we (really read Matt) decided it wasn't worth getting my heart rate too elevated just to make it to one last tower...so I finally gave myself a break and sat this last section out. After seeing people come down looking completely out of breath, I'm pretty glad I didn't make the trek up there!

Of course, Matt made his way to the top. I must say, in comparison to the other people making their way up, he absolutely flew up there! I guess all of his marathon training has him in good shape :)

A break for a picture. You can see me way down there in the distance...the little green dot in the right corner.

A look back at the part of the Wall we traveled on

So that was our trip to the Wall and we loved every moment of it! Of course, several hours of climbing stairs and ramps in the blazing sun made for some hungry tourists so we were thrilled when our guide and driver brought us to lunch. We were expecting some type of strange picnic lunch or a stop at a hole-in-the-wall type restaurant, but to our great surprise we ended up a pretty fancy place! They ordered all of the dishes for us and everything was SO good. I wish I'd taken a picture of our meal, but we were too busy eating to remember to do it. It turns out there was a wedding going on at the restaurant and as we were leaving the bride and groom requested to have their picture taken with us, ha!

Finally, after a quick nap back at the hotel, I found what VERY little energy was left in me and followed Matt to the site of the 2008 Beijing Olympics to snap a few quick photos.

This is the Water Cube, the place most known for being where Michael Phelps won his Olympic medals. It's since been turned into an indoor water park.

The Olympic Stadium, aka, "the Bird's Nest"

That was pretty much the end of our big trip to China. I am so happy that we chose Beijing for our last big trip before the move because we have so many sweet memories to bring back with us!

My China Birthday!

Our third day in China also happened to be my birthday :) ... and a nice birthday gift would have been the opportunity to sleep in, but our jam packed schedule didn't allow that! Instead, I found myself up at 6 a.m. and headed to the Temple of Heaven Park. Why so early? Well, we wanted to be sure and catch people doing taichi! Turns out, we got to see people doing all sorts of excercise in the park. 

These folks were playing with a Chinese version of a hacky sack which is basically weighted feathers...

...even Matt got in on the action. I promise, that is not an actual bird!

We saw a bit of line dancing

A bit of yoga?

A bit of group stretching...

...and finally, some taichi!

Check out a little live action from the park!

This little dragonfly caught our eye!

Eventually we made it to the main attraction at the park, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

After we left the park, we headed back to the hotel. Matt rewarded my long walk to the park at 6 a.m. with a delicious birthday breakfast that kept us full until dinner time. Yum! After we ate, we made our way over to the Summer Palace.

Matt at the entrance to the Summer Palace. He's all ready to tour!

The Summer Palace is where the imperial court fled for breaks from the heat of the Forbidden City. Now I don't know about you, but when I think of a place to flee from heat, I imagine a place that is actually cold or at least cool.  Let's just say we weren't at all cold during our tour of the Summer Palace. In fact, we were down right hot! ;) I asked Matt why they didn't choose a much further off location, but he reminded me that the Summer Palace was built during a time where taxis and/or the subway weren't around to get you from the Forbidden City to the Summer Palace in less than an hour. I guess he has a point...

I imagine the royal family did not have to fan themselves to keep cool at the palace...but I'm not quite as special I guess!

So as we made our way through the palace, Matt decided we should head up to the top of Longevity Hill. Perhaps I should have paid closer attention to the name of our destination, but I was surprised by the effort I had to put forth toward getting up there. It was steps and steep ramps galore!

Faking a smile ;) Just kidding, it really wasn't too bad. We worked in several breaks to keep my heart rate down and to give baby Benjamin a rest :) To my great surprise (and to the surprise of many people at the top of the hill that noticed my pregnant belly), we eventually made it to the top!

Thankfully the view was worth it! Only it turns out...this wasn't even the top :( We climbed many more hills after this!

The imperial court had a small village built inside the palace where they went when they wanted to get a feel for what it was like to live as a commoner. We felt very at home inside this small village :)

After we left the Summer Palace, we decided to make a very long day even longer and track down a Thai restaurant that we read about in our travel guide. Well, a long subway ride where no one would give up their seat and a significant walk in the wrong direction did not make for a very cheerful me...but with a bit of complaining from yours truly (poor Matt!) we made it to the restaurant and indulged in some delicious Thai food.

Back at the hotel, showered and ready for sleep, a pleasant surprise came at 10 p.m. when the hotel dropped by a sweet treat for my birthday!

YUM! It was realllllly good. A whole cake! We didn't even eat half of it. Major props to the hotel because I totally thought Matt arranged for the cake to be delivered. He admitted that he couldn't take credit for it because it wasn't his doing. (I think he should have...I would have never known the difference, ha!) They must have noticed my birthday on my passport at check in.

What a delicious way to end a fabulous birthday!

Now time to rest up for our trip's most exciting adventure...the Great Wall of China!