mountains to see the rice paddies and tribes that live there, such as the Hmong and Dao people. We chose the "easy" trek which was actually pretty challenging because the mountain paths were often steep, narrow, and slippery due to the rains of the preceding days. The scenery was amazing as we saw acres of rice fields carved from the mountains.... meeting the different tribes was also interesting, because they are dressed in traditional wear and their existence is very simple.... during the day the women harvest the crops and make jewelry and handbags to sell ... what was interesting was that the men were nowhere to be seen! 99% of the people you see are women, so I dunno where the men are during the day ... anyway, these tribes they speak their own dialect, learn Vietnamese in school, and pick up a good amount of English and French just from the tourists ...

On our last day in Hanoi in northern Vietnam, we took a brief one-day tour of Hoa Lu, the former capital of Vietnam in the 10th century after Vietnam became "independent" from China... and also took a canoe ride through Tam Coc, which had scenery like a mini version of Ha Long Bay except it's inland instead of out on the bay ...

The Perfect Flood

Then we took a 12 hour trip by bus down to Hue in central Vietnam where we were mostly stuck in the hotel due to sheets of nonstop rain ... on the first day there, water flooded the streets just past the ankles but by the second day it had risen up to our knees! lol... the water flooded into the lobby of our hotel and people were paddling down the
streets in canoes ... apparently there hadn't been a flood like this in Hue since maybe 1999 as we were told ...

Anyway, we couldn’t really go anywhere which was a little disappointing since I had been looking forward to seeing the citadel where the royal family of the Nguyen dynasty once lived, and visiting the DMZ (demilitarized zone) where some of the worst battles of the Vietnam war took place since this is the area that divided North and South Vietnam ...
also couldn't get an ao dai (traditional long gown) made since I had heard Hue is known for its tailoring and the place to get suits and other formal wear made ... couldn’t even go out for the coveted bun bo Hue (spicy beef noodle soup, and yes it is different from pho :) or to sample other cuisines special to the region ... hehehe

Since other cities in central Vietnam such as Hoi An and Nha Trang were also experiencing the flood ... we had to change our travel plans and skip those cities ... a bit disappointing as Hoi An and Nha Trang are very scenic and often travelers' favorite cities to go to in Vietnam … After waiting 3 days for the rain to abate, but to no luck, we booked a last minute flight down to Saigon in southern Vietnam ... and I will have
to continue this next time since I think this is enough for one sitting :) miss you all and hope you are all doing well!