Loving friends and family!
It has been a week again, my apologies but our time here in Hanoi has been so full and busy, not a second to spare! The last thing I told you was we were heading to Halong Bay, one of the world's 7th wonders! It was a wonder to see for sure. The bay was filled with amazing little islands(rock-type chunks)that were super cool! We boarded a yacht in Halong City, among 17 other tourists, and set sail! We first went to one huge island(not sure of the name)but it was marvelous. We actually got to go inside, many are caves and have been transformed into tourist attractions. It was sooo cool! It felt like we should have been swimming through it. The entire inside looked like chunks of corral. After the cave tour, which took us to beautiful heights overlooking the whole bay, we got the opportunity to kayak through the bay and explore on our own. It was an overnight trip so we were able to sleep on the boat and were served meals. All in all it was a great experience. Unfortunately, we did have a handful of young people (Americans) who thought it would be awesome to get full out wasted and jump off the 3 floor of the boat, kind of ruining it for the rest of us because the next day we were promised to do some things that we didn't, in the end, get to do! Oh well.
Our past week in Hanoi has truly been an incredible experience. The city is so full of character. The people are so genuine and hospitable. Nicole and I were at the bus stop last night and some girls just started talking to us, being so kind. Seconds later this guy comes to join the conversation he heard as he was walking by. Once the girls got on their bus, he continued to stand and talk with us even though he wasn't even taking the bus! The old quarter, where we are staying, is full of colourful shops, weird sounds, and delicious smells. One day we went to Vietnam's notorious "water puppet show". Apparently if you go to Vietnam and don't see the show, it's like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel tower - just something you do. It was quite comical, as music was played and these puppets danced around on water. It was a really good way to understand and grasp their culture more, despite the fact that it was all in Vietnamese. That night, we were invited over to hangout with Mary and some girls from her church. We made crosses out of palm branches, ate banana chocolate chip pancakes, and watched a movie. It was so great to have the opportunity to hangout with people who have the same faith values as you and be in a house, eating western homemade food, even if it was just pancakes! We also got the chance to go to a pottery village with Mary and her Vietnamese teacher, Huang and her friend. It was an hour from the area we are staying, so we rode on the back of each Mary and Huang's bike. It was super fun, despite it being a bit painfully long. At the village we made our own pottery on a hand spinning wheel. We then painted them and got to keep them. I think we got our pictures taken half a dozen times from Huang and her friend. They were so fun to hangout with and showed so much joy throughout the day. We proceeded to the night market later that evening. I have never been shoved, body slammed, rocked, elbowed, hair whipped, or touched that aggressively in my life! The market is jam-packed with SO many people who all revolve around themselves. It's like everyone feels invincible and that they are the only ones that matter shoving you to get what they want. It's crazy! Yesterday we were invited to Mary's international church for Palm Sunday. It was refreshing to be apart of something so familiar in a place so foreign. That afternoon we got to partake in something none of us had ever dreamt of, well I hadn't at least. Mary, Nicole, and I took part in a CHOCOLATE BUFFET!!! WHAT?!?!?! I KNOW!!!! .. We went to this incredible hotel that took us to another world. The hotel itself was astoundingly beautiful, you could feel how expensive it was the second you entered the lobby. I felt like I went back in time to the 70's and teleported to Europe. The ambiance and setting of the hotel was so exclusive and rustic, I can understand why people would stay there. So about the chocolate.. we thought we were in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. Everything you could imagine was there : every kind of chocolate(pure), crepes, fruit you could dip in fondue, mousse, so many kinds of chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, and millions of these chocolate treats.. I went up 3 times to fill my plate full! We also were given these little finger sandwiches and coffee, which sort of balanced it out.. not really though. It was awesome. I am pretty sure we all had the worst gut aches after, literally stuffing our faces full until not one more thing could go down without coming up. But I think we got our moneys worth!
Alas, we have finished our time in this crazy, wonderful, city so full of life. This evening we are flying out, heading back to Bangkok. From there we will try and get on a train that will take us up north to Chiang Mai. We have a guesthouse booked for April 10th, so until then we will explore the surrounding cities, hoping to discover new and incredible creations that God has wonderfully made. Please continue to pray for safe travels as we put ourselves back in a new country. Health wise we are feeling great. We were able to skype both our families the other day, refreshing and renewing our spirits. So blessed. We also feel incredible grateful to have been able to spend most of this past week with Mary! She is an amazing, hospitable, generous, godly woman, whom we felt is so inspiring! From moving to an entirely new country all the way around the world, depending solely on the Lord, it's admirable. It was refreshing to be able to hangout with someone that knew this city so well. From showing us around, giving us advice, and just catching up, it will give us fond memories! Thank you Mary, we love you !
Talk to you in Thailand.
Nicole is once again updating her blog with some fascinating photos taken in the duration of this past week! Enjoy!
www.helloavocado.blogspot.com
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