In the evening we went to the airport to leave Cambodia and go to Vietnam. When we checked in to our flight, our favorite scissors (we had them since kindergarten and they were legal to fly with) got confiscated, that means taken away, but mommy asked the guy if he had kids and if he could give the scissors to them and he said yes. At least they didn’t get wasted like all of the other stuff in that bin. Then we went to the lounge and got some sandwiches and relaxed. It was dark outside when we got to our gate. We got to walk out on the concrete and walked across to get to the stairway to get on the airplane. The airplane was called VietJet Airline. It was a short flight. When we reached Hanoi, it was dark.
Right when I got my scissors confiscated.I got a 7up in the airport in Cambodia. Before our flight to Vietnam. On the way to Vietnam. I was excited because we got to fly at night!!
There was a driver holding a sign that said “Welcome Jessica W.” so we knew to follow him even though we couldn’t speak each others languages. He took us to a car and drove us to our apartment. The car didn’t have a seat belt where I was sitting and mommy’s was broken and Cole’s was stuck between the seat and the door. When we got there, there was a problem. We weren’t allowed in the apartment building. There were four security guards that surrounded our car and they didn’t speak English and we had to communicate with Google Translate and ask the driver to call our host. It was scary and my parents seemed stressed. We finally got into our apartment and guess what?? There was another problem! There was no power!! Finally daddy found a hidden box in the closet and flipped a switch and the power went on!! It was a pretty apartment with a lake view. But we were so tired so we went TO BED STRAIGHTAWAY!!
My nice brother carried my backpack for me!This was my first morning in our Vietnam apartment. I liked to draw on the chair.I drew all over the back of it, too!…and I drew on the furniture in the lobby!!This grocery store was in the basement of the apartment building and we went every day!Green eggs!!!! I guess Dr. Seuss spent some time in Vietnam, too!!More green stuff!!More silkworms!Vietnam had a lot of yummy sweet treats!
The next day we got groceries and got settled. And then we went out to explore. It is VERY hard crossing the street in Vietnam. The traffic doesn’t stop EVER and there are SO MANY MOTORCYCLES AND CARS AND YOU JUST CROSS!!! No one stops and you just have to GO!! It was scary crossing the street because the cars and motorcycles were coming at me really fast and it seemed like I was going to get hit, but I never did. I always held my mom or dad’s hand and kept a steady pace. You don’t get yourself in trouble crossing the street, unless you stop or pause while crossing. By the third day we were used to it and less stressed about crossing the street.
People sell their items off of their bikes and carts on the street.And Grandmas drive their grandkids around on mopeds! Hanoi had really pretty parks.Some people go there to take special pictures.
Everyday in Vietnam we explored new areas and tried new foods. There is a lot of yummy street food and fun things going on in the streets. It is so different here than in Hermosa Beach. I love them both so much.
Vietnamese street food. I tried it, it was like a hot dog.This was beef and noodles from a restaurant on the street. There was a cat and a chicken next to us.More treats! The yellow part was banana floavored.Egg coffee is popular in Hanoi. I got coco instead of coffee and it was DELICIOUS!This was the place that we were excited to try. It was worth the walk and wait!There were cute little dogs all over Hanoi. And they were usually peoples pets, not wild street dogs like in Cambodia and Thailand.We walked and walked and walked, EVERYWHERE!!Monkeys in the park!And peacocks!This is a famous little pagoda in a lake with a legend of a magical turtle.More pretty street art.Another temple. I liked this one a lot. It had a cat and the inside was beautiful. Vietnam is where I really started loving temples.Street art. Sometimes we saw ladies carrying fruit this way.More street art.We got to ride these little motorized cars around when they closed the streets around the lake on the weekends. It was SO FUN!!The streets are narrow in most neighborhoods and people have a lot of stuff outside of their house or restaurant. This is a little narrow train street in Hanoi. It is just wide enough for the train to fit!Train street.More driving on the weekend!!We had so much fun!!!I watched a dog get a haircut! Dogs and people get haircuts on the streets in Hanoi!This was sad. It was where an American B52 bomber was shot down.I learned about the Vietnam War and it was sad for everybody back then.
One thing I didn’t really like in Vietnam was that we had to go to visit a prison. It was a prison that was built by the French for people in Vietnam a long time ago when France was in charge there, but it was used in the Vietnam War for American soldiers that were captured. I didn’t like it because it looked really real and they had statues of people in it as if they were really there. The condition of the prison was very bad for the prisoners. A lot of Vietnam women prisoners were there and even had babies there. I was happy to leave that place .
The French prison where some American pilots had to live when they got captured.John McCain was an American who was captured and lived at this prison.Vietnamese people were tortured there by the French. That was way before the Americans were there.We went there the day before Veterans Day and the gray sign is about Veterans Day.There were a lot of posters about people in the US who wanted to stop the war. The world was happy when the war was over. And I was happy when we left that prison.Then we had to go to this memorial. It was boring. But Ho Chi Minh was important in the history of Vietnam so it was good that we learned about him and saw his mausoleum. A mausoleum is a big building that is really a tomb with a body of an important dead person in it. Also, my favorite temple was close to there so that part was fun.
The next day we went to a water puppet show. Water puppets are an old form of art in Vietnam and tell little stories about village life. My favorite was the fairy story. There were 21 short stories. We got front row seats right in the middle! We loved the show!!
Thang Long Water Puppet show!!There were so many mini stories that were performed.And there was nice music being played during the show.This is what the puppets look like up close. They are wooden.They even used smoke during the show!This guy was cleaning up all of the parts that fell off during the show. They are rough with the puppets and sometimes little pieces chip off.I got this stuffy in Vietnam. It’s name is Nam Nam. I bring her with me everywhere.
One thing that was a little different in Vietnam than other places was how nice everyone was!! THE PEOPLE IN VIETNAM ARE SO NICE!!!! Everywhere we went, people smiled at us and said hello or waved at us. The ladies always touched my hair. And a lot of people wanted to take their picture with me and Cole. Somehow they knew we were tourists and they would try to speak English to us, especially the schoolgirls. They like to practice their English and say “hello, how are you today?” or “what is your name” and then they would giggle.
This was outside of a restaurant and this worker wanted to take our picture.People always had such big smiles on their faces in Vietnam. They seem really happy there.Me reading while I wait for my food and another very happy nice guy sitting at the next restaurant.A lot of people sit out on the street during the day and drink tea or just watch the traffic go by.You see hats like this all the in Vietnam. The are good for blocking out all the sun and are lightweight.
We also went to more Buddhist temples while were were in Vietnam. This is where I really started to like Buddhist temples. My favorite part was praying there. Some of the temples are really crowded. I like the ones that aren’t too busy because then I have more space. I take my shoes off and kneel on the platform. Sometimes I light incense. I want to learn more about Buddhism and go to temples more. Mom said that there are temples that she can take me to in the US if I want. The temples are beautiful with lots of gold and red and are very calm, quiet and peaceful and I like the smell of the incense.
This is another temple. People make offerings of all kinds of things like fruit, floweres and cookies and money.This was the entrance to the temple in the middle of the lake.It was a really beautiful temple.This is me with the turtle that the lake’s legend is about. There were beautiful gardens and ponds on the island with the temple.There were lots of little places to explore.Here we are praying at the temple. That writing is not Vietnamese, it’s Chinese.
Vietnam was fun, even though it was hard to cross the street. I can’t wait to come back!!
We had to get up SUPER EARLY to catch our flight to Taiwan!Sometimes mom and dad let us lead the way to see if we could figure out how to get to where we needed to go. So far so good!! Mostly airports have signs in English, too.I think we were the first people at the airport, besides the workers. We always go to the airport waaaaaaay before our flight. This airport had my favorite, SHRIMP DUMPLINGS!!!The Vietnam Airlines ladies had pretty outfits and gave out cozy blankets.NAP TIME!! We all cozied up for a nap on the way to Taipei because we were so tired from waking up so early!
