Michelle Travels the Globe: Halong Bay/Hanoi/Thai New Year

After a 14 hour sleeper train journey, we hopped on a bus and drove 4 more hours to Halong Bay. My roommate Sam and I had a great hotel room with a view. The weather here was much different than the weather in Southern Vietnam. I almost felt like I was back in California during the Fall season. One of the nights it even rained a bit. It was definitely a relief after just being drenched in sweat the past week every single day. If there is one thing I can say about Southeast Asia is that it is not even worth it to wear makeup in some locations! It will all just come off in an hour or two tops. Anyways, we took a nice boat cruise around the bay and had a seafood lunch!

Cherine and I on the boat.

Susanna, a new British friend and I on the dock.

Stopped and saw some amazing caves!

Two of my favorite Brits, Harry and Andrew.

After a night in Halong Bay, we went to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam to finish our tour! The first day there, we just wandered around and explored the city. Hanoi has a mixture of city and nature. Again the cool weather was amazing!

Traditional Vietnamese outfits.

Enjoying some local beer.

The following day Cherine and I decided to take a bicycle taxi around the city. It was quite the experience! We had the cutest, littlest, old Vietnamese man drive us around town. We definitely had a few close calls as he was driving us right into the middle of traffic, but all three of us had a good laugh along the way! We definitely finished up our time here Vietnamese style! What a memory!

Our last night in Hanoi, we went to dinner and then a group of us went to the Water Puppet Theater which is famous in this city.

The last dinner!

Water puppet show!

The day of departure was April 9, 2013. Mike, Cherine and I grabbed a bite to eat and had our final smoothies in Vietnam. Vietnam definitely had some great fruit so we had to hit it up one more time! I made some wonderful friends and amazing memories! Looking forward to seeing a few of them again very soon. Thank you Vietnam for an amazing 12 days!

Cute puppy!

Right now I am in Thailand and will be flying out to England on April 17th! One more week and I will be on a whole different continent again! Cheers to traveling! So excited for my next big adventure!

Before leaving Thailand, I went to Chon Buri, where I celebrated the Thai New Year. It is called Songkran Festival and it is absolutely amazing. For 3 or more days, depending on what province, there is a huge water fight in the streets. People throw water at one another and rub powder on everyones face. I went with my cousin and my other cousin's daughters and we had such a fun time!