Good Morning, Vietnam!

I mean, I don't think you can travel to Vietnam and NOT be thinking that each day. Of course I'm rethinking if any phrase made popular in relation to the Vietnam war is appropriate at all!??

Day 1: Caffeinating Up

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After resting for a bit in our hotel on the day of arrival to Hanoi, Vietnam, we ventured out. I had booked a coffee making workshop for 2 pm. The timing was set to force us awake and get us caffeinated for a few more hours of awake time. We ended up walking the 1.5km to the coffee shop through the streets of the French quarter. There are side walks but they are filled with restaurants and parking motor bikes so most of the time you have to walk on the streeets. The streets are filled with motor bikes, bikes, cars, buses and lots of people. It's pure south-east Asian chaos that is a little hard to process when you're so sleep deprived but we zigzagged our way through, safely. We were surprised by all the big beautiful trees throughout the old quarter. I was extremely excited to come across this scene which I immediately recognized from an episode of the Amazing Race. Eventually the small winding streets opened up to this bigger main street with even bigger trees and parks.

We eventually found the coffee shop where our class would be, tucked back through a few alley ways. The downstairs has a classic coffee shop, The Bluebirds' Nest, with a library of booked and we head up a skinny windy stair case to the rooftop. The class was just us and an instructor, a young local woman. I don't quite remember where I found this class, I think between Facebook and TripAdvisor but then primarily communicated over WhatsApp to confirm time and location.

She taught us how to make 5 different coffee drinks, all with the base Vietnamese standard coffee bean which has been slow dripped/pressed in a coffee pot device and is similar to espresso. We liked 4 of the 5 coffees. The last was the famous egg coffee which came with a history lesson about starvation in Vietnam in the 1940s, domination by the French which led to the invention of egg coffee which replaced a less common, expensive item (milk) with a more readily available product, whipped egg yolk. It was actually very good! Our favorites were probably more of the standard iced latte like foam and white coffee or the frozen coconut cream coffees, with the least favorite being the yogurt coffee.

We were very caffeinated by the end and headed out for a short walk towards Ho Chi Minh's masoleum and park. The streets were beautiful as they widened and we passed some seemingly Government buildings (judging based on the security and 'no camera' signs). Then the sky opened up and it started to pour. We didn't have our rain jackets and we got soaked as we ran back towards the streets lined with shops. We popped into the first coffee shop we came across. There was a man from France who also popped in. We chatted a bit. Although we see many Europeans in our travels, they are often times surprised to see an American family and he took the time to tell us how happy he was to see us and how good it was to give our children a broader world perspective.

That evening, I was again surprised by either the level of service or how rare the American family sighting is around the world. We stopped by the front desk in our hotel to let them know we had an issue with our sink. This was our first time meeting these workers but we didn't even have to tell them our names or room number, they just knew it. I had said, "Do you need my room number?" And her response was "No, it's 201, right?" We're certainly not ones to cause a scene, so I think it's our nationality plus the kids that stands out.

Another concern that parents have a lot is about adjusting to new time zones. Adjusting to this 12 hour time zone change is the worst it can get, but so far it hasn't been that bad. We didn't last quite as long into the evening as I had wanted, we wanted to check out a night market but were exhausted. We went to bed around 7 pm. The adults woke up around 3 am and the kids around 4:30 am. The teenager probably would have slept even longer if we weren't noisy. I'm going to consider that a win!

Day 2: Delicious and Sobering

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As the sun came up, we watched the streets of the French Quarter and observed small things of daily life. Like the hotel across the street had someone sleeping in a cot by the door. I guess they don't have their front desk staff stay awake all night and just have them sleep there. We realized that was probably the situation downstairs in our hotel and we did't want to wake them so we stayed in our room for a little while longer. At 6 am, we wandered the streets as the city was waking up. Restaurant owners gathering and preparing their fresh fruits and vegetables for the day. Construction workers hauling materials through the streets while they aren't full of bikes and cars. Sweeping the leaves and trash from the day before into piles along the street. Sanitation workers picking up trash.

I really hate group tours, especially bus tours. I saw plenty of limo buses and big nice cozy tourist buses navigating the streets of the French Quarter but that's just not my style. Then I found this tour online via a Facebook travel group that might just work, so at 7:30 am, we got picked up, not by a limo bus, but by this old Vietnamese army Jeep outside our hotel. Driven by a man in an army uniform and bucket hat. Yes, this is what I'm talking about. We embarked on a 4 hour private tour around Hanoi city.

Our Jeep driver, Johnny and guide, Ashley (not their Vietnamese names) were very friendly and accommodating. Ashley worked very hard to win over my bashful daughter and was very protective of our family as we navigated crossing streets. It was a rainy day, so a bit of a bummer, but they had a cover over the Jeep which made it work. Some highlights included:

• Long Bien bridge, architected by the same French architect who built the Eiffel Tower.

• Train Street, where houses were illegally built too close to the tracks so now there are Cafes where you sit and the train comes within inches of you.

• Some local back alleys where we learn more about day to day life.

• The home of a local 80 yr old man who played instruments for us and then told us about how he was recruited from being a teacher to fight in the Vietnam war against America.

• A military museum to see the remains of an American B-52 bomber that Vietnam had shot down with their smaller artillery.

• Then driving around the city to point out a number of other sites, such as 'John McCain lake' where he crash landed his plane, and Ho Chi Minh masoleum where his body is preserved and on display. (But he is taken to Russia every few years to be re-embalmed!)

• A delicious lunch at the tour company's cafe which is made from all recycled parts. It was fabulous to see the kids trying to eat with chop sticks, and generally trying new foods that they likely wouldn't give a shot at home.

I'm glad I did some research on the Vietnam war before our trip. Other than knowing it happened and that people weren't happy about it, I really never understood why it happened. I still don't truly understand why it happened (does anyone?) but it's very sobering being amongst these wonderful people, with all of these memorials of their country being bombed and overcoming that, and having your 8-year old ask, 'were we the bad guys?' 'Yea, we kind of were, sweet pea.' As passionate as that man was about with his stories of fighting the Americans to get out of his country, he was still welcoming to us into his home and appreciated the opportunity to share his truth with the next generation. It was quite mind blowing.

Learning English is important for many students in Vietnam, but they need a chance to speak it. Talking to tourists is a great way to do that, but apparently when they to do that on the street, people think they are trying to be scammed. So these organizations were established for University students to be hired as free tour guides for tourists. So we booked a food tour for dinner. I love Vietnamese foods but I realize that I have no idea how to eat many things. What sauces go with what? What IS that? Which restaurants/stands can I eat at without getting sick? So this Univeristy student, who is studying tourism took us around to a few restaurants and we enable her to practice her English. win-win!