V

V--Vietnam.

While Joe and I were dating he once turned to me after doing something he found particularly funny and said, "I learned that trick in 'Nam!"


I think that inspired our honeymoon. 


Joe was in charge of our destination and true to his form, he chose something totally unexpected--Vietnam.


We went to Hanoi:

We found a really cool organization that offers free tours of the city to tourists given by students from the local university that want to improve their English. Win win.

 

We went  to a village outside of Hanoi that is famous for it's pottery. We tried our hands at making it, but decided that the stuff from the pros was much more worthy of lugging around for the rest of our trip and bringing home. 

We went to Halong Bay:

 

This is how Joe felt about our boat ride to and around Halong Bay.

 

Halong Bay is host to fishing villages made up of house boats selling fish still flapping. We  discovered that your ship chef will happily cook up your flapping purchase for you, making the most

delicious grilled fish and fish-head soup. Or so the couple who shared a dining table on our boat would tell you. We didn't know about this feature of the trip...but the couple was nice enough to share their fish with us--after we had already tried some on accident.

  

We took kayaks out around the bay. It was a major highlight of the trip.

 

I include this picture for a few reasons. 1. See how windy it is? We didn't even bring jackets to Vietnam. I frooooooze at Halong Bay. 2. I look hammered. A wedding and a 16 hour time difference (and forgetting your make-up at home) will do that to a girl. Joe looks awesome.

We went to Hoi An:

 

Joe found the most amazing spa for us to stay at on the beach in Hoi An. Like Ah-Mazing. All services were included in the base price, so we went crazy. We maybe spent an entire day getting massages, manicures, pedicures, and more massages. We took breaks from getting rubbed in most desirable (and totally appropriate) ways by walking 20 feet to the beach. It was unseasonably cold and this was the closest we got to being in the the water. And by we, I mean I. Joe stayed safely dry taking pictures (which is why he is rarely in any pictures). Joe said I reminded him of a little girl. I objected. He then showed me a collection of shells in his pocket that I had periodically run back from the waves to give him.

We went to Da Nang:

 

This woman gave us a boat ride around a lake. She was old and the boat and oar were heavy. Joe even took his hand at rowing for a bit and said it was hard work. We love going new places and meeting people like this woman, who have lives so clearly different from ours, yet is just another human being trying to do their best.

 

Da Nang is famous for their lanterns. I had to climb up some very rickety scaffolding to get this picture. That's why it's included.

Overall...if you get a chance, go learn some tricks in 'Nam.