Food Glorious Food - Hanoi Day 5 & 6

We booked a private trip to Hoa Binh, a local village on the previous day. Our driver and tour guide arrived at around 8am in a Toyota Unser. Hong, the tour guide, was very friendly and chatty throughout the entire trip and through him we got to know more about the local culture and the people of Vietnam.

According to him, his area of expertise is to take tourist on adventure tours i.e. travelling from one place to another by motorbike. Most of his clients are Caucasians. That was no surprise to us.

Reached river and boarded a boat that would take us to the village. We saw a few sampans on the river but the rowing mechanism was totally different from what we had ever seen. Instead of rowing using hands, they used their feet instead. Cool!

Reached the village and we were brought to a villager’s house where we were served the traditional wine. He showed us a few traditional musical instruments and played some music using these instruments. Took a few shots with him, his son and octogenarian mother. Bought a few scarves from him for remembrance.

We took the boat back to the mainland. Bought a grilled fish to eat with our lunch.

Stopped by a cosy restaurant for lunch which served buffalo meat cooked in different styles. Food was good but the servings were too large.

On our way back to Hanoi, we saw a young bride and her groom on a motorbike accompanied by a group of people who were also on their bikes. They looked so happy together.

Reached Hanoi. Freshened up and walked to Church Street. We decided to walk into the church and were surprised to see that they were having a mass that evening.

Had dinner and went back to the hotel.