Last Day in Vietnam

On our last day in Vietnam, the train pulled into Hanoi at about 6 in the morning. We went to our favorite spot, Lake Hoan Kiem while the sun was rising and walked around it probably three times and watched the sunrise. We just literally had nothing to do and nowhere to go, so this seemed like a good idea. We saw some workout classes going on, including one of all middle-aged people dancing to 'Where do you go, my Lovely?'. Here is a nice picture of a tree:

Luckily, we were able to keep our bags at the hotel that we had stayed at a few days prior. They lady there, Bella was amazingly helpful. Without our bags, we were able to go and check out a few sights. We made our way to the Temple of Literature, a Confucius temple commemorating famous scholars and learned people.

First, though, we stopped at a park right across the street which required jumping a fence to get into. This place was so secluded, which was a nice break from the constant motor bikes whizzing past every second in most other places of the city. Oh, here's the park, it's basically a giant circle with a lake and an island in the center, which you can't see in this photo:

This is the gate to the Temple of Literature:

A super awesome vine-filled tree within the temple area:

A nice pink flower, feel free to comment if you know what type of flower this is:

The temple featured the biggest gong I have seen to date. I'm sure it can produce an amazing sound but no implements were present with which to strike it:

A nice photo of the buildings on the premises; I like the curves at the corners of the roofs:

Afterward, we headed back to the lake area and did some finished our shopping. While I was shopping, I left Kelsey by the lake and she ended up meeting two different guys who asked her to help with their English. The second guy we met and ended up going out for a few beers. I bought him about 60 cents worth of beer, he paid 10 cents for me to use a nearby bathroom. When I say nearby bathroom I actually mean alleyway where some guy lets you pee for a small fee.

Here's a nice photo of the historic district in Hanoi:

So we had our last dinner and headed to the water-puppet theater for our show. We paid an extra dollar for VIP tickets and were in the second row. VIP tickets are $3, so it was worth it. This is a pretty famous show, tickets must be bought at least a day or two ahead of time. My favorite part was the musical accompaniment, which was absolutely sensational.

Kelsey and I ended up being a little tuckered out for the show since we had not slept for a long time. The show had no speaking, only music, and told stories such as when rice farmers tamed the water buffalo. I caught a few photos, but don't have a perfect memory of the experience. Here are some of the puppets:

Here is a well crafted dragon puppet that sprays water:

Our last day was also New Year's Eve, so we got to see a lot of bright lights but had to leave town by around 10 to go to the airport. We had a countdown in the terminal on my Ipod watch and then sang 'Auld Lang Syne' with some Korean middle school students who were also in the terminal with us.

Really, the rest was even more blurry from there with the lack of sleep. We left the Busan airport around seven in the morning, got into the car, and drove all the way back across Korea in the tiny car. I probably shouldn't have driven with so little sleep under my belt, but there were no incidents. I then had a precious few hours of rest before I had to go to Seoul, check into a hotel and meet my family the next day. Keep reading, my families trip to Korea is coming up next!