We arrived in Ba Bể National Park today. Our original itinerary had us taking a boat down the river and visiting a cave along the way before arriving in Ba Bể Lake at the Mr. Linh's Homestay.
After another breakfast of Bánh Cuốn, we visited several different villages belonging to the Nong ethnic minority and spent the night in a traditional Nong homestay with Mr. Nung and his family.
Remember the Bánh Cuốn we had in Hanoi? Well, when we told Quang we had eaten it in Hanoi, he told us that we had to have it Đồng Văn because they made it the best. In Đồng Văn, it is commonly made with egg and served with a noodle soup and type of sausage.
Soon after waking up, Jonathan went to take the photo below only to be accosted by several bees (maybe looking for their missing honey?) and got stung on the cheek and the back of his neck. It's the first time he's ever been stung so we were happy to learn that he wasn't allergic!
After an early breakfast we hit the long road to Ha Giang. We passed many tea fields on our way and stopped to take some photos and smell the fresh tea leaves.
This morning, we met our local guide for the day, San May. She was from one of the local minority groups, the Red DZao. The women of the Red DZao are easy to recognize based on their red head scarves.
Our next eight days were spent traveling around Northern Vietnam. The tour company we ended up going with was Mr. Linh's Adventures. Jonathan initially found Mr. Linh on Google after researching multi-day trips that included visiting Sapa, a place we had heard great things about.
We arrived in Hanoi mid-day giving us a full afternoon and evening in the city. After checking in at our hotel we set out on foot to the Thang Long Water Puppet Theater to get tickets for later that evening.
We arrived late in the evening due to a delayed flight causing us to miss the beginning celebrations for Tết, which included some singing and dancing. Nonetheless, we still had plenty of time before the big fireworks show at midnight.
This morning, we jumped on a quick flight from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City. Extremely hungry, we checked in at our hotel, ped off our bags and hit the road looking for some food.