Hanoi, Vietnam

We arrived in Hanoi in the morning and we so excited to see our hotel. We had booked it online and couldn't wait. It was our first 5 star hotel of the trip and I knew it was going to ROCK.

As I was looking out the window on the drive I realized how lucky that I truly was to be born in the United States. It takes a trip to countries like this to really appreciate what you have. We saw all the workers out in the rice patty fields and I can only imagine how hard their days are. 

We kept driving and I thought for sure that we were going the wrong way. It was taking forever to get there. Finally, the taxi driver says that we are about there. We were staying at the Luxor so I kept waiting for a huge hotel to show up. NOPE! The taxi driver pulls up this small hotel. I seriously started laughing. Another thing I had planned in my mind that wasn't turning out. lol

It wasn't until we went inside that changed my mind and attitude. It was five floors high with 2 rooms on each floor. There was a tiny lobby and a small kitchen downstairs. They upgraded us to the fifth floor and we had a cute little balcony with a fun view of the streets below.

BUT

The very best thing about this cute little hotel was the AMAZING staff. 

They were the best. They gave us a cool map of some of the cool things to do in Hanoi and set us up with a cool tour of Halong Bay in the morning. It is so hard to describe how wonderful these people were. They made us feel like we were the only people in the hotel. Every time we came down to the lobby they all stopped what they were doing to help. It was awesome.

Anyway, don't judge a book by it's cover. Favorite place we stayed!

Here was our little hotel- The Luxor.

Here was a picture of our room. Don't mind my arm. I apparently lost a hand somewhere between Thailand and Vietnam.

The picture on the left is of our balcony.

The picture on the right- We went to a Temple of Literature.

"The Temple of Literature, built in 1070, was a temple to Confucius. It was also Viet Nam’s first university and functioned for more than 700 years, from 1076 to 1779, educating the country's nobles, royalty, mandarins and other elite. Those who graduated had their names engrave on the stone stele that sit on large stone turtles in the temple. "

It was such a beautiful place to visit. I loved all the pavilions and the garden area.

Rhett loved all the pretty girls. :)

Walking the streets we came across "Dog Meat." I was pretty grossed out. The entire time that we were there I was very cautious about eating any meat off the street.

I did buy some cake from a little bakery. This sweet girl brought me a water and kept playing with us while we ate. I must have already been missing my kids.

The roads and traffic was SO BUSY. I mean like scary busy with absolutely NO rules to driving. I thought we were going to die for sure. Crossing the road reminded me of the game "Frogger."

The next stop for us was the Hoa Lo prison. It was used for the Vietnamese patriots and revolutionists and was labeled a real "hell on earth." It held up to 2000 prisoners at a time. The prisoners were given 2 meals of rotten rice, stunted vegetables, and rotten dried fish. They were also allowed 15 minutes a day for a shower and walk. They would all stand outside in a line and be squirted quickly with water while the jailers watched. It would have been hard to live like that. It was a humbling experience.

Some of the pictures showing what prison life was like. NOT fun!

From August 5, 1964 to March 31, 1973 Hoa Lo Prison was used to keep the American Pilots caught when they were attacking North Korea. The American pilots gave the Prison a new name of "Hanoi Hilton."

They had one of the actual guillotines used to execute Vietnamese revolutionists.

Among the American Pilots kept there was Douglas Peter Peterson, who became the first Ambassador of the USA to Vietnam and John McCain. 

Here is Rhett standing in front of John McCain's flight suit and gear.

One of the pictures of John McCain being treated by an Army doctor.

As we were walking the streets around the lake this guy wanted to draw us. I thought it would be fun. It was $4. :)

It was pretty mild when we first started. I was still a little embarrassed, but then tons of people just stopped to watch and I was horrified. lol

Hmm, not too bad. He hit Rhett perfectly. So now I have a picture of Rhett and a strange girl hanging up in my room. lol.

Just a few pictures of us walking around the lake.

There was this awesome tree branch over the water. I made Rhett climb out so I could get his picture. I really thought he was going to eat it on the way out. 

Just walking the streets of Vietnam.

This was actually on our way to get massages. WORST massage I have ever had, but I can't leave it out. It was hilarious. 

So we go to this massage parlor and head up to our rooms. I walk in and on the massage table is a mens swimsuit bottom, but nothing else. No sheets or towel or anything I was used to. I just kind of stood there not really knowing what I was suppose to do with these shorts.

The lady eventually comes in and shows me to take off my clothes. I hesitantly take off my shirt and shorts. She gestures to my bra so I take it off. Now I am standing in just my underwear. I lay down on my belly and she tries to roll me over. 

I am literally laying nearly naked with NO DRAPING whatsoever. I shut my eyes as tight as I can and she begins the massage. lol. She is just sort of pinching my skin between her hands. hahaha I am convinced at this point that this poor girl has never once in her life given a massage.

I feel her hands grab my panties and start to take them off. I'm like WTH!!!

So she rolls me over. I am now lying completely naked on her table. She is sort of pinching my skin attempting to massage all the while slapping the crap out of my legs. There were mosquitoes in the room with us. So now I am so freaking uncomfortable I can barely breath and itching like crazy. 

Oh wait, it gets worse!!!

She climbs onto the table and is now massaging my back while sitting on my bare ass. lol. Oh, and I forgot. She is chewing gum. I mean really chewing gum. Lots of smacking and popping bubbles. 

Ok, so the highlight.... she is sitting on my lower back massaging away. If that's what you can call and and all the sudden she totally lets one rip. hahaha. I am so done by this point. I can't take it. I start laughing out of control. I couldn't help it. I start to get up and she motioning that we still have time. I was like, "It's ok. I'm all done." Then, I start putting my clothes back on. She is just staring at me while I do it. It was like a train wreck. I am not a nudist by any means so I was so uncomfortable the entire time. I went out to the hallway to wait for Rhett to finish up with his. I had about 10 mosquitoes bites to keep my occupied while I waited. lol.

I asked Rhett how his was and he said it was amazing. The swim trunks were for a sauna in the room and them a bubble bath after. He also claimed his was an actual massage therapist. LAME! I wanted him to have the same experience I did. lol

My last trip with my best friend!

I truly debated about even blogging this trip since Rhett and I have decided to get divorced, but I wanted to remember what a great time that we had together. He truly is my best friend and I know we will make a great team in raising our little boys together.

With that being said-- We were able to take a trip together after his deployment.

I'm not talking about any trip, but a MIRACLE trip.

What's a MIRACLE trip you may be asking?! 

Well, a miracle trip is a trip where just the adults get to go. 

A completely kidless adventure. 

It was amazing to say the least. I missed them like crazy, but definitely needed a break after having them on my own for the last 7 1/2 months. That was tough work.

This trip would not have been possible without the help of my wonderful Mother in law, Melanie. 

She is seriously the greatest. I really lucked out to have her in my life. 

I still remember the time we went to the movies together to watch "Monster in Law." She is the complete opposite, but we had a great time and giggled through the movie together. 

Anyway, Melanie was able to fly out and watch the four little boys for us while we went to play. Again, she is AMAZING. Thanks Melanie. We love you!!!

Onto the trip-

We started the trip in Bangkok Thailand.  

A few pictures from the plane.

Leaving our beautiful little island.

Rhett with his baht. (Thailand Money)

Ok, first hiccup of the trip-

We got to the hotel at 2:30 a.m. completely EXHAUSTED. 

We go to check in and they said that we didn't have a room for the night, but we had a room for the next night. We had totally booked it wrong because it was after midnight when we arrived. We asked if they had any available rooms and they were completely booked. The lady knows we are both so tired so she offers us an alternative. We had to be back at the airport 3 hours later. She would take us to a massage place and for $15 each they would massage us for 3 hours and then take us back to the airport. I was convinced it was a great idea and was excited to sleep through the massage and have a place to lay down. 

WRONG!

So there is a HUGE difference between a swedish massage and a thai massage. 

A thai massage consists of a lot of stretching versus a nice relaxing massage. I mean my girl worked the hell out of me. There would be NO sleeping coming my way. Rhett had opted for the oil massage which looked a whole lot more relaxing. Anyway, about and hour and a half into my massage I was so tired and almost in tears. lol. I politely told my massage therapist that I would prefer to sleep the other half and that she could just wake me up when it was time to head to the airport. 

Second hiccup of the trip-

They take us back to the airport. We wait about an hour or so to get our luggage checked and our tickets. We finally get to the counter and the guy is looking at us weird. He checks our passports and then back to the confirmation page and the announces, "You are a day too early. Your flight doesn't leave until tomorrow morning."

We take our bags and head back to the hotel. Thankfully we knew that we had it booked for tonight. lol. It was still early in the morning and we weren't able to check in, but we both fell asleep in the lobby. I think they finally felt bad and woke us up several hours later for an early check in.

I was excited to have a full day in Bangkok and we headed out looking for something fun to do.

We ended up at Safari World-

I thought it was so interesting that they have a King. They seriously have so many pictures of him all over the city. 

Rhett Bolting- You will see this pose MANY more times, so enjoy!

Naughty Lion- Couldn't keep his hands off me. :)

There were a few guys riding around on elephants and asked if I wanted it to pick me up with his trunk. Umm, YEAH! Of course I would like that. It was actually really fun. 

We got snow cones because it was SO HOT. I mean like brutally melt the make up off your face hot!

This little cutie monkey came up to the cage so Rhett took it upon himself to give him a little taste.  

A second later we saw this sign. 

I LOVE GIRAFFES- 

That's all I really have to say. 

So when I had the chance to feed them I nearly ran up the ramp.

It was so much fun. I know my eyes are shut, but I still liked the picture. Because lets face it-- THIS IS SO COOL!

Comparing the length of our tongues or as Rhett said, "Here is Beck going in for a frencher" 

Look how close we were. We were touching them. I mean I could have leapt right over the railing and slid down its neck. It was SO COOL! 

Please try to ignore the SHINY faces in every picture. I can't explain how hot and humid it was. It was like sitting in a sauna. My make up never stood a chance here.

After Safari World we were starving so we headed to the streets!

The very best food we had was street food. From meat on sticks, to fresh fruit, and the most AMAZING Thai food. It was delicious.

The chicken heart was not bad, but the chicken liver was nasty. The texture was super grainy. Not to be eaten!!!

We had a great time just walking around the streets exploring. We did a little shopping and even found another cold treat. Yum!

We went back to the hotel and slept like logs. Sadly, we had to be back at the airport at 5:00 a.m. the next morning to head to Vietnam. 

Third hiccup of the trip- 

I know, right? 

It was getting old to us as well!

So we get to the airport. Wait for a year to get our tickets... same routine. He looks at the confirmation and then asks for our passports. We hand them over and he says, "Do you have a visa for Vietnam?" "Umm, no. Do we need one?" "Yes ma'am, I can't let you on this flight until you both have one. You can go over to the embassy and file the paperwork today and fly out tomorrow morning at the same time."

Grr... are you serious? I am so mad by this point. We had a decision to make. 

(1) We could either cancel our hotel and flight for Vietnam and stay in Bangkok another 3 days.

(2) Fly somewhere else in Thailand for a few days.

(3) Or go get visas to Vietnam and fly out the next day.

Rhett REALLY wanted to go to Vietnam so we headed over to get visas. PAIN IN THE NECK! It took all damn day and cost dollars more than we had planned. That wasn't even counting the money to change our flights. I was so over the trip and honestly just praying that everything else went smoothly.

The next morning we showed up at 5:00 a.m. 

We waited in the line that never ends

  Handed the guy our passports and paperwork.

and...

 He smiled and told us to enjoy our flight. I almost flew over the counter right then and there and kissed him. I was so excited to take off and explore a new country.