Making the Most of a Trip to Hanoi, Vietnam

On August 3, 2020August 3, 2020 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Vietnam5 Comments

Visiting Hanoi in northern Vietnam is truly an amazing experience. We spent a little over a week exploring Hanoi and taking excursions into the countryside. We also did an overnight cruise in Halong Bay, which was certainly one of the highlights of our trip. We stayed in Hanoi’s old quarter, which has a variety of restaurants, street food, and many different boutique hotels. With so many options of things to do when visiting Hanoi, these are some of our favorite memories of our trip.

Halong Bay – One of the most popular tours to take when visiting Hanoi, Vietnam is to go to Halong Bay. It is certainly one of the most recognizable places in all of Vietnam with the mountains jutting up from the bay, which according to myth is the result of a dragons descending to earth. Halong Bay actually means “descending dragon” and even though the mountains are the result of natural forces over centuries of time, the result is still incredibly beautiful. Halong Bay was recently named one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and was designated a World Heritage Site in 1994. Some of the key sights from the tour were Titop Island with the amazing views, Surprise Cave (Sung Sot Cave), and Luan Cave.

Rice Paddies at the Base of the Mountain

Boats Going One After Another Through the Caves

Ninh Binh Province – Known as the “Inland Halong Bay”, visiting Ninh Binh Province makes for a perfect day trip from Hanoi, Vietnam. There are several potential locations to visit when doing a tour of Ninh Binh Province and, unless you are planning to spend more than one day, you are going to have to choose which sights you want to see. One of the tours included the Bai Dinh Pagoda, which is the largest pagoda in Vietnam, as well as the caves of Trang An where the movie Kong: Skull Island was filmed. We chose to do what seemed to be the more popular tour that included Hoa Lu, the ancient capital of Vietnam, the caves of Tam Coc, and the incredible views from the mountains above Mua Cave. It was a full day tour that include lunch with a meal that is representative of the Ninh Binh Province.

Hanoi’s Old Quarter – When visiting Hanoi in Vietnam, most of the hotels and rental properties are located in Hanoi’s old quarter. It is a very busy district with plenty of shops and restaurants making it a perfect location to explore the best of Hanoi. Some of the highlights of the old quarter are “Sword Lake”, Hoan Kiem Lake, the night market, and St. Joseph’s Cathedral. You will find plenty of street food and vendors walking with sweets and fruit for sale. Regardless of the time of day, the old quarter in Hanoi is extremely busy and the streets are packed with motorcycles, cars, and rickshaws. In fact there are so many motorcycles parked on the sidewalks that it is often easier to walk in the street than on the sidewalks.

View as You Pass Through the Gate to Thien Tru Pagoda

Perfume Pagoda – The final tour that we took in Vietnam from Hanoi was the Perfume Pagoda tour. It is a day trip that takes you along a river with beautiful scenery to a complex of several different pagodas as well as the actual Perfume Pagoda, which is located in a cave called Huong Tich Cave that is at the top of Perfume Mountain. The tour started with a visit to the Thien Tru Pagoda, which is at the heart of the temple complex. The Thien Tru Pagoda is over 500 years old and is truly spectacular with wonderful architecture, artwork, and cultural features.

Cooking Pork Meatballs and Barbequed Pork

Cooking Class in Hanoi – One of our favorite memories of our trip to Vietnam was taking a cooking class in Hanoi. This was a true cooking class, not a demonstration, where we purchased the food from a local market, prepped all of the ingredients, and did the cooking ourselves with our chef’s instruction. There were only five of us in the class, making it very intimate and interactive. We created a four course meal, which we enjoyed eating family-style after cooking everything.

The Charming Town of Telluride, Colorado

On July 27, 2020July 27, 2020 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Colorado5 Comments

The town of Telluride in Colorado has managed to keep that small town feel despite being a popular resort destination in both the summer and winter seasons. In order to allow the town to keep is historic feel, the resorts are purposely located in the Mountain Village with a free gondola providing transportation between the village and the actual town of Telluride. There are some smaller condominiums and homes for rent within the town itself, making a great alternative to the larger resorts that are located on the side of the mountain.

San Miguel River that Runs Through Telluride

Some of the Condominiums Along the River

Walking the streets of Telluride, you will find beautiful Victorian homes, small shops, and a handful of unique restaurants. The town sits in a valley surrounded by rocky peaks and steep hillsides, which serve as ski runs during the winter and hiking trails during the summer. We enjoyed going on a couple of hikes during our stay in Telluride, first on the popular Bear Creek Trail and then taking in the views from the Owl Gulch Trail. For those looking for something more adventurous, renting a mountain bike and zooming down the winding mountain bike paths will certainly get your heart racing.

Butterfly and Flowers on the River Trail

We stayed in a condominium right on the river that winds through the town of Telluride. We enjoyed walking along the trail that follows the river from one end of town to the other. It is a great way to get into nature without having to leave the town. Walking and hiking certainly helped us gain a healthy appetite to try the wonderful food that the restaurants serve as well as have a cold beer to cool off from the warm weather. We live at an elevation of 6,500 feet ( meters), so the 8,750 foot ( meters) elevation of Telluride didn’t impact us too much, but if you live at sea level, you will want to be prepared for the effects of the thinner air.

Waterfall from the Main Street of Telluride (Bridal Veil Falls is Not Visible from Town)

Located about 7 hours from Colorado Springs and about 8 hours from Denver, heading to Telluride is certainly a destination away from the typical resorts located on the I-70 corridor. In many ways, Telluride reminded us of Aspen due to the way the town has kept its historic feel without feeling like a tourist destination. We also find the mountains of the San Miguel Range, where Telluride is located, to be even more dramatic and they have often been compared to the mountains of Switzerland and Austria.

Some of Our Favorite Animal Photographs

On July 21, 2020July 21, 2020 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Blogging, Hiking2 Comments

We have seen many different animals throughout our travels, some of them more interesting than others. Perhaps because we’ve done so much hiking, but we’re always on the lookout for motion in the trees that surround us. Many of them are cute and adorable, some colorful, and others perhaps a little strange. We decided to go back and review some of our favorite photographs and discovered that we had way too many to include in a single post, but here is a good representation of them.