Adventure is out there!

This weekend I finally got to go out and really see Hanoi!

Saturday consisted of me taking an hour long walk to Skype my family (so they could show me my dogs) and I showed them around where I am living.

As I have probably mentioned before, I have never left the continent of Europe so on this trip I am majorly excited to experience a completely different culture and get out of my comfort zone!

Up until now though I didn’t really feel like I was as immersed in the culture as I would like to be (living in Tay Ho surrounded by other Expats probably doesn’t help that – Táy meaning Westerner 😅)…

So I got a Grab car and started off where any other tourist in Hanoi would, the Old Quarter. Bought myself a ticket to a water puppet show and was instantly hit with an “Okay, now I’m in Asia” feeling walking into the theater as traditional Vietnamese music was playing at the beginning of the show!

I swear I studied this weekend… See I learned lots about Vietnamese agriculture at the show! ^

I also explored and noted anything I want to do when I have free time over the next few weeks as my time here is limited.

Next week I am definitely going to see some temples, like Ngoc Son Temple in the Old Quarter across the Rising Sun Bridge which I visited yesterday.

I only ventured as far as the entrance yesterday. I enjoyed the music, artworks and atmosphere around the lake but I didn’t go into the temple yet. I want to be respectful, so I will come back another day when my ankles and shoulders are covered appropriately for a spiritual place!

On top of that I need to see some wilderness! Cities are great but born and bred in the West of Ireland, I need some fresh air and fields for a while. 😂 So in a week or two I am going to strike off to Halong Bay for a day to reboot!

As a callback to the title of this post (and because Up is a great movie); in Russell’s words “the wilderness must be explored!”