I thought «free day» meant doing nothing.

I thought «free day» meant doing nothing. But ohhhh was I WRONG. This may have been the most activity filled day so far. I got to sleep in till 8:30 but somehow I was still tired…

First stop was going to a temple that was on an island in the middle of the Hoan Kiem Lake. There was a bright red bridge over the emerald green water that led into the temple. Most of the others went there for the Chinese calligraphy art souvenir but I just wanted to watch it 😆.

It took a little longer than expected so we had to rush over to our stop, train street. A narrow street that is lined with cafes on both sides and has a massive train pass through a few times a day. People watch as the train passes just feet away from them! It was really hectic trying to find a place to sit but we squeezed our way into one shop and in order to stay, we had to buy overpriced drinks. It was a cool one time experience.

Then went to a hidden cat cafe which was a nice way to cure my cat fever. I got salted coffee. The kitties were Persians, British shorthairs, Maine coons, and munchkins. They kept to themselves for the most part but a few loved to play.

At 3pm was a water puppet show. It was such a cool experience even though I couldn’t understand the Vietnamese. Between the live music that animated the puppets and the movement of the water, it was nothing like I had seen before!

Then went to go to a head spa which was on my bucket list. A place where they wash your hair and massage it. My hair definitely needed it!

Then rushed back to the hostel to go to Tam Vi, a Michelin star restaurant, the world’s cheapest one too! I was sooo excited for this rare opportunity, I mean it’s not every day you can do this. They brought out such a plethora of food and it was so fun to try each dish tapas style. It was nice to bond with just the Kulinaris group (my culinary line class planned this excursion), we sure laughed a lot! I don’t regret choosing this group for a second 😊.