Always The Tour Guide

(PICTURE: Me and the soon-to-be mother-in-law in front of the Opera House.)

I'm pretty sure there hasn't been a month that I've lived in Hanoi where I didn't play tour guide to a visiting friend or a friend of a friend. It seems that there are always people in town who are separated from me by just one or two degrees. In fact, over the last month, there have been three different people who I've shown around the city. Yes, this can get exhausting but it is always nice to give someone a tour; as I know from my own traveling there is nothing better than knowing a local in a foreign city.

Not too long ago, Huyen's mother came into Hanoi to visit her mother who was in the hospital for a foot operation. Despite living only an hour away from Hanoi, Huyen's mom has spent little to no time in the city. This is like living in Livingston, NJ and never going to New York.

Huyen and I couldn't let her mom come to the big city and not get a tour so we convinced her to leave the hospital for an hour and to come with us. We whisked her around the town and showed her a few famous places like Hoam Kiem Lake and the Opera House. However, Huyen's mom was much more interested in the food so we grabbed a couple of our favorite treats that weren't too far from the hospital. Despite only having an evening to play tour guide, it was great to give my future mother-in-law a tour of Hanoi!