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Visiting Gateway Arch National Park: The Best Things to do in and near the Park!

Visiting Gateway Arch National Park: The Best Things to do in and near the Park!

In this guide we’re sharing everything you need to know before visiting Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, including the best things to do at the Gateway Arch, plus info about the arch!This past fall we visited St. Louis for the first time and although we only...

Gardens by the Bay is a nature park spanning 250 a

Gardens by the Bay is a nature park spanning 250 acres, with different gardens, 1.5 million plants, the largest glass greenhouse in the world, second tallest indoor waterfall, and so much more. It is the #1 thing we wanted to see in Singapore and it did not disappoint!

There are both free and paid attractions within Gardens by the Bay and we checked out:

🌴 Supertree Grove (FREE): This area has 12 of the 18 supertrees at Gardens by the Bay. These tree-like structures are sustainable vertical gardens that house almost 170,000 plants of over 200 species and 7 of them are designed to harvest solar energy!

✨ OCBC Skyway (Paid): Want to see the supertrees from higher up? This walkway is suspended between two of the supertrees and has amazing views of the city!

☁️ Cloud Forest (Paid): The Cloud Forest walks you through the environment of a cloud forest, with different vegetation, an amazing waterfall, and if you time it right, some mist!

🌷 Flower Dome (Paid): This dome holds the Guinness world record for the largest glass greenhouse and it is the size of 75 Olympic sized swimming pools. You can find plants from 5 continents here!

We also checked out the free light show at the Supertree Grove, which happens twice a night and is absolutely magical! 😍

We’re leaving Asia and heading back to the US, b

We’re leaving Asia and heading back to the US, but before we do, we had a 21 hour layover in Singapore. And this time we explored the city a bit! Here's a quick glimpse of what we got up to, but to see it all, check out today's video!

🕌 Explored the Muslim Quarter (Kampong Gelam), which is a colorful area with delicious food, murals, and a stunning mosque!
🏙 Admired the modern, futuristic buildings around the city
🦁 Saw Merlion, the mascot of Singapore!
🌸 Checked out the gardens, waterfall, and supertree grove at Gardens by the Bay
✨ Watched two stunning light shows!
🍢 Ate satay at Lau Pa Sat, a popular hawker centre in the city

And that is a wrap on our six weeks in Vietnam. 🇻🇳

Trying to find the words to explain how much this trip meant to us seems impossible. Everytime I think about our trip, I get emotional because it was just so incredibly special and as cheesy as it sounds, life changing.

Vietnam is an AMAZING country! It is full of lively cities, charming small towns, kind people, breathtaking scenery, unique activities, and important history. It pushed us a tad out of our comfort zone at times, opened our eyes about other ways of life, and gave us some of the best experiences of our lives. Getting to spend six weeks in one country vs. trying to visit many within that timeframe really allowed us to explore at a much deeper level than we have before.

To all of the amazing people we met, thank you for being so welcoming to us, teaching us about your culture and history, and giving us memories that we will cherish forever.

We love you Vietnam. ❤️ You now hold such a special place in our hearts and we cannot wait to return someday.

If you’d like to learn more about our trip, check out our website, where we just published TWO blog posts about Vietnam, including everything you need to know to plan your own trip, plus 20+ tips before visiting. We’ll have Vietnam itineraries and location specific guides in the future as well!

VIETNAM MOTORBIKE TRIP DAY 6 📍Cao Bang to Ba Be

VIETNAM MOTORBIKE TRIP DAY 6
📍Cao Bang to Ba Be Lake

This first photo felt fitting to describe our last day on the motorbikes. Covered head to toe in ponchos, we hit the road on a very wet and rainy day. We had a long distance to drive and no stops planned until our final destination of Ba Be Lake National Park.

Along the way we had a bit of a hiccup, when Adam and Hieu slid out on a curve. Thankfully they were both okay (Adam only walked away with two teeny tiny cuts on his hand somehow!) and the motorbike was fine. Unfortunately one of our backpacks hit the ground hard and our main filming lens broke (thankfully we have insurance and a second lens to use the rest of the trip). It could've been so much worse and we all felt very lucky!

After a short break to regain our composure a bit, we continued on and thankfully the rest of the day went without any mishaps!

Some highlights of Day 6:
🏍 We checked out a super cool coffee shop in Cao Bang called Nâng café before hitting the road.
🏍 Hieu looked a little bit like a teletubby in his green poncho and that provided many laughs throughout the day!
🏍 We had a relaxing boat ride on Ba Be Lake, which was the perfect way to end the trip.
🏍 Our homestay owner was so sweet and loved getting to see the drone shots we got of our boat ride with him.

VIETNAM MOTORBIKE TRIP DAY 5 📍Ban Gioc Waterfal

VIETNAM MOTORBIKE TRIP DAY 5
📍Ban Gioc Waterfall to Cao Bang

Our 5th day on the motorbikes took us to Ban Gioc, the largest waterfall in Vietnam at 300 meters wide and 30 meters tall, which is right on the China border. We decided to do this longer motorbike trip, instead of just doing the Ha Giang Loop, solely for this waterfall. And getting to finally see it was so exciting!

The rest of our day was spent riding through remote areas and small villages, seeing more beautiful scenery, before making it to the city of Cao Bang.

Some highlights of Day 5:
🏍 Getting to see the Ban Gioc waterfall! We were worried it would be a bit lame since it's the dry season, but it was still stunning, with SO many falls! Make sure to arrive after they open the dam in the morning (10 AM-ish), for the best waterflow during the dry season.
🏍 Riding a boat up to the falls. What made this even cooler was that both Vietnamese and Chinese boats were on the water. Waving at the Chinese tourists was such a cool feeling!
🏍 We also boated into China! According to Google Maps, our boat definitely crossed into China's part of the river.
🏍 Seeing the Angel Eye Mountain, which is a striking peak with a huge hole through it. Such an epic spot!
🏍 Going to the Cao Bang night market, which was SO fun! We got to dance with the locals and were one of the only tourists around. Many kids were super excited to see foreigners and talk with us!

VIETNAM MOTORBIKE TRIP DAY 4 📍Pac Bo to Ban Gio

VIETNAM MOTORBIKE TRIP DAY 4
📍Pac Bo to Ban Gioc

We kicked off day 4 on our motorbike trip with a visit to Pac Bo, an area known for being where Ho Chi Minh hid in a cave after returning to Vietnam for the first time in 30 years. We got to see this cave, plus the Lenin River, and the setting was just so serene and beautiful!

After leaving this area, our goal was to make it to Ban Gioc, a famous waterfall that we would visit the next day. We spent the rest of the day riding through stunning scenery full of lush, green mountains, stopping for little breaks here and there to enjoy the views. Once arriving at our homestay, we were greeted by the BEST welcome committee (watch our video to see what we mean 😉) and had one of our favorite nights in Vietnam.

Some highlights of Day 4:
🏍 Seeing the bright blue, spring fed Lenin River at Pac Bo. The water was stunning!
🏍 Watching the guys all play đá cầu (sort of like hackysack) in the road during one of our much needed stretching breaks. It was such a simple moment, but one that really just stands out and brings me joy!
🏍 Staying at the Yen Nhi Homestay, which had the CUTEST puppies ever that we named Sharky and Fluffy.
🏍 We also got to learn about the Tay culture at the homestay. We listened to some of their music and all participated in a dance!

A little sneak peek of what you can expect in part

A little sneak peek of what you can expect in part two of our Northern Vietnam motorbike trip, which is now LIVE on YouTube! 🎥

The second half of our trip took us through the Cao Bang Province to Ba Be Lake National Park, with a stop at Vietnam’s largest waterfall, a boat ride that technically took us INTO CHINA, an amazing homestay with the cutest puppies 😍 and local music and dancing, a little bit of a mishap, and so much more.

A huge thank you again to our guides Nô Vàng and Hieu from @hagiangroadtrip for taking us around their beautiful country. These two became our family for six days and we cannot even begin to count how many times we smiled and laughed looking back on all of the memories we made together. ❤️

VIETNAM MOTORBIKE TRIP DAY 3 📍Meo Vac to Cao B

VIETNAM MOTORBIKE TRIP DAY 3
📍Meo Vac to Cao Bang Province

Our third day on the motorbikes was a long one, with 146km of driving on tons of windy roads. Most people turn off from Meo Vac and head south on the Ha Giang Loop, but we decided to head east towards the Cao Bang Province for the rest of the trip.

It was a fun, more chill day with lots of surprises, as we mostly had no idea what to expect from this point on!

Some highlights of Day 3:
🏍 Seeing ZERO tourists! As soon as we left the Ha Giang Loop, the tourists vanished. The Ha Giang Loop, while remote, is VERY popular, with some groups having 20-30 people. But on this day, we saw no one but locals, which we loved!
🏍 Coming across some local Hmong kids swimming in a river. They asked if they could film on our GoPro and it was fun to see the shots they got as they jumped and flipped into the water.
🏍 Riding up the Coc Cha Mountain Pass, which is nicknamed "pig intestines" in Vietnamese because it has 14 CURVES! It was WILD!
🏍 Meeting the friendliest cat at the top of the Coc Cha Mountain Pass, who LOVED to meow.
🏍 Nonstop mountain views (and more windy roads) for hours as we drove the rest of the day.
🏍 A little dance break in the road on our way to our farmstay.
🏍 Staying at a beautiful farmstay tucked within the mountains. It felt like a magical garden! And they had dogs!

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