Advertisement
Published: August 31st 2008
Out of China once and for all! i will miss parts of it but for the most part i am ready to start a new country. Ready to take on a new leg of the journey Jeff and I decided it was a good time to go for our first haircut before we left China. It cost me about $2 USD and it shows. Jeff opted for shaving his head himself after he saw the damage. Either way, we got the job done and we were ready to roll! Plus, who wouldn't be excited to go to Vietnam?! The country calls there currency Dong! Yes, i am 26 and still think Dong jokes are funny...deal with it. I cant help but laugh when i had to pull out my dong to buy something. Or when you have too large of Dong and need to ask if somebody can break your dong. The jokes don't stop! A little dong goes along way!
An 8 hour bus ride across the border was fairly easy. Except for the shoving match to get your passport stamped to actually enter Vietnam. I still don't understand why the concept of a line is such a hard
Snake wine with a scorpion
They say that this male only drink gives you power... side note yes...Dog meat is really eaten and that brings good luck. im already pretty lucky and i have enough power with "short mans syndrome". thing for people to grasp. Jeff, being a foot taller and about twice the size in stature to anybody else in the continent, made his way to the front with minimal resistance and got our stuff handled faster than if we just sat back and waited for the crowd to clear.
We got to the Hostel in Hanoi perfect time to join the party. It was the Sunday rooftop BBQ, where the beer is free and the food is really cheap. You can only imagine what a hostel full of backpackers will do with free beer and cheap food. It got very interesting...which is typical when a bunch of Aussies are around. They had full beers being poured down each others pants...sandals slapping each others stomachs leaving incredible welts...food and other inanimate objects in places they don't belong...underwear no longer being used as underwear...grown men climbing in a cooler full of ice water and beer...it was crazy. Once we all ran out of beer at the hostel we were off to Finnigan's, an Irish pub down the street. Everybody got together and played drinking games and watched the Aussies get mixed in some more messes. For Example, taking a
handful of powdered chalk and hitting an unsuspecting friend in the face. It was pretty fun to watch from a safe location. After a long journey through China and a rough go in Hong Kong we were ready for this sort of fun. It sounds crazy but it was just what the doctor ordered for us. Cut loose and relax.
With that in mind, we still have to get in our museums and all the sight seeing. So we got up the next morning and tried to get started. We walked around to all the places we thought we could go to, just to find that they are all closed on Monday. So we had nothing to do but go back home, get a good burger at the Monday night BBQ and enjoy some cheap beer for happy hour. 2 beers for about $1.50 USD. that was a god start but it only got better. We took to the streets again with a small group of hostel kids and searched out a hole in the wall that serves Bia hoi. That is the local brew that is a daily brewed beer that has to be consumed in 24 hours
or it goes bad. So they say...but i dont know if that is even possible. We pulled up a chair anyway...well a small plastic stool on the sidewalk of a busy street and ordered some beers. We almost broke the bank with the 15 cent glasses of beer! yeah you got it...15 cents! NO JOKE! And it taste like Coors light! Needless to say we stayed for a while...i mean somebody has to drink all the beer before it goes bad ...right?!
While sitting and chatting over some Bia Hoi we were approached by a few vendors...nothing new. One lady brought by some donuts which she told me to try for free...i should have known better...i tried one to see if the were worth it for the whole group to buy some. They were ok but nothing special...she then handed me another and so i figured, hey i will be nice and give her some money. She then told me that what i just ate was double the price that she had originally quoted. Tricky little woman. I didn't feel like arguing over the equivalent of one dollar so i let her win. Well, just as she turned and
walked away thinking that she got the best of me she was grabbed by the cops. HA! Apparently it is illegal to sell stuff on the streets. They took her around the corner and took her goods. Cops and doughnuts...hmmmm interesting. But never the less she got instant karma. HA! sucker! i don't really understand the laws because everybody is selling something here. Taxi, motorbike taxi, paperback novels, food, hookers, opium, and weed. On street corners you can buy bottles of wine that have a full snake eating a scorpion in the bottle. Not on the label...in the bottle, if you poured it out you might get some cobra fangs in your glass. And if you don't like the snake wine you can always try the lizard wine.
After a few rounds we made our way to a happening spot in Hanoi. It was a club that was on a docked boat in some random river. It was fun but very expensive compared to our beer on the corner. Fun night of dancing and drinking but we had stuff to see the next morning so we didn't stay out too late. We had to be up early to see
Heads in a basket
The french werent so nice to these guys durning the french war. Ho Chi Min. because they only show him until 11am. Its much like Mao in china. A huge building for a glass case surrounded by armed guards all for a preserved corps of a deceased leader. It is odd because Ho Chi Min wanted to be cremated, but the people would let that happen so he is on display here in Hanoi. So yeah...a ton of Dong and a dead Ho. How can you not laugh at this place?!
The next day we had a 3 day 2 night trip booked on Halong bay. We heard good things about it and decided it was worth a crack at it. It took a 3 hour bus at 8 am to the harbor then jumped on a good size boat that was 3 stories and had beds for about 13 people. Food and fun was included but drinks were pay as you go but were pretty cheap. When we arrived it a was hot as hell but pouring rain. The water in the harbor is brown and filled with trash. I was starting to worry that we just got scammed. The whole group of 23 came from our hostel and so
far these kids have been pretty cool. You can book other tours with other companies and that might even be cheaper but the risk is if you get a bad group the whole trip wont be as much fun as a group or crazy drunk backpackers.
Once we got moving it was starting to clear and the group morale started to rise. We had to stop at a floating dock in the middle of nowhere and get a bunch of kayaks for the trip. We then headed out to the spot we would start our kayak portion of the trip. We jumped in two man kayaks and were on our way to an unbelievable afternoon of warm water, sun, booze, and amazing kayaking through caves.
The caves were incredible! pitch black with bats flying about over head so small in parts that you had to lay completely flat on your kayak to get though. Then you get to the other side into a huge enclosed bay that is surrounded by the most beautiful green rain forest like landscape. It looked like a scene from Jurassic Park. Beautiful!
A few hours of paddling around gets you pretty worn out so
it was time to go for a swim and get some cold drinks on the boat. The only draw back to this beautiful setting was the stupid jelly fish! They are massive and everywhere! The big ones supposedly don't hurt but they will still sting and scare the shit out of you if they pop up next to you. But the little guys are the killers...they sting like hell and will do some damage if you get tangled in the long tentacles. Where we were supposed to stop and swim was infested with them so the local guides wouldn't let us jump in. We had to relocate to a better spot, but on the way the sun was going down so we just laid on the top deck started to get to know the rest of the group and have a few drinks listening to some good tunes and enjoy one of the best sunsets ever.
By night fall we reached the bay that we were going to drop anchor and have dinner and and sleep...well...not really sleep but drink until the sun comes up then start again at breakfast. The whole group blended better then you could ever ask...all
about the same age...all English speaking...germs...brits...aussies...and yanks...all ready to get down to business. The rice wine shots tarted coming out by the dozens and we were all getting up the nerve to take on the jelly fish infested waters. For a few hours we stood at the top decks edge ready to jump but nobody wanted to be the first. So i said efff it. I'm jumping in. A head first dive of the top deck got the party started. One by one everybody jumped in flipping, flopping, and swimming around. We had it worked out, we spread across the deck and kept watch for the little bastard jelly fish. If we spotted one we would call out where they were. We lined the boat to the ladder to make sure nobody swam into a pack of them. No problems, all fun. That was until some jackass had to get the first encounter with one of the spineless devils! That jackass just so happened to be the short kid you have come to know and love...ME! Fuck me it hurt!(sorry for the language grandma) It have never been stung before and i never want to again. Jeff, Krista and i
all thought it would be cool if we all did back flips together. They swam back ahead of me and got back to the ladder unharmed. I just happened to kick a little guy with my left foot as i swam back. You know when it gets you. Right when it happens it stings and almost feels like a stove burn. Then as i got out it progressed to more of a burning/stinging sensation. Not fun. Not the worst pain in the world but it got me worried when it started to puff up and turn red. I finally got to see if the old wives tail was true. I had to wiz on my own foot! After i let it dry i had put some cream on it and i don't think either really worked. I think the only real cure for a jellyfish burn is more beer and a good night of karaoke. Oh yes...Jeff and i had to try to live up to Krista and our friend Paul's rendition of summer loving. It was a tough act to follow but i think we did well with a duet of Tainted Love. Instant rock stars... just add rice
wine. As the night went on and the swimming got back on track two more people got stung. Paul got it in four spots, one on each limb as well as Gemma, a tough little English girl, right on her thigh.
Oh rice wine...the stuff is vile! it tastes worse then rubbing alcohol and packs a punch. Might be the main reason why one of our tour guides,Pat a 19 year old Aussie veteran employee of 3 years was passed out by 11pm. The other guide, Paul a 35 year old Aussie on his first tour group and 7th day of employment hung in there to be in the last man standing crew. Paul, Kevin, a Irish punker, and I. The Three of us made it till the end despite a combine four stings and few gallons worth of beer and rice wine. We said our congrats with a goodnight beer and passed out.
The morning came fast and hurt worse then the jelly fish sting. So once again i had to fall back on a old wives tail, this one a little more tried and true...if you feel like crap, start drinking at breakfast. It works better than pissing
Krista's palm reading
"live to be 94...jeff will cheat and things dont look so good." I think the local just wanted to try his luck with her. on your own foot. We got on our way for that days adventures of more kayaking and swimming. We landed on a beach for a while before lunch and got to swim jelly free for a few hours. Jeff, Micha who is a German version of Michal J. Fox, and Ryo a laid back aussie that can party with the best of them, all decided to swim out to an island that didn't appear to be far but in actually was a lot further then expected. We got out there to climb our way up the razor sharp rocks to turn to the shore and see the most beautiful setting on the river. So amazing! Proud of ourselves we sat and soaked it in before a long swim back. After we got back we laid on the shore exhausted and realized that we still had a few hours of kayaking back in the sun before we got on the boat to the next destination. Oh well...i haven't been doing anything for fitness but 12oz curls and that doesn't really help the gut so some exercise was good.
That night we took the boat to Cat Ba island where we stayed
in a decent hotel. We had to meet back up for Dinner at 7 so we rested up to get ready to go back at it. Free vodka shots from the restaurant owner, and a massages from street vendors while you eat is not a bad way to start a night. It got bad from there. We went to a bar for more free drinks and ended up swimming in the ocean with Bob, our 3rd guide/mascot. Bob is a 2 foot tall bright green reindeer with nubs for legs but gets more woman then any of us. We stumbled our way back to our rooms of a dry off drink and then to bed.
Once again the punctual professional that Paul is, woke us up with him pounding the door of our rooms and ringing the bell yelling at the top of his lungs that breakfast was ready. Not the ideal way to get up but it was effective.
Breakfast didn't work out and neither did my back. I could barley bend over and the pain was only topped by the pain of my sunburn. The origin of back pain is hard to pinpoint. Maybe flipping off the
boat, maybe kayaking, or maybe the middle of the street wrestling match with Gemma did it. Who knows but it effing hurts!
Back to the boat and off to the hostel. Sad...this place was fun and i didn't want it to end but having no voice, a liver that is ready to call it quits, a bad back, and a sunburn was enough for this week. Bus to Hue with a one night stop over then off to Hoi An.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.349s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 8; qc: 51; dbt: 0.1017s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Bux
non-member comment
At first I thought the lady that gave you the hair cut missed up on the hair line but then I remembered just HOW FAR those culdasacs really go back!