day 14

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5 Things I love about Vietnam:

1. Most things are very cheap! I have eaten out every single meal, bought things, took a mini vacation, gone out drinking and I have yet to spend $300. Plus an hour and a half facial for $4.

2. My favorite breakfast "bang me patte" which is only .50 cents! and delicious. And My Xao, which is like ramen noodles with veggies and meat. Basically most the food is really bomb.

3. The chill life style.

4. The warm weather and Thunderstorms that we can watch from our roof top lounge thingy.

5. Coffee with condensed milk and iced coco.

5 Things I don't love about Vietnam

1. The anxiety being on the road causes whether I'm driving or the passenger or even just walking.

2. Motor cycle burns.

3. The ganja is expensive and terrible.

4. Every Vietnamese person can and will hustle you just -because your a foreigner- if you let them.

5. The chicken dance. I will be okay if i never hear the chicken dance for another 5 years!! I have to sing it with almost every class twice, that's four classes a morning, 6 days a week. Thank God this week they changed it up a little.



Right now it is Wednesday at 6:15pm. I am done with work for the day, I am doing some laundry, listening to music and contemplating what I want to eat for dinner. Tomorrow is my first morning off so I think we might be going out for a little bit tonight. We haven't been out the pat few days because on Saturday night, we were in Cat Ba and got completely wasted.

So this past weekend we arranged it so we could head to Cat Ba island. I called out for a half sick day, Tom got his Sat night class covered and Irene had the evening off. We caught a ferry at 1pm from Hai Phong to Cat Ba, but not the main town in Cat Ba. So after the ferry we stopped for coffee and lunch. This place we stopped at was so amazing! The food was great, our waitress actually spoke English and it was such a cool little hut over some water. Come to find out about half a kilometer later, up a hill, they stole our petrol! It quite common here in Vietnam to have your petrol stolen... So anyways while we were on the side of the road waiting for more gas, I found some wild mountain goats!! It was so cool. Finally we get on our way to Cat Ba Town, about 45 minute ride from where we were.

It was sooooo packed. There must have been some kind of festival. The thing is normally Cat Ba is a really quiet and relaxing little beach town. Not only were there more tourists (aka white people) but there was a shit ton of Vietnamese people there too. So we got crackin' right away to find a place to stay. We found this great place right outside of town, away from all the people. It looked like a pagoda but it was like a little hostel type place. Nice people and we got breakfast included. So after we find this place, we are free to enjoy the island more. The beaches were soooo packed, we went on an adventure and found our own private beach that wasn't dirty! It was glorious. We probably spent a good hour and a half, swimming at our beach, in the dark before we headed out for dinner.

At dinner, we met up with 2 of Tom's friends from England. Dinner was delicious again, of course, and was accompanied with 3 bottle of vodka! We were in party mode. the power went on and off during dinner which reminded me of Costa Rica and Panama, so that was cool. then we walked down the street to this little club. It was so fun because there are no clubs or bars similar in Hai Phong, and it gets a little tiring sitting in preschool size chairs drinking street beer or going to the carpet street and drinking vodka. Anyways, it was nice to go out, so we did it up-but a little bit too much. the next morning we were all hungover beyond belief. And it was hot. All we wanted to do was go swimming and chill at the beach. We didn't want to head back into town because there were too many people and we wanted to find another beach like the one from the previous night so we went on another adventure. Hungover adventures don't go to well. We couldn't find a beach that wasn't dirty and scattered with trash so we just headed back to catch the ferry. Too bad the ferry didn't come from another 2 and a half hours! Damn, we should have just gone to the beach in town, but now its too late. So we end up back at the restaurant that stole our petrol... And this time we watched our bikes closely. But unfortunately idk who was working but the food sucked. The Pho bo was def not pho bo and my my xao was not good.

Finally its time for the ferry and its over sold. Apparently they don't pay attention to those things. I got squished into the front part, and Tom and Irene had to sit on their bikes the whole way. Man we were glad to get back home! It was a fun trip, and I am definitely going to go back when there are less people! I also can't wait to be able to explore more of Vietnam. The first weekend in August I will be catching the bus to Hanoi to visit a girl I met through this blog. She is American too and was working here in Hai Phong but it wasn't going well so she found a new job in Hanoi. So I plan on going to visit here and see what Hanoi has to offer. =]

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Photos

paradise
where we stopped to have a drink and lunch

rice paddies
stopped for some pictures. It is much more green here then in the city.

Cat Ba
the main town right on the harbor

ridin
this is Tom's bike that i learned how to dive on

our hostel
where we stayed, just outside of town

the harbor
Cat Ba, Hai Phong, Vietnam

Comments

[Da]

I don\'t see the things you\'re supposed to wear when riding a motorcycle. Boots/shoes (NO flip flops) and a helmit. Some gloves would be nice as well as some gogles. Long pants is a pretty good idea don\'t you think? And of course NO DRINKING and driving. Many employers are now asking for your facebook password as a condition of employment. They will not even consider you for a job unless they get the password. So, do you really think it is a good idea to be saying that ganja is cheap but not very good??? Also the three bottles of vodka might not fit in with your future employer(s). Aren\'t I lucky I didn\'t have to worry about that crap when I was your age. Think about it my dear. Be smart. Listen to the wise old man. Love you so, Da