Back When I Was in 'Nam

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On what I thought was my last night in Vang Vieng, I went out for dinner with Sara, Mike, Sinc, and Allistair (the latter two are Scots from the slow boat). We had a great time that night so they convinced me to stay an extra day and go tubing with them. So I went for my third time but I took it easy because of the ribs. I was completely exhausted at the end of the day so I went to sleep relatively early. If you're not pressed for time, it's ridiculously difficult to leave that place so I promised myself I'd move on.

I took a VIP bus down to Vientiane. It sounds more posh than it actually is. It's really just a full sized bus, as opposed to a minibus. And it was infinitely more comfortable. I ended up on the same bus as two Irish girls I met in Pai so we booked into the same guesthouse.

As soon as I checked into the guesthouse, I went and booked a flight for the next day to Hanoi. I've heard horror stories about the roads going there and I've had enough of bus torture in the last few weeks, and the flight was cheap.

The next morning, I went to the bus station and went down to Buddha Park, about 20 km outside of town. It's a park smaller than I expected filled with a bunch of bizarre sculptures. It sounded cooler than it was. They're not really well preserved at all and it only took about 20 minutes to see everything. They had a reclining Buddha there that gets a lot of talk, but it was nowhere near as good as the one at the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

I bussed back into town and wandered for a while. Vientiane was colonized by the French and it's still obvious today. Lots of French architecture and food. I took advantage and "splurged" at a fancy French restaurant. I hadn't had French food in a while and I was in the mood for a break from Asain food. What would have cost me at least $50 at home, my meal was about $8.

After dinner I took a public bus to the airport. Apparently, tourists usually take a tuk-tuk or something instead. The locals were curious as to why I was on the bus. All 12 of them spoke a combined total of maybe 20 words in English. So after asking me "Where you go?" I had to mime an airplane and make airplane noises to answer them. Everyone got a good laugh and it was like being six years old all over again.

At the airport, I ran into Barry and Emily, who I met in Vang Vieng, and another couple (can't remember their names) I met on the slow boat. The flight, Vietnam Air, was good and only took 45 minutes.

I had planned to take a public bus into town but ended up splitting a taxi with them. Negotiating a taxi ride in Asia always goes exactly the same way, verbadim. They'll come up and offer a taxi. The usual haggling takes place and you agree on a price. Then you ask them if they know where your hotel is and it's always "of course, no problem." You tell them you don't want to make any stops at any shops or other hotels. "Of course, no problem." Then you set off and the driver has no idea where the hotel is, he suddenly forgets all the English he knows, and he takes you to some other hotel. Here, someone comes out and tells you that he owns the place you want to go to, and it's full, but he happens to own another place too. You have to resort to yelling and telling them you'll leave without paying to finally get to where you want to go. And in this particular instance, the driver wanted 300,000 Dong instead of the agreed 250,000. We already handed over 300,000 and were expecting change. We had to scream just to get only 20,000 back and then he just drove off. Taxi drivers are scum and I usually avoid them at all costs.

I ran into Diana and Greg yet again at the hostel. They had already eaten but Diana walked me to a place to get some Pho -- Vietnamese for soup. Pho is delicious, can be found everywhere, is available with beef or chicken, and you can get a giant bowl for about $1. Most of the places also have full chickens in view, head and all. But you get used to it.

I had planned to settle down in Hanoi for a couple days since I had been going at a fact pace for a few days, but Diana and Greg convinced me to book a trip out to Halong Bay with them the next morning. It was a three day cruise with the option of kayaking or rock climbing. I opted for the former due to both my sore ribs and my lack of interest in rock climbing. By the way, I really think I might have cracked a couple ribs. I'm still in immense pain and I went 5 nights without good sleep. But I hit up the pharmacy in Hanoi and got these super powerful pain killers that I'm pretty sure would be illegal in the states.

We woke up criminally early the next day and first got a minibus from near the hostel. We had a group of 22, mostly English, but a few other Americans, Kiwis, Germans, and a Canadian. The ride took about three hours and it was interesting to see the Vietnamese countryside and all the workers in the rice fields with the conical sun hats.

A lot of things that you would consider to be absolutely absurd at home are the norm in Vietnam. I'm talking about people driving motorbikes with refrigerators on the back, people driving the wrong way down the shoulder of a highway, families of four crammed onto one motorbike, people driving a motorbike while holding an infant, live chickens, dead chickens, or talking on a cell phone. But somehow, it all works out. Although we did see two rather serious accidents on the way.

We got to the harbor and boarded our boat, which was really nice. The bedrooms and bathrooms annihilated the ones on the boat from the Turkish cruise. We ate first started crusing out into Halong Bay. It's a World Heritage Site, and it's incredible. Every direction you look, there are hundreds of limestone cliffs jutting out of the bay. After traveling for a while, sometimes you become jaded and all of a sudden, spectacular things just seem ordinary. But Halong Bay is one of those places that smacks you in the face with it's greatness.

The three days involved a lot of kayaking -- I think this is the greatest place I've ever kayaked -- a lot of swimming, a lot of drinking, and rock climbing for those who opted for it. I watched them for a while and it looked really intriguing. I don't know why I was so uninterested. I might try it in New Zealand. We also saw a live octopus while climbing into our kayaks on one of the beaches. After all those hours of diving and not seeing one, I don't know how I saw one right near a beach while kayaking.

Our second day ended up being maybe the most eventful day of the whole trip. One guy from our group went out kayaking by himself. He was gone for hours and it was getting dark. So the captain and one of the crew went out on a dinghy to look for him. Almost immediately after they left, the kayaker came back. Then the captain didn't come back for hours. There was no cell phone. So we just sat and waited. And waited. He finally came back and it was absolutely pitch black outside and the boat had no headlights. And the cockpit (what do you call it on a boat?) was in the back of the boat for some reason. So we couldn't even use our cameras because the captain had to look past all of us and see into the darkness. I was pretty certain that we were going to crash into a cliff and we'd have to swim, with no life jackets, in the complete darkness to hopefully a nearby beach. But, evidently, I survived.

That night we stayed at a hotel on one of the beaches and had a Halloween party. Greg and I ran the pool table for several games. We all stayed up way later than we all said we would but it was a good night.

The minibus picked us up at the harbor again and they told us it had been downpouring in Hanoi the whole time we were in the bay. I was glad Diana and Greg convinced me to go with them. They said there was major flooding in the city so we expected an adventurous return.

And adventure we got. First of all, it was pouring harder than I've ever seen in my life and we could only drive about 20 mph. Lots of severe lightning too. We reached a flooded part of the highway and everyone just started pulling U-turns and driving against the oncoming traffic. There were hundreds of people driving motorbikes and riding bicycles through puddles I wouldn't even take my car through and the markets and shops remained open. It was absolute madness but people were completely unfazed. I could just imagine everyone freaking out if this happened at home.

We got back into the city and most of us booked back into the same hostel. So we had a huge group and a very late night. Today I'm going to go DVD shopping -- allegedly they're even cheaper here than in Bangkok -- and go see the place where McCain was held POW. I haven't decided if I'm going to head south tomorrow or not. We'll see how much I like Hanoi.

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