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Published: July 10th 2007
I don't even know where to begin... I guess last time I left off in Shanghai, so that sounds like a good place to start. So I fly into Hanoi, Vietnam and witness the most hectic traffic I have ever seen! I swear there are more mopeds than people in this city. The streets are small and there are no street lines or traffic lights and there are milions of people speeding their way around, its insane! I was by myself at this point and the amount of people there made me feel a little overwhelmed and I was not too sure that I would even find Pat. I met a traveller with a map, borrowed it long enough to point to the general region that I believed Pat to be in, then jumped on the back of a moped and some Vietnamese guy successfully navigated his way to where my finger landed on the map. Sure enough when I get about a block away I see Pat and Ashley drinking beers with big smiles on their faces, apparently they did not think I would find them either and were quite relieved to see my pull up on that moped.
From their we cruised around Hanoi, did some shopping, bought some imitation gear for incredibly cheap, and booked a boat for a cruise through Ha Long Bay.
We boarded our boat then next day and headed out for our three day journey. This bay has the most amazing landscape I have ever seen! There are floating villages of fishermen and secret caves that a small row boat can barely pass under that open up to hidden and competely enclosed lagoons. We swam around and explored the bay on kayaks and did some day hikes through huge cavernsin the cliffs of the peaks. We spent one night on the boat and arrived at Cat Ba island the next. A huge typhoon swept through and for a bit we were marooned on the island. We found out the next day there was even a death. A Korean traveller was swimming and the last thing anyone heard was a cry for help and he disappeared beneatht he surface. He was never found and no one can explain it aside from attributing it to a whirlpool. However, there are rumors that Ha Long Bay has its own version of the Lockness monster and
many locals fear that he claimed another casualty...
When we returned we booked a sleeper bus to get down to Hoi An. We drove for 14 hours through the night and got there in the morning. This place was awesome! We rented mopeds and cruised to the beach, did some swimming, some tanning, and of course, some drinking. The next morning we filled the tanks and drive about 40 miles out of town to the ancient Myson ruins. I would have to say the ride was the best part though! We saw some amazing sights of small towns and farmlands. We booked another over night bus, this time not a sleeper, and we spent another 12 hours cruising down the coast to arrive in Nahtrang this morning. This town is supposed to be the fun party/beach town and although we have yet to explore it I think what we have heard will be true.
So much has happened and its almost impossible to get it all down. We are having a most amazing time! Oh, I almost forgot this story... we were touring a cave that was used as a secret hospital for generals during the war. Our
vietnamese buddy who took us their said an old war general lives there and tells travellers all these crazy war stories. When we got to the cave he wasn't there so our buddy asked around the village to see where he was. Apparently this general thought he could smell the Chinese planning an attack and was "scouting" to be on the lookout! What a wacko!
Anyway, I miss you all, I hope you are all having a great sumer!
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Rachel
non-member comment
Gorgeous!
Drew it sounds amazing! Your pictures are beautiful, I can't believe a place like that really exists! And the landscapes are really amazing. So how is the food? Really, you can't leave out the most important part!!