I wasn't sure about staying another day in Cat Ba, but it turns out that leaving early would have been a huge mistake. Kara and Paul, a honeymooning couple from Calgary climbed with Lizzy and I the first day. We all decided to do a motorbike tour of the national park. For 4 dollars and 50 cents we got a bike for an entire day. Gotta love the cost of activities here. We checked out a couple of caves, one by headlight only, which was pretty awesome and tooled around the island for the day, hitting pretty much every trailhead we could find along the way. Again, the pictures don't do the scenery justice. But I can try.... read more

I slept in the next morning as I wasn't on the tour's schedule anymore. The climbing trip leaving that day was a noon-to-fiver, so I had some time. The climb was guided which was nice because a lot of the people were newbies and I didn't have to worry about belaying. I wasn't really expecting to climb on this trip, so I needed to rent all the gear, but it worked out in the end. We bussed to "the valley" site, about 15 minutes, grabbed lunch and walked to the rocks. The walls were eroded limestone - tons of features and cool formations. Even the easy walls had some fun stuff to play with. Best part of the experience was getting asked to spot a lead climber until she reached the second bolt. After she led ... read more

Mui Ne - Hanoi via sleeper buses covers more than 1,500km at just $40USD. The catch? It takes 42 hours. Honestly the reclining seats made it pretty nice - I can only imagine how cool fold-down seats on transoceanic flights must be... Four transfers, five major cities and two meals later, I arrived bright and early in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam. I booked another bus the instant I hit Hanoi and 8 minutes after grabbing my pack I was en route to Halong Bay, about 4 hours east of the city. Named a UNESCO world heritage site, this remarkable system of islands was also a filming location for Bond films, Man with the Golden Gun and Tomorrow Never Dies. The origin-lore of the bay name is actually pretty cool. When the last native tribe to inhabit ... read more

After a few days on my own, I took a chance on an organized tour to Can Tho - in the Mekong Delta region. Basically this is the Great Plains of Vietnam - the bread, or more accurately, rice-basket of the country. Vietnam's biggest exports are rice (2nd in world), cashews, and coffee. This section of the country mostly rice though. The delta water is very brown, not from pollution, but rather high silt content, which makes the water fertile and good for rice fields. Over two days I saw how rice paper and coconut candy are made, took a couple boat rides on various parts of the river. Saw how people on the river lived. On the second day we got to see a floating market, probably the highlight of the trip. Big boats from ... read more

I spent the first few days in Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon. Definitely an interesting place. More motorbikes than grains of sand on a beach. Very few cars and even fewer traffic rules. Just crossing the street takes some getting used to. You basically just step off the curb into oncoming traffic. Stuff just... flows around you. Pretty cool actually. Hitched a motorbike ride and did a tour around the city. Highlights were Reunification Palace, French-style Catholic Notre Dame Cathedral, Post Office, couple of markets, many pagodas scattered throughout the city. I apparently made something of an impression on my guide - he invited me back to his family's home after our ride. Over a few beers they tried to impart on me as much of the Vietnamese language and pronunciation as my western tongue would allow. ... read more