Its been a few days since....

... I have done any updates but I have finally settled down and decided its time. I am no longer in Hanoi, i'm currently on Cat Ba Island. I'm here to visit the famous Halong Bay, do some climbing hopefully (deep water solo this time) and just relax for a few days.

Mysterious Cat Ba Island at night, the view from my room window

My friend and I did want to push here beacuse we heard the club Blue Wave over here was pretty fun and we wanted to catch the Halloween party on Sat if there was any. Suffice to say there was none, the party was gay (by gay i mean there were gay people there), and so we ended up having 2 drinks and leaving. Fortunately I didn't expect a huge great party since the details provided to me by some French girls that we met in Hanoi already gave me a good idea of what to expect.

Hanoi was a cool place but we defintely spent way too much time there. You can see everything pretty much in a few days. There are streets to walk in the old quarter, and scooters to see during the day. I guess we wanted to party pretty badly since Laos was so chilled out. But according to people in Hanoi, most of the good clubs were shut down a few months ago for political reasons. So finding a fun place to club was pretty much an exercise in futility. We did however get a chance to see Dan Troung live in concert! He's one of Vietnam's hottest pop stars right now and he harsh tore the club apart! Picture 1000 screaming fans cheering for every song that he sang. Of course we had no idea what he was singing but we still cheered too! Well, not really, we spent most of the time looking at the girls in the crowd and the dancers. There are some very nice women in Vietnam. But so few of them speak english. And of course I'm the asian guy that everybody thinks is viet, so my Swiss friend keeps getting the smiles and waves while i keep getting asked to translate.

We did end up having one good night which was basically the first day we got into Hanoi. We went to 2 afterhours clubs (Titanic, Lighthouse) and pretty much partied till the early morning. I was giving up around 2 am but we didn't get into our room till about 5 am. The europeans i was with just kept going and going and going (the swiss guy and two french girls) . A korean guy that was hanging out with us pretty much gave up about 3 am and just stood around with me for the rest of the night. It was a fun place with goodmusic but a terrible chick to dick ratio so it was pretty tough for the Korean guy and I to get any attention.

End of the night at Lighthouse

Overall, i didn't really enjoy Hanoi. Its really annoying when everyone tries to rip you off. Its very hard to trust the locals in Hanoi and i'm glad i'm out of there now. Don't get me wrong, its a neat place, but if there is no night life, and it feels like everyone is after you, then you can see why i wanted to leave. I don't really have any exciting stories about Hanoi other than riding the scooter taxi. They are definetly a rush! I have videos but it will take way too long to upload so you'll just have to wait till i get home.


When we FINALLY got out of Hanoi, we headed east about 100 km to a city known as Hai Phong. We only spent one night here and left in the morning. I wish we did spend more time there, its a beutiful city with much much nicer people. Its supposed to be what Hanoi was like 10 years ago. Its not a tourist city, more like a stopover for people going to Cat Ba Island or Halong City. We went around a little and its seems to have a very big industry. Its a port city so i guess they move a lot of stuff around for the rest of the country.


The next morning we left Hai Phong (no pictures from there) and took the ferry to Cat Ba Island. Now this place is supposed to be a huge tourist attraction beacuse its the largest island in Halong Bay. There are two industries here, tourism and fishing. And you have no trouble telling which one is bigger. There are several resorts set to be open in the next few years and the construction is omnipresent. Its always a double edge sword when it comes to tourism. You lose the magic of a place when its over run by megaresorts but without the tourist dollars coming in, you will never ever know that the place existed. I guess its good to get in right before big development starts so that you have facilities that you want (English speakers, Internet, hotel rooms) without the everpresent stupid tourist.

I have been on Cat Ba island for a few days now. There really isn't anything to do in the town itself. Its all hotels, resteraunts and other supporting facilities. The other day we chilled out on the beach (which i read is fake, the sand was imported) which was ok. I'm still not a beach person or enjoy chilling out. I think chilling out is something you do after working hard, not just to sit there and plan to do nothing for a day.

Cat Co 2 beach

Today however was a different story. We went on a day trip to visit Halong Bay. I must say it is quite beautiful. The topography is incredible and so unique to me. Imagine flooded mountains and thats what it was. There are an estimated 2000 islands in Halong Bay and when you get here you have no trouble imagining that many. The limestone karsts (limestone cliffs) just appear out of the water everywhere and form both large and small islands. You can see the water has eroded the base of all of them showing the tide lines. There are also all these hidden little beaches everywhere which we visited by kayak today. The ocean here is very calm (must be beacuse of the protected nature of the bay) and the air is very misty. I thought it was pollution at first but after talking to people they told me it looks like this during the winter months. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but i must say i throughly enjoyed being out there. I puddled around in the kayak for about 3 hrs (first time in one too) and the scenery was breathtaking. First, tubing in a cave in Vang Vieng, now kayaking in a cave in Halong bay.

Sunset over Halong Bay

The view from our boat (total of 4 people on the boat so always a great view)

Going in and around the Karats

Kayaking in and around caves. One of the caves we entered actually opened up into a sheltered lagoon. We went around the lagoon and found yet another cave which led us to yet another smaller lagoon. Its quite amazing to find these isolated little spots you'd never see if you didn't go explore.

Deep water solo heaven! I never acutally got to do any deep water soloing beacuse it was just too expensive. I'll try again in Thailand

-bk

Uhh, my ass!

I have finally arrived in Hanoi. Its been a very long journey. We left Vang Vieng at 9:30 am, arrived Phosavan 15:30, departed at 19:30, arrived Vientiane 6:30, sat in the bus station, departed Vientiane 19:00, arrived at the Vietnam border at 6:45 (another fiasco of its own), arrived in Vinh at 10:00, and finally arrived at Hanoi at 19:00.

The journey from Vinh to Hanoi can be described as dangerous, insane, life threatening, etc... There were 3 Irish girls who were so afraid they were going to die they wanted to grab a taxi at our lunch stop. I convinced them that it really wasn't that much farther and they continued on with us for the remaining 3 hours.

But you know what? i don't really care. Hanoi is an amazing. I have only had 2 other holy shit experiences when it comes to visiting new cities. New York was the first (but i also have to say that was the first time i was travelling on my own to a big city) and Tokyo was the second.

Hanoi so far has been an amazing spectacle of scooters. They are everywhere and seem to outnumber the cars 100 to 1. It makes for very interesting cab rides since we're always surrounded by scooters.

I don't really have much to write about now. i'll think of something to say later!

-bk

how many hours more?

I've been on the bus forever.

Vang Vieng -> Phonsavan (9:30 - 15:30)

Vietnam visa, 80 dollars, 3 days, screw that! We're going to Vientiane!

Phonsavan -> Vientiane (19:30 - 6:30)

Vietnam Embassy - 7:30
Paid 60 dollars for 5 min Visa

Now in the bus station for 10 hrs.

Vientiane -> Hanoi (19:00 - 16:00)

My ass is already sore from thinking about it.

Hey what's in there? I dunno, lets go see...

So the day before i went caving (extremely lame caving) and tubing (which was a lot more fun). But wait, what happens when you combine the two? Tubing in a cave? or is it caving in a tube? Either way it was scary/cool as hell!

The entrance to our cave

In we go...

Imagine, floating in a tube through a cave with a little light attached to your head, the ceiling 1-1.5 m above your head, pulling yourself along with a rope. I have to admit i was quite nervous. Wait, scratch that, i was freaking scared. I didn't want to drown in there. what if the water suddenly started to rise? We'd be so screwed.

I'm so glad we decided to hire a guide for the day. The basic quote of the day was, "Hey what's in there? I dunno, lets go see..." At first i was the very anti explorer. I've heard stories how you can get lost in caves. And this one has water, which did not make me feel any better. But after squeezing ourselves and our tubes through what was about a 1 m crawl space, I was hooked. We entered into another room which was large enough to stand in. I'm sorry about the pictures, but the lighting in the cave was just terrible.

Hey what's in there?

I dunno, lets go see...

We looked around the room for a bit. There wasn't really anyhting there. Until we stopped talking and heard the faint sound of water flowing by. We followed the sound and through another opening found a new section of the river (this river flows under the mountain for about 2 km). I was like, what the hell, lets jump in. So back onto our tubes, in a new place, floating God knows where.

Down river we beached ourselves again thinking we've found the end. But Hey what's in there? I dunno, lets go see...came up again. Through another small crawl space (more like a squat space) we went, again we found another section of the river. By this point, with so much exploring, a bottle of Beerlao in me, and my super waterproof camera, my thirst for adventure grew even more. We decided to turn our lights off and feel our way around in the darkness for a few min (sorry, no pics, duh). That was a very strange feeling. Walking around in complete darkness, with water dripping on you from wherever, a low ceiling and muddy ground underneath. It really enhances your sense very quickly.

This entire adventure was of course enhanced by our guide who always told us, hey, lets go in there! We always then asked, whats in there? His answer? I dunno... But i think in the end that he really did know what he was doing and was just joking around with us. But for the whole time inside the cave, it really felt like we were exploring it for the first time.

On our way back out

Tubes, are good, caves are good. Together, is a whole new experience!

The two travelers

Our ride home got stuck. We had to help push it out while some farm instrument helped provide us with so added assistance. (We COULD have did it without the farmer but we were climbing the day before so we were kinda weak)

-bk

Temples, caves, tubes, climbing oh my!

Its been a busy few days. It seems like so long ago but really its only been a few days.

I don't have much to write about. I've been having a good time, so i'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Luang Probang Temple Cave

Some wicked rock overhanging the entrance of the cave

Inside the temple cave

Another temple cave further up the hill (its not as deep as it seems, we were very disappointed!)

The usual temple stuff, but its in a cave!

Beautiful waterfall. This one was much larger than Erwan in Thailand. Went hiking up to the top and i got completely soaked. And of course i decided to visit a waterfall without sandals. So I took my shoes off, hiked in the mud barefoot for 45 min. It was really cool at the top. Beautiful view. But the view was even better after i got home. 3 leech bites (i'm quite sure because it took a while to stop bleeding, but don't worry mom, they're all healed now. I will live.)

Up at 6 AM in Luang Probang for some Monk feeding (a very unique Buddhist tradition here).

My Swiss friend looking slightly confused. Monks? I thought you said we were going to feed monkeys! I don't want to feed people (no really,i'm serious, he thought we were going to feed monkeys).

The monks fleeting off into the darkness after they realized that they were not monkeys and the tourists were not happy. Hahaha, j/k

Vang Vieng at dusk

Some random kids by the river

My buddy and our guide as we tubed down the river

Me on my beautiful tube!

The view from my tube!

Some rapids! Very weak rapids...

Hey, where is that music coming from? Oh look, a river side bar. Hmmmm, what better thing to do than go tubing down the river with a big bottle of Beerlao?

Nah, we didn't do any of that. Just ate lunch, waited out the rain, and did the rope swing! Pics later!

View from my guesthouse in Vang Vieng. That rock out in the distance is what we're going to climb today!

Me on some serious crazy rock! Limestone is crazy. Holds everywhere, great grip. But i'm definetly a little out of shape. No forearms nemore. But still loads of fun. And a great view from the top.

Mmmmm, lunch!

Lunch for this guide (not ours)

And yes, he really ate it.