vietnam. halong bay.

from hanoi we traveled by bus to cat ba town where we immediately decided to leave and head on a cruse through halong bay to a bungalow in the jungle on the other side of cat ba island. the boat was huge and the view of the rock formations was absolutely amazing. we took the boat to a dock and were left in what seemed like a strange situation where we waited until someone came along and opened a shack full of bikes. we road the bikes to our bungalow and were one of two couples in the entire town. the food was more expensive than in the rest of vietnam but they remembered that i don't like shrimp and cooked meals according to what they through westerners would like. a few days later a korean group came through and they fed them a more eastern meal, they were spot on with accommodating tastes! every one seemed happy and it was quiet and the perfect place for a little r n r.

vietnam. hanoi lake.

we were jet lag for a week, which worked in our favor in hanoi. the city really has a different feel at 5 am and even at that early hour you feel like you're showing up late to activities that have been going on for centuries. we took a motorbike to the lake and slowly walked around as people did their morning exercises. pull ups from tree branches, sit ups under benches, and synchronized tai chi to music. it's so communal and beautiful it's hard to imagine that some of the synchronized exercises were to tunes like on top of spaghetti!

 

  

vietnam. motorbikes.

the biggest culture shock by far of traveling in vietnam were the bikes. the sheer number alone was overwhelming, crossing the roads filled with them was a death wish, but riding on the backs of them was exhilarating.  my favorite memories of vietnam were zipping through the streets of hanoi and ho chi min on the back of a motorbike. you can see in the second picture a woman on the far right crossing the road. the trick was to just go and not change your pace, you depended on the cyclist to ride around you!

travel. vietnam. powerlines.

power lines. we couldn't get over these power lines in vietnam. how does this just simply work?

street food. sugar cane.

possibly the best part of vacation is food. this is the first picture of many to come of street food. this is a sugar cane drink. when we were kids we used to go to downtown la buy sugarcane from the back of trucks and chew on it. this was reminiscent of those times, and it was super refreshing in the humid night. it was awesome, she turned on a generator and then sent the sugar cane through!

getting around in ho chi min city - tuk tuk

it rained the next morning, something i imagined would happen every morning.

we went out anyway. the streets of ho chi min city were filled with moterbikes and tuk tuks. somehow, i don't know quite how, but it all works. we took a tuk tuk after a lot of walking, it was great fun! once we got off they asked for 150* dong (7.50 uds) much more than the 15 we had thought we booked. we were in one of those positions that happens when you're abroad, trying to figure out how not to take advantage of others or be taken advantage of yourself. we paid only 15 dong (less than a dollar). they didn't put up much of a fight and it turns out we were right! a few of these experiences and a person could become jaded it helps to know before hand and be clear with your expectations to avoid these problems. we always get a kick out of learning the ropes, half of the adventure is earning the respect of the locals. if you know how much stuff should cost and are fair respect usually comes quickly and then you can have a good time. only one other time were we faced with someone who wanted us to pay an exorbant fee and we shooed him away so fast even his fellow peers got a good laugh. getting anywhere in ho chi min city on 15-20 dong is sufficient and if you make the person laugh a little they're even happy to do it. though, most of the time, they'll try to hit you up for just a smidge more when you leave. can't hurt to try!

* dong are actually in thousands so when i say 150 dong i mean 150,000. it's just easier to drop the three zeros.