Author Archives: laramietravels

June 29, 2019 – Leaving Hue, Vietnam

Having slept in a bit after a late night, we made a mad dash to eat breakFAST before our trip along Adventure Road. Oh my god, I had the very best Bun Ba Hue (a.k.a. Pho) that I have ever never ever had in my life from a whole-in-the-wall restaurant nearby. You would typically see stands of already cooked meat, vegetables and noodles, and a massive basin on hot broth. The thing that stood out about this particular beautiful Bun Ba Hue was the flavourful sausage pieces amongst thin slices of beef – Amazing. By the way, to my conservation and worldly aware vegetarian friends – I am not proud to be a carnivore…but I am a sucker for Pho.

We ran into Thanh on time, but he seemed to be in a flustered state, and not at all the cheery energetic self he was yesterday. Turns out he was not very keen to drive our big backpacks on the back of his motorbike. He tried to arrange another vehicle to take our bags to the final destination, but we declined. It was NOT part of the plan to separate us from our bags on an overnight trip – No. Way. He wasn’t thrilled about this. Oh well.

I climbed onto the back of Thanh’s motorbike, and Noe got settled on his bike. The bikes roared and we were off. I kept turning around to check on Noe and make sure he was fine. Damn he looks good on a motorcycle 😉 but I was very nervous because Hue’s streets are super busy with cars and motorbikes driving every which way. Thanh was a very authoritative driver, honking all the time with his high pitched beepy motorbike horn. Sounds pitiful and annoying, but people get out of his way.

Finally, we got out of the city, and onto Adventure Road! Thanh was quiet the whole time until he asked me something that I found offensive… “How long you been speaking English?” I answer, “All my life for almost 28 years… Why?” He answers hautily “I no understand yo English… I understand everybody, but yo English no good”. I reply “Wow, I usually have no problem communicating with people from different countries” thinking to myself that HIS English is not good at all, and maybe any confusion while communicating had to do with our inability to understand him properly. He huffed and continued riding in silence. Yeah, something was off with Thanh today that doesn’t likely have to do with us – he was very friendly the day before. I tried to make conversation, ask him about the surroundings, about his family, but I usually got only curt yes or no answers. So I gave up.

There were lush trees everywhere, and I just leaned back on the backpacks and enjoyed nature and the breeze. No real scenery yet though. Also, protip for riding motorbikes in Vietnam – always wear sunglasses or protective glasses or something. Not two minutes into the ride without my sunnies, I got irritating dust in my eyes. It also keeps the wind out of them so your eyes can relax more.

We made a pitstop for coffee and pee break at a little shack/home on the side of the road. We sat on tiny plastic chairs and enjoyed a traditional Vietnamese ice coffee and water that Thanh brought over for us. He actually became more conversational at this point, asking us about Mexico and the working man’s wage, and comparisons between the financial state of latin countries etc etc. (mostly revolving around money). Thanh was intrigued when Noe said that Vietnam really reminds him of Mexico in many ways. The noise of the streets, the way people dress, colours of the walls, the tropical feel, and the general atmosphere of the city.

I explored the little shack store/home, and found some pretty disturbing beverages:

And the worst of them:

I don’t know who is brave enough to drink this stuff. It must be pretty strong alcohol to kill whatever nasties might exist on those animals. It really hurt to see birds like this though. Birds are meant to be free; not fortifying your paint thinner poison moonshine.

We continued our long quiet ride, and I was only able to take pictures while moving (because Thanh did not stop to show us or tell us anything).

During the ride, I noticed that there were a lot of concrete steps leading up to the tops of mountains and hills, but it didn’t look like there was anything interesting at the top that anyone would want to climb and see. I asked Thanh about it, and one of the few informative things he told me was that these steps are used to regulate water flow from rainfall down the mountain so it doesn’t flash flood the road or cause significant erosion. This wouldn’t be such a problem if the steep hillsides weren’t vastly deforested.

We stopped for lunch at a little town called A Luoi, right near the border of Laos and Vietnam. Lunch was simple, but good, including fried rice, tofu, some vegetables, and bitter cold green tea. And I tried Lychee for dessert!

Thanh seemed more interested in conversing with his friends/colleagues that owned the restaurant than trying to make conversation with us. I attempted to make conversation by asking him what certain Vietnamese words were for things – he responded by saying “Why you want to learn Vietnamese?” – almost as if he thought it was incredulous that we would even try. When we explained that it is good practice as a traveller to learn at least a few polite words and phrases in a foreign country, he checked out of the conversation. He also thought it was weird that I wanted to stand in the misty rain even though it was completely sunny – this never happens in Vancouver!

(musical tune) “On the Road Again” (end musical tune) – we hit the road to make it to our final destination for the day, Prao. I was a little peeved because there were cool birds along the side of the road. I have never seen a drongo before, but my first encounter was half a second as I whizzed passed it on the motorbike. I was too nervous to tell the cranky Thanh to stop for me. He was quiet the whole time – I found myself with many questions about my surroundings, but didn’t think it was worth it to talk to Thanh being so cranky.

He stopped for us to take a photo at a less than impressive sign that says something like “this fork in the road leads to Laos and somewhere else that I don’t remember”. It was a dusty intersection with just a rickety store. I think Thanh stopped because he needed a cigarette. We gave Thanh his space and wandered around aimlessly and discussed what could possibly up with Thanh and how to deal with him. I decided I would ride with Noe instead. At least the ride would be more entertaining and more conversational between us (and I can hang onto my handsome motorcyclist fiance).

At this point, we were getting significantly higher into the mountains. I felt the motorbike really working hard to get up those steep inclines. At some point, Thanh DID however stop where the scenery was more interesting.

We also slowed down for some wildlife along the way:

Thanh promised us waterfalls, and so we came to one. And just in time too – my poor thighs and arms were burnt red from the constant hot sun glaring into my skin. Two mistakes were made here: 1) wearing shorts on a motorcycle and 2) forgetting to put on sunscreen in the rush of the morning. Noe just turned a darker shade of Moreno (beautiful Tan Brown Latino skin). In any case, we both needed to cool off.

Thanh gave us an hour of privacy while we stripped to our suits and took a dip. Though it wasn’t necessarily easy to get to the best pool. I conducted some Spiderman moves over the rocks to get there. Oh my goodness was it cold! It probably wasn’t cold, but relative to the air and our burnt bodies, it required a slow inch by careful inch descent into the pool. An unknown creature was moving and nibbling around Noe’s legs – but other than that, it was very relaxing.

Noe used this opportunity to also cool off a rash that was developing on his armpit since we arrived in Hue from Ninh Binh. Do you remember the curse lady from Ninh Binh? Another Curse! Or maybe it was from taking a dip in the Trang An River. It was not itchy, but very painful to the touch. Poor guy.

From the pool, we observed vibrant dragonflies and butterflies drinking from moist rocks.

Alas, time was up and we had to continue on – but not without lathering on loads of sunscreen first. The rest of the trek to Prao was uneventful, but we noticed how the plants became more lush and tropical, and the buildings more junglowy:

Thanh made another stop at a remote bridge that lead to a jungle village. He wanted us to go forth and explore, without any explanation, and without chaperoning us into this village where we didn’t speak the language and were obvious outsiders. I went by myself, because Noe was more interested in what was down by the river than by the remote community. I heard loud radio music playing from somewhere in the village and headed towards it. I first came across children – wide-eyed and shy, as they rarely see tourists and were not expecting anyone. Immediately, I felt like an intruder, even though the children and adults said hello, one shook my hand. I was embarrassed. Even more embarrassed when one girl pointed at my red burnt legs… And I pointed at the sun and my white complexion and they understood and laughed. I left very quickly without exploring more. When I came back to the bikes, I asked Thanh if the community had a name and tried to learn something about them, but he either didn’t know the name, or he didn’t think it had a name. I was not very impressed.

While waiting for Noe to come back from his river excursion, I discovered something very endearing about cows. Like us lucky humans with loving complete families, cows also have this when they are left to their own devices and not being exploited for their milk and meat in commercial dairy/beef operations. I saw a mom, dad and calf snuggling in the shade, and immediately felt bad for the pho I ate this morning.

Finally, after a long day of driving, we arrived at our hotel in Prao. Thanh silently unloaded our bags and asked for the rest of his money. Oooh boy, Noe was not happy at that. He blurted out to Thanh “What exactly are we paying for? We told you before the trip that we wanted to learn from you, and so far, we haven’t learned anything and you haven’t been acting like a tour guide at all. You’re basically just glorified and super expensive transport. We could have rented motorbikes and done this ourselves for a small fraction of your price.”

I was shocked. Thanh was more shocked. He fumbled at his answer about food and room being included (but let’s face it, food and accommodation are really cheap in Vietnam). Then, Thanh argued that another Canadian tourist just arrived at the hotel this evening and is paying something like 180 usd for one person for the same trip. This is supposed to make us feel grateful to have the deal we have with Thanh? It only made us feel bad for that other Canadian guy. And he flustered, saying that in 15 years of touring, no one has been dissatisfied. I have a hard time believing that they wouldn’t be dissatisfied if he was just as cranky as he was on this trip.

Even though I was not happy about Thanh’s attitude and service, I was not impressed that Noe didn’t talk to me about this confrontation before it happened so we could tactfully approach it together – passive and indirect like a Canadian would do haha. But there was no careful planning. Instead, Thanh said he would not be having dinner with us and left us at the hotel.

At least there was the most adorable little puppy to lighten the mood. He was the floofy attack puppy, nawing at everyone’s shoes and barrelling towards shins. No photo unfortunately because I was distracted by PUPPY.

The two of us awkwardly had a smorgasbord dinner at a table set for three across the way from the other Canadian and his guide. They were probably wondering where our guide was. I felt uncomfortable. Even though Thanh wasn’t there to join us for dinner, we left a third of the food for him in case he would be back. And he did come back – in the middle of dinner – but he refused to sit with us or partake in the food. Noe got up and spoke with him outside. He gave Thanh the rest of the money and tried to settle the situation. At least Thanh knew we weren’t satisfied – maybe he could change his act.

After this, Thanh did sit with us…But what happened next might explain Thanh’s attitude of the day. Thanh said that when he told his wife yesterday that he was taking a Canadian and a Mexican on this trip, his wife told him to be careful around the Mexican, they do heroine and steal. Okay, so Thanh is racist. He blatantly asked Noe if he does heroine, and said that if he had the opportunity to travel anywhere in Latin American, that he would never go to Mexico. Noe was cool about this…maybe he didn’t understand Thanh’s broken English. But I was appalled at his racism. I defended Noe, and myself (because I am also Mexican), and the Mexican people. Every country has its problems, but you can’t fault all of the people of that country for its issues. Thanh didn’t let me finish. He threateningly pointed his finger at Noe, saying he will never forget ‘Mexico’, meaning he will never forget Noe’s outburst of discontent about Thanh’s service. This happened over DINNER! I lost my appetite.

Next, Thanh started talking to the other Canadian from Toronto, and proceeded to say “See? Yo English good, I understand you…Not these guys.” And then the Toronto man started giving us pointers for talking to Vietnamese people, and I nearly shut him down. I KNOW how to talk to people. English is not so different between Toronto and Vancouver. Then the Toronto guy started telling us about his motorcycle trip with his guide. He was SO happy with what he saw, and with his guide, that seemed to stop at various cool places, like rubber tree taps and things, and how the jungles and mountains were amazing (he’s from Toronto – of course he’s impressed).

We called it a night. Time to shower, lick our wounds from the literal and figurative burns of the day, and sleep before another uncomfortable ride to Bana Hills Park and Da Nang.

Next day, I knew better than to wear shorts, so I put on my new flowy pants from Hue (see photo below). We met with Thanh, who was niceish to me, but cold and curt to Noe. He brought us to a pho restaurant for breakfast, and sat far away from us as we ate. Kind of awkward, but it would be more awkward if he was with us I guess.

After breakfast, I decided to give my butt a rest from the relatively less comfortable seat of Noe’s bike and ride with Thanh. On the ride out from Prao, something SCARY happened. Thanh made a surprised “Yelp!” as we dodged a big red/brown snake in the road heading right towards us. I didn’t realize what was happening until we passed it. I looked back in horror as it was heading for Noe’s bike. Noe whizzed by it without so much as a glance (he later claims that he didn’t see it – wtf?). I’m particularly wary of snakes here because we are sooo far away from any hospital, and you die from a snake bite within 10 minutes according to Thanh. I was a little shaken. Here’s more scenery to take your mind off snakes:

We needed coffee towards the later morning. We asked if we could stop for a coffee; instead Thanh had us stop at some tea fields that weren’t very exciting as he had another smoke. I switched over to Noe’s bike and we drove passed numerous little coffee shops for hours, until we made it to Thanh’s friend’s restaurant close to Bana Hills. What’s the point of morning coffee if you don’t get it until the later afternoon?

The next part of the ride wasn’t very nice…there were big barren spaces with massive clearcuts everywhere. Forestry is a big business in Vietnam, and we passed numerous logging trucks. One truck was being loaded as we passed, and the working men were hooting and hollering. I waved and smiled. It was common for locals around here to smile and wave and say ‘Hello’ to tourists. These guys were more excitable about tourists though. Then I looked down and noticed that my new flowy pants were TOO flowy and didn’t close all the way around my legs. The breeze exposed my legs all the way to my hips. HOW could I not notice that before?! Another big oops of the trip. But back to forestry and the impact it is having in Vietnam. Clearcuts are made on steep hills all the way to the water line of rivers and lakes. There is no such thing as riparian area protection here. That is why the rivers are SO dirty and brown from the erosion.

Thank goodness I was riding with Noe, because further along I saw a HUGE female buddha statue at a beautiful pagoda, and was able to get Noe to stop and take me there. But Thanh zoomed on ahead. He’ll find us eventually. The temple was quiet and appeared abandoned, except that it was very well kept:

As we were having our afternoon coffee before reaching Bana Hills, Noe and I discussed how we would ditch Thanh before the end of our trip. Plan was to tell him we wanted to spend longer than the two hours he allotted for us to explore Bana Hills, and that if he takes our bags to the hotel we booked in Da Nang, we can bring his bike there in the evening for his people to pick it up. And once we got to Bana Hills, the plan went smoothly. Thanh was just as tired of us as we were of him. We said our goodbyes and never saw the man again. I’m not surprised he didn’t ask us to contribute to his journal of reviews.

Well, it was a rocky road for us, and we are glad that our dealings with Thanh is over – almost. Still need to return the bike. But at this point, we consider this adventure along Adventure road complete. Thanks for reading! Up next – Bana Hills Sunworld Theme Park and Da Nang City 🙂

June 28 – Hue, Vietnam

We were barely off the train, feeling rather gross and disheveled, when we were swarmed by taxi drivers looking to take us to our hotel. We declined everyone and were looking for a Grab, but for some reason, there were only Grab motorbikes (a bit inefficient for two people with big backpacks).

As we were checking around, a local guy approached us first asking if we needed a ride anywhere, (and we were NOT interested) and then he asked where we were from as he pulled out a little journal. I said I was from Canada, and he flipped to a page written by a Canadian tourist praising this guy and his tour. I didn’t want to have anything to do with him and tried to politely decline. He kept slipping to other pages written in English from other travellers, all proclaiming this guy to be super honest and awesome and I would be missing out if I didn’t take his tour. He got Noe’s attention too and coaxed us into having a quick lunch with him across the street as he would show us the map of the route and tell us more about it. He introduced himself as Thanh (Tan). Instead, Thanh just showed us a map, and had us read more raving reviews that have few details as to what we would see. They would say things like “If you are reading this, you just came off a train and are likely looking for an adventure that is not along the beaten path. You are a lucky person to have met Thanh and I would recommend this tour to anyone!”

Basically, Thanh wanted to take us on a 2-day motorcycle tour along Ho Chi Minh Road through the mountains. In his broken English that was difficult for us to understand, Thanh was saying that we will not have seen or experienced Vietnam if we didn’t take his tour. He showed us his tattoo that read “Happy why not” and emphasized that he just wants us to be happy. We started to humour him over our bowls of Pho, or what they call “Bun Ba Hue” in Hue. Ok, so how much is this tour? $150usd per person?!!! No way! Noe managed to get the price down to $180usd for the both of us, everything included, provided that Noe drive his own bike and only Thanh takes us on the tour. It’s settled. Thanh and his friend take us on their motorbikes to our hotel (Thanh An Homestay). We gave Thanh 1.5 million vnd up front and would give him the rest (2 million something vnd) in the middle of the trip starting tomorrow morning.

Cool! We are going to do something adventurous like the rugged backpackers we are trying to be! Noe and I have really enjoyed and learned a lot from local people in our past travels through Mexico, and hope to be able to learn about Vietnam from Thanh, a seasoned 45 year-old Vietnamese man who has travelled Ho Chi Minh (Adventure) Road so many times. He must know all of the best places and significance of them along the way.

After a much needed shower and nap, we went out on the town to explore Hue. We stopped by the Royal Artifacts museum and saw royal robes, furniture, pottery, jewelry, pipes, spittoons, fancy boxes and more. No pictures were allowed – sorry :-S

Pitstop for a coconut and coffee. Some nice gentlemen were kind enough to teach me the word for “good” (when referring to food) which was “Ngon”- don’t really remember how to pronounce it. I was pointing at different things that were good and calling them “Ngon”, including my coconut and Noe’s coffee. I pointed at Noe and called him “Ngon” as well. The men started laughing really hard. I don’t know why they thought that was funny – I personally think I found myself a good man. Waaaaay later on, I realized that “Ngon” actually means “tasty.” Haha oops…

The next ‘must-see’ was the Imperial (Emperial?) City… But Google betrayed us and gave the wrong opening hours. We were too late to go inside the city. But we got a good look of the outside!

And the inside of the Emperial City Public Washroom! I really had to go, so I went up to one of the staff girls and asked where the washroom was… She was so confused. I tried “washroom” and “bathroom” but she kept shaking her head. Noe was about to mime peeing until I looked on Noe’s phone for this symbol:

“Aaahhh toilet” she said, giggling. She pointed me in the right direction.

On our night walk through Hue, we saw tiny lizards the size of an average beetle, toads that can do tricks (it jumped over Noe’s hand when he tried to block it), cool Asian palaces and what look like pyramids in the Twilight with children flying kites in the square.

We came to a rainbow bridge as we were walking through the night market by the river, we watched the Dragon Boats (Huge boats with dragon heads) go by and checked out the local merchandise.

One thing I noticed walking the streets of Hue, was the sheer number of Marijuana venders asking us if we want some. It’s illegal! According to other travellers, there was some advertising for prostitutes…but no one approached Noe (being engaged and all).

On our way back towards our hotel, a girl came up to us (NOT a prostitute) and asked if we were travellers and if we would like a free tour of the city. She was maybe 14/15 years old and really sweet with really good English. Serina (her English name) wanted to practice her English in preparation for an oral exam. She showed us the boardwalk, pointed out the main hangouts for young people, discussed what the boardwalk was made with and taught us some new Vietnamese words (though I have since forgotten). As she was showing us around, young kids would watch us wide-eyed and attempt to get Serina’s and our attention by smiling and waving and muttering little hellos. There was a dance group on the boardwalk demonstrating their best Asian pop dance moves, guys (I think?) with tight pants showing off their skinny legs. I wanted to jump in and learn some moves, but I would quickly become a spectacle for the locals if I did that. Serina really wanted me to though, haha.

Serina asked us what we felt like doing, and I asked if I could invite her for a bubble tea for showing us around. She was humble and didn’t want to accept (I found this to be characteristic of Vietnamese people…seriously, they will not accept tips), but I insisted, so she took us to the best bubble tea place in town called Royaltea. I asked for whatever she was having which had cream cheese in it! It actually wasn’t that bad – very rich though.

We had to call it a night, said goodbyes and walked back to our homestay. The road that our place was on was party central. This was equivalent to Granville Street in Vancouver. Bars and stores, music in the street, except it was mostly 90s hit music like Britney and Backstreet. A band was playing American songs in the middle of an intersection. Noe wanted to get to work on his travel video and I was keen to go shopping! He gave me his wallet and said “Have fun”. I felt this was horribly cliche but wasn’t about to complain – in fact, I was all smiles and giddiness. I went from shop to shop, comparing styles and fabrics. Definitely need something hippy, flowy, sexy, tropical and relatively cheap. I found some! No photos though…Sorry.

It was approaching 11pm when I got back to the room and you could hear the 90s music blasting outside. Noe was still hard at it, working on his video account of our trip so far. While I drifted off to sleep to the sound of 90s music and Netflix, Noe worked through the night like a zombie.

The next morning, we slept in a little longer than we should have and frantically packed up our things to meet Thanh for our motorbike adventure on Ho Chi Minh Road – the topic of my next post! Thanks for reading! Hue was not the most exciting part of this trip so far, but I anticipate more interesting adventures 🙂

June 26, 2019 – The bus to Ninh Binh was entertaining! We nearly tipped trying to get onto a vehicle-worthy ferry boat from Cat Ba to the mainland. Did you know coffee could come in a can? We got a few of these and a SPAM sandwich on the ferry, and it hit the spot. In preparation for a long bus ride, we downloaded ‘Kong: Skull Island’ the night before, because it had lots of scenes from Vietnam, in particular, Cat Ba Island and Halong Bay. It was GOOD! I won’t spoil it for you. Also, during the bus ride, I investigated the whop whop whop bird. Turns out, it was a Greater Coucal, a black crow-sized bird with brown wings. Definitely very mischievous-looking.

We arrived in Tam Coc, Ninh Binh (Ning Bing), Vietnam in the early afternoon. It was SMOKING hot. Also, it was like a terrestrial Halong Bay with big limestone mountains jutting out of the flat rice-patty-strewn valley. First things first, we need lunch. Noe found a highly-rated family restaurant called “Family Restaurant.” Noe ordered his favourite – Beef Pho – and I ordered Pineapple Chicken and a Mango smoothie – DELICIOUS! The hostess was very nice. When she found out we were from Canada, she spoke to us in nearly perfect French (I actually wouldn’t know, because I don’t speak French, but it sounded good). She offered to help us figure out the trains from Ninh Binh to Hue.

After a lovely lunch and interaction with Gia, the hostess, we decided to check into our cave room (Yes, I booked us a room in a cave). Noe and I had to walk through narrow trails between rice patties to get to the Tam Coc Homestay. We were greeted with brand new insanely cute puppies, and then were brought to our cave.

Staying in a cave was super neat…this must be what it felt like to be a cave woman, except with proper beds, proper toilet, proper shower, proper air conditioning, proper lockable door, and proper internet. If we didn’t have air conditioning, it would feel quite claustrophobic. There was a resident cricket chirping from a crack in the rock, little antennae poking out. I made an attempt at his life, but he escaped and Noe pleaded for mercy. I obliged, but at least I had ear plugs – Noe didn’t and would have to live with the loud and annoying chirps in the night. After settling in we went for a free Vietnamese Mojito advertised as a “Get one – Free one” Mojito between 6-8pm. Unfortunately, we misunderstood the meaning, which was actually “Buy one -Get one free” haha oops. They were nothing to brag about…lacked mint…lacked lime…lots of liquor to make up for it though.

At dusk, we walked into the rice patty trails towards what we thought was a bat cave 5 minutes from the homestay. Small things jumped into the grass or water on the side of the trail as we walked. Didn’t get a chance to see them as they were fast! Bats were flying all over the place hunting insects. Then the wind picked up, and the sky darkened even more. We heard a shrieking sound that was akin to a barn owl call, but when I looked up to see where it was coming from, the shape was as big as an owl, but flew like a bat. It was a MASSIVE bat. When it called, many similar calls responded back from caves in the mountains surrounding the valley. I think it was signalling the coming storm and to take cover. Eerily, there were no more bats hunting insects…they retreated to where they came from, and a light flared in the distance, lighting up the mountains – LIGHTNING! Noe and I tried calling to the bat by making a SHHHHHHSSSSSsssss sound – it responded, and flew back over to investigate. I am pretty sure it was saying “Get back to your cave, idiot! Can’t you see a storm is coming?!” The lightning was indeed getting more aggressive, though was very far away because we could not hear thunder. As the lightning flared, wind and rain picked up around us. We looked down the dark path, and were surprised to see little beads of light flittering around. How fitting that we would see lightning bugs during a lightning storm! We had our fill of lightning for the night, and retired to our cave – like mama bat said we should.

It was dark dark night in that dark dark cave. We slept like hibernating bats (though thankfully not upside-down).

June 27, 2019 – Exploring around Tam Coc.

We got a late start to the day – it didn’t help that sunlight couldn’t enter our cave to signal waking time! I woke up on the wrong side of the cave that morning and was very irritable that we were late in getting on with the day. Breakfast was also sub-par (a measly bun with egg) which further put me in a mood. I am very much a food-driven person… After breakfast, we went back to the Family Restaurant to leave our big backpacks and rent a motorbike from Gia. By the time we hit the road, it was 1:30/2pm ish. We also had to put gas in the motorbike, and followed Gia’s directions to the gas station, which we though was a local guy with a bucket of waterbottles filled with gas. He wanted to charge us 50 000 vnd per litre (that’s $3 cad per litre!!!). Of course we figured this out after he put in $15 worth of gas…and we were like -no no no no no…take it back. We put him on the phone with Gia who came to rescue us and take us to the actual gas station. She bought us some gas, and we were on our way – finally! First stop was the Mua Caves. On the turn-off to the caves, a man with a whistle stopped us saying we had to park our bike there for 20 000 vnd. Fine, we did, as we figured this is what everyone had to do. But as we walked the kilometre to the caves, there were more and more places close by to park your bike for cheaper! Even for free! The guy made himself seem like an authority with his whistle, making us walk and waste our time and money. Finally, we made it to the gate, and they were asking for 120 000 vnd each. Noe wasn’t convinced we should pay, and we should just go somewhere else, like the bird garden that I wanted to see. But I was already irritated that it was late afternoon and we hadn’t seen anything yet. So we paid, Noe had a beer to relax as he was also irritated. It was hot, and when we looked for the proclaimed Mua caves, there was a just a tiny cave with a well and tiger statue. I didn’t even take a picture of it, it was so disappointing. What the heck?! We wanted to see ACTUAL caves with BIG bats! ugh. So instead, what we paid for, was photo ops and a steep stair climb to a lookout point.

We found an actual cave and were satisfied to leave now. On our way out, we saw some other unsuspecting people getting ready to park their bikes at the place we parked. We told them to keep going all the way to the caves and they’ll find free parking there. We got our pay back for being herded into this parking place and being shmucked out of our Vietnamese dong. I guess some people make a more honest living in Vietnam than others.

Next stop – we decided to check out the Trang An River. Didn’t really feel like doing a river boat tour, but instead rode the motorbike along it all the way to the ancient Hoa Lu village (distinct from Hoa Lo hell hole from Hanoi) which sits on the Trang An River. As we neared Hoa Lu, many people tried to stop us with their hand waving, baton waving, and whistles, offering us parking. But we knew better this time…so we whizzed passed them all until we got to the gate. As Noe was trying to pay for tickets to Hoa Lu, three very old ladies (and I mean this in the best possible way) in their pointed Vietnamese hats surrounded him, trying to sell their fruits (why does this sound so wrong?). He bought two bags of pineapple, and had to say no to the third lady, because she came late to the selling party, and honestly, you can only have so much pineapple at one time. The third lady started cursing in Vietnamese when Noe kindly declined – I hoped it wasn’t some kind of magical Vietnamese curse…but now that I think of it, maybe it was (more on that later). The plastic bags of pineapple were crawling with ants, so I didn’t partake in it.

As we suspected, once we had our tickets, we could drive our motorbike ALL the way inside and around Hoa Lu (haha, we would have been suckers if we parked half a kilometre away). It was super hot, so first thing we did once inside was strip to our knickers and go for a dip in the Trang An. We saw other children swimming not too far away, and steps led right down into the water – so it must be fine. It was very refreshing, although Noe slipped and scraped his leg and feet pretty bad. Curse? Maybe. He hobbled out of there after a good swim, and then we ventured to the little temple and pagoda. There was a lush courtyard inside the temple. This temple was dedicated to a king…which was odd, as most temples are for some other deity or buddha that we have seen.

Hoa Lu wasn’t just an ancient abandoned village – it was a bustling lively village, with people that live and work there. We drove all over the lush back roads and through the busy town.

It was getting late, so we made our way to the other side of Tam Coc to try and catch a bit of the bird garden before it closed. Unfortunately, we ran out gas on the highway (Curse again? Maybe). A nice lady stopped her motorbike, and called a number for a local person to come and bring us gas. Sure enough, 10 minutes later, a man came on an electric bike with his nifty cart of gasoline, and gave us one litre for 3$…ok, we figured this is fair for bringing us gas when we were stranded on the highway.

Back on the road again with enough gas, we hurry towards the bird garden. It’s dusk already, and I’m starting to feel disheartened because this was ultimately what I wanted to see in Tam Coc – Ninh Binh. Sure enough, when we get there, the gate person tells us politely that we have to turn around and he hopes we have a fun night. Curse? It is really starting to feel like this third fruit selling old lady might have ruined our day with whatever she said in a malicious tone. At least we saw a cool sunset.

After a somewhat disappointing day, one thing could really pick up my mood – COMFORT FOOD! A good ol’ hamburger would do the trick, or a pineapple chicken burger, fries and a mango smoothie at a touristy restaurant. We made it back to Family Restaurant to return the bike very late (9:30pm), which was a bit stressful for me, because we had to catch a train!

So I might have neglected to mention before, the whole reason we were trying to fit everything into one day, is because we had to catch the night train from Ninh Binh to Hue at 10:30pm. We grabbed a Grab, and got to Ninh Binh train station. No one checked our tickets or anything to get onto the platform, which I thought was odd. Maybe they will check them on the train – they didn’t. Curse again – Noe and I had an argument on the platform, didn’t say good night and didn’t see each other until the next morning because our train cabins were so far away from each other. Noe was practically in the caboose, and I was up near first class (don’t know how that happened..completely random when I ordered tickets online, I swear. They were the last two beds!).

On the train, everyone was scrambling to get into their assigned cabin. I was trying to get to the other side of the train car where my cabin was, when an American shouted, “There’s no more beds here! Move back!” I was terrified…I didn’t want to have to sleep on the floor in the tiny hallway…there must be a mistake. I tried to talk to a train attendant, who brought me to my cabin, opened the door, and it was dark inside with one upper bunk vacant – YES that’s mine! There was a family of 4 locals (two young kids and two parents) sharing 3 beds. The little girl was speaking all of her best English at me, including “Hello” “How are you?” “What you doing?” as her parents look at me and give me an embarrassed smile. I tucked myself into bed and started watching something, as I couldn’t sleep with all of the excitement of the day.

At midnight, I decided to go see if Noe was okay in his cabin. Crossing 8 train cars, I finally made it to Noe’s cabin. The halls were dead, except for the night train attendants. I ask the train attendant to please let me check Noe’s cabin to make sure he was okay. I pointed at my engagement ring, and he understood. He held a finger to his lips when I was about to knock, and just opened the door for me. Sure enough, there was Noe, sleeping tightly as a bug with his shoes on in the top bunk. I touched his leg, with no response from him. I thanked the train attendant, closed the door and returned made the long trek back to my cabin at the front of the train.

Ok, time to sleep. Even with ear plugs, I heard strange sounds from the train. Eventually, I got to sleep. Only to be rudely awakened by super loud music from the cabin speaker at 6:30am. I guess we would start making passenger stops soon, so all of the guests had to be up and ready to jump off when they’re supposed to. I took this opportunity to go find Noe again (I really love him, because I made the trek to the back of the train TWICE in one trip for him). This time, I woke him up. The three local girls in his cabin were already awake and were very nice. They offered me candy, as Noe woke up and got his stuff organized. From there, we left his stuff in my cabin, and went to the very very front of the train, where Noe had a hunch that there was a common dining room. On the way, we bought some train sausages, rice and SPAM for a small breakfast. Sure enough, there was a dining area…and it seemed like few people knew about it, because with a packed train, there were still at least 3 of 6 vacant tables. We ordered iced coffee, enjoyed our breakfast, and watched the scenery go by through the big windows. As we were watching, it looked like there were fields and fields of marijuana growing everywhere. Marijuana is deathly illegal in Vietnam…why is it grown here to such a huge extent? (No picture unfortunately)

Soon enough, we made it to Hue, Vietnam… No one announced that we were at Hue. We had to rely on Google Maps to show when we were approaching our stop, and then get ready to hop off as soon as the train was in the station. Easy peasy. We arrived in Hue, another big city in Vietnam along the coast.

June 21 – We checked out of the Serendipity Hotel, and might I say, highly recommended. Very centrally located, very friendly staff, great complimentary breakfast, clean rooms, and decently comfy beds, and GREAT PRICE. Not necessarily the fanciest or prettiest, but still a good option for travellers. Of the things I forgot to mention so far about Hanoi and Vietnam in general, most hotel, travel, or tour service people and venders know some English. It is pretty easy to communicate. If they don’t know English, they all have phones with internet to translate what they mean in real time. Awesome, right? But I think it’s good practice to learn at least a little bit of the language, anywhere you go, because local people appreciate that you try.

We made a mad dash from the hotel to the train station. I think we took the route less travelled by tourists because we were the ONLY non-Vietnamese people on the train. It was a little daunting, but I was proud of us for not doing what everyone else does – or rather, doing what none of the tourists typically do, which was take a luxury bus straight from their hotel to Halong Bay City. We took the train to Hai Phong, and from there a ferry or boat to Cat Ba Island.

Before the train left the Hanoi station, a very short woman (shorter than the seats we were sitting in) was selling candies and fans. It felt like she honed in on us because we were the only tourists on the train. She gave us a very pitiful face when we said no, and Noe ended up buying a pack of gum. She came back several times before the train left to push a fan on me, but I didn’t need one (my pack was already too full of stuff). Her voice was very guttural… I thought perhaps she might have been a Vietnamese indigenous woman.

Goodbye Hanoi, nice knowing ya – the train left the station. I had the window seat, and was enthralled with all of the sights to see, from rivers, to rice paddies, to cemeteries, to super tall skinny colourful buildings. I feel bad now, because I realized that while I was enjoying the scenery, Noe was tirelessly working to figure out how to get to Cat Ba Island and where we would stay. But here are some of the things I saw:

At one of the stops, we saw locals digging up gravel in teams of three – one man would guide the shovel, and two men would hull ropes attached to the shovel, giving it more power with every swing. They would shovel loads of gravel into a bucket on the rail, that would be taken somewhere else. Quite ingenious really. I might try this next time I have to shovel snow for my mom.

The toilets on the train are what you can expect for a toilet on a moving vehicle – messy. I would time going to the bathroom for when the train wasn’t moving, because if not, I would surely get someone else’s pee on me.

We made it to Hai Phong, and as I expected, we were the only non-local travellers on the platform. One local lady approached us and offered a great all inclusive deal to Cat Ba Island. She took us on two scooters to her business office, where we waited for a local bus to take us to the Hai Phong ferry terminal. The bus was full (with all local people), so we sat in the middle of the bus on two little stools, packed tightly between the seats, drinking beer haha.

At the ferry terminal, we realized that we lost our ticket for the boat…oops. But I think the ticketers were smart, because how else would two tourists in a sea of locals find themselves here to this particular boat, if someone hadn’t sold us a ticket? So we scrambled on sheepishly without our ticket, and reached Cat Ba, where we got on another bus that would take us to Cat Ba Town. A little girl was smiling, spying and waving at us. I think we have this effect on young children and dogs…for some reason, they like tourists.

The views from the bus were amazing! I saw so many boats, clear waters, hilly islands, goats, kingfishers, and little villages. When we got to Cat Ba Town, we were very disheartened, as it seemed all of the reasonable accommodations were taken. It was the weekend – duh – all the locals come here for vacation too. I easily became frustrated, and gave up, leaving the responsibility to Noe to figure it out as I enjoyed a Matcha Bubble Tea and an icecream bar. I also feel bad about this now, because I basically left all of the travel planning to him. He finally found us something close by – Baolong Hotel. At this point, all I wanted to do was sleep, even though it was 4pm in the afternoon. I slept all afternoon and night. I needed to sleep off the jet lag, the frustration of the day, and my bad mood overall. It took a good 15 hours to get all of that out of my system.

I was in a better mood by the morning, just in time to go on an unforgettable boat tour around Lan Ha Bay and Halong Bay. Cat Ba Ventures is a local travel company that does all sorts of treks around Cat Ba National Park. I highly recommend them for all of your travel tour desires. They are reasonably priced, and are very friendly and professional. We chose a day tour that would involve a stop at a local fish farm, cruising around the bays, swimming to secluded beaches, and kayaking through caves. We were taken from Cat Ba Town to Ben Beo Port, where we got on a luxurious boat with a downstairs dining area and an upstairs lounging deck.

There were about half locals and half tourists on the boat. These groups seemed to naturally segregate with tourists upstairs and locals downstairs. It may be because the locals do not like the sun, whereas tourists make a point of soaking up the sun. The guide explained that dark skin is not sexy for Vietnamese people. It is similar to Mexico in that respect. I think Noe looks part Vietnamese, because several locals have talked to him in Vietnamese, thinking he knew the language, and the guide asked him if he was half Vietnamese. Noe answered “I’m half Mexican and half Mexican” – the guide laughed.

The trip was beautiful! We passed Monkey Island, where mischievous monkeys roam – harassing tourists. Apparently they steal beer and get drunk, as well as other shenanigans. The guide said that there are macaques and super critically endangered white-headed langurs in Cat Ba National Park (there are 60 individuals left). I wasn’t fortunate enough to see a monkey that day. But I did see HUGE Vietnamese man size grouper fish, man(finger)-eating carps, bats, hidden lagoons, and numerous pillar-like limestone islands. Stay tuned for details below!

Our first stop of the day was at the biggest local fish farm that brings fish to Cat Ba Island, and I think to other parts of Vietnam. This is a very serious business – it takes lots of work and resources and time to grow big 100 kilogram fish. Apparently, if they get bigger than 100 kilograms, they start to taste bad. These fish can cost one million Vietnamese Dong (or $57 CAD) per kilogram (I think I am remembering this correctly). The guide said it would likely be double for tourists – just because of the nature of the business.

Except not all of the fish at the fish farm are harvested. This is the lucky fish of the fish farm – the biggest grouper of the bunch. This fish will stay with the fish farm until it dies, and is replaced by another BIG fish. All fish farms have a lucky fish to bring prosperity to the business. They become part of the family.

There were also some sort of carps that are very aggressive. They would sploosh around at the prospect of any food (or fingers).

Families that run the business do well for Vietnam, making about $1200 USD equivalent per month (but I’m sure this does not include the cost of running the business). Children would have to spend the week days on Cat Ba Island with other family members rather than with their parents on the farm because it is simply too far away from schools and hospitals.

The guide bought a few fish from the family as we left the farm. I think I know what we’re having for lunch!

Our next stop was a lovely little calm lagoon with a small secluded sandy/shelly/corally beach. I jumped 4 meters high from the top of the boat to the refreshingly warm waters below and swam to the beach. We found some cool shells! I particularly like the lumpy one.

Back on the boat again, we travelled some more to another part of Halong Bay. A note to other young travellers: don’t bring your portable speakers and subject the rest of the guests to your questionable music tastes. Do you own the boat? Are you part of the guide staff? Then don’t spoil someone else’s experience of peace and tranquility in a beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site with electronic music – or ANY music. Thank you in advance. Unfortunately, all I could do at the time (not wanting to be confrontational – even though I know I could have taken them down) is sigh audibly. Here are some of the things I saw, while trying to ignore the obnoxious tunes:

As we cruised to another part of Halong Bay, our guide told us the legend that gave this bay its name. In ancient times, the southern Vietnam people were under invasion from Northern attackers that would come by sea. The Jade Emperor called the mother dragon and her children down from the sky to aid the Vietnam people with their divine fire and emeralds. The emeralds remain to this day as rocky islands of all shapes and sizes to keep sea invaders away. Ha Long literally means “Descending Dragon”. And that is the legend of Halong Bay.

Lunch time! Complete with fish spring rolls, rice, shrimp salad, chicken salad, and squid salad (check out them legs I am mowing on). To wash it all down, we were invited to try Happy Water, also known as strong rice wine. We counted together to four in Vietnamese – “một hai ba bốn!” and took the shot in one swig and tipped our glasses upside down to show off, as the locals do.

Following lunch, we cruised to another calm area of Halong for the main event – Kayaking, caves and secret lagoons! Noe and I got a tandem kayak, where I forcefully negotiated Noe taking the back and taking the camera (to take pictures of me of course) – as shown below:

Despite me dominating the front, Noe and I made a great tandem kayaking team. I heard that tandem kayaking is a real test for a strong relationship, and I think we passed. We were SO fast, paddling in unison and doing some really nice steering maneuvers. Because of this, we managed to stay in front of everyone most of the time, ruining all of their photos with the butt of our bright yellow kayak – oops.

I might have started a mini splash paddle battle with Noe in front of everyone – another oops. What started as a friendly sploosh, ended with me being completely drenched. I hope the onlookers knew it was all in good fun – I laughed extra hard so they didn’t think it was some sort of malicious watery abuse.

Back to the boat we went – and our next stop was another swimming location near another secluded beach. Though there were a lot more people this time from different tour boats. After swimming for a second round (following strenuous activity, a lot of sun, and a full belly of fresh seafood and happy water, not to mention the huge waves), I started to feel queazy. It was not a particularly joyous ride back to Ben Beo Port for either of us. Noe decided to try bamboo tobacco, where you smoke one hit of very strong tobacco through a big bamboo pipe. He claims his day is defined by before smoking and after smoking. Noe does not smoke in general, but just decided to give this a try for the cultural experience, so he was particularly affected. Another guy almost fainted.

I was ready to get off the boat, only to discover that as soon as we get to Ben Beo, we had to hop onto another boat to get to a rural jungle part of Cat Ba Island, Viet Hai Village. The only other way is a four hour hike through the jungle. I was very reluctant to get onto another boat because I KNEW I would hurl (aka. barf, puke, throw up, lose my lunch). But I still got on that little puttery loud gas-smelling slow speed boat anyways. Any hopes of making it without getting sick on the choppy waves were not realized.

Vacation isn’t always paradise. Complimentary China Airlines barf bag in hand, I was ready. Though the moments leading up to and during were not at all pleasant. I had a moment similar to the hero of the Atlantis cartoon movie where he says “carrots, why is it always carrots? I didn’t even eat carrots!” Noe was there handing me tissues and water, and the little captain of the boat was encouraging and understanding and didn’t kick me off for being gross. Getting to land could not happen soon enough. What felt like eternity was probably just under an hour to get to Viet Hai.

Finally, on dry land, I could rid myself of my rancid goodie bag, and get to the promised comfortable jungle bungalow. The port was very dark and quiet, with not a soul around. We were going to walk four kilometers through the jungle, still with a sensitive stomach, but thankfully a cart pulled over. The driver initially was going to charge us a comparable arm and a leg for a lift to our hotel, in which case we were contemplating walking at dusk through the jungle, until he learned we were staying at Lan Ha Homestay – so it was FREE! And thank god! It ended up being a long dark ride on narrow paths through a scary cave. I would have been so lost.

We arrived at a quaint little jungle village resort and were given a bungalow with everything you wouldn’t expect a rural jungle village to have – fast internet, unlimited hot water, air conditioning, virtually no indoor bugs, and very very clean! This truly is paradise. We were offered everything we could possibly need, including a special dinner – No dinner for me thanks! What I needed was a shower to wash off all of the salt and sweat and other gross stuff, and sleep off the day. We started watching King Kong Skull Island because of the scenes shot in Halong Bay, but didn’t make it through five minutes. And we slept.

June 23 (Today). Today is Noe’s birthday! Well technically it is tomorrow if you’re referring to Mexican time. We started the morning with a stroll through the village with just one road and mountains on either side. There were majestic cows, chickens dying in the street awaiting their final demise – chickens really have it bad here…come to think of it, they have it bad most places – friendly and not so friendly dogs, and locals that would sometimes smile and wave, or just keep to themselves. Butterflies would flit and floot right in front of us as we walked. Noe thinks that they do that on purpose to show off that they are beautiful butterflies (I would totally do that if I was a butterfly).

We had a lovely breakfast of banana and honey crepes, sweet garlicy fruit and delicious coffee. Following breakfast, the day was rather uneventful. We needed a day to recharge after a stressful week leading up to travelling, and start writing about our experiences so far. So here I am, writing to you from my junglow (jungle bungalow). Sometimes I’m outside in the hot and humid air writing from a hammock, or inside the cool air-conditioned suite. I took breaks only for lunch and catching glimpses of birds and butterflies.

The rural jungle village is far from silent or peaceful. Throughout the day, there were tiny table saw sounds of millions of what must be insects of the cicada family. In the morning, there was a weird hooting bird that sounded like a monkey. At night, the sounds were replaced with a chorus of toads and crickets, and yowling cats. Thankfully, there are not too many cases of annoying buzzings of mosquitos. So far, I have only been bitten twice. Not bad for several days in a tropical region.

We had an unexpected communal dinner of rice, curry chicken, prawns, and spring rolls with a French backpacking couple. They gave us tips for where to go in France and Europe in general for our future trip (stay tuned for next year’s ‘Laramie goes to Europe’ blog). Then we had a chat with another nice couple that might be interested in doing a hike with us tomorrow. I need to investigate a little more about the hike to the viewpoint of Cat Ba National Park tonight.

I am now all caught up with my Southeast Asia trip so far. I will try to blog at least a little bit every day, or every other day. Thanks for reading, and come again soon for more about my travels.

June 24 (Today) – You never would have guessed it was the rainy season, until now. It was raining outside…

It was raining inside…

It was raining EVERYWHERE!

From my hammock, I heard strong and long-winded thunder that signalled the coming downpour. I could see the waves of rain undulating across the sky in front of the misty mountains. I saw butterflies trying to fly between flowers like drunks as they were pummelled by huge rain drops. Instead of the tiny saw-like sounds of the cicadas, I heard an actual table saw, as well as rowdy toads, crickets, and the weird hooting bird again that goes whop whop whop (No, it wasn’t an owl – I would know). At one point, there was a herptile (amphibian/reptile) screaming from the awning of our junglow. We spotted an Asian house lizard, but I think the sound came from something else – a toad maybe took a wrong turn somewhere into the roof and discovered a fear of heights. Locals started chanting in the background for some kind of celebration – maybe a rain dance? I don’t know. And nothing like water gets the bugs so excited…I might have spoken too soon when I said I only had two bites. We were on the menu today.

Complimentary breakfast was not too exciting – Eggs in a bun, but coffee with condensed milk always makes my morning. I learned how to ask for more coffee – “xin lỗi” (pronounced “seen loy”) meaning excuse me, “một ly cà phê” (pronounced “moat lee cafe”) meaning “one coffee please.” If you want a cold coffee, it’s “cafe da.”

After breakfast, we lounged and finished our writing. During a break in the rain, a group of retired military or police officers in their decorated suits walked through the resort. I respectfully said hello “xin chào” (seen chow), and then one older gentlemen starting talking to me and asking me questions in Vietnamese! I looked blankly at him, and put my hand to my heart and said “sorry, I don’t speak Vietnamese,” did a little bow nod, and embarrassed, went back to the junglow. He was probably asking if I stayed in that junglow and how I like it here. I really need to learn some more Vietnamese.

Towards the later afternoon (like 4:30pm), the rain stayed away and the cicadas started seeing again. We took that as our signal to go for a hike. With so much water on the air, the smells were amazing. It smells sweeter after a rain (like anywhere), but also more wild! The agricultural areas flooded, and all of the hidden waterbirds and amphibians were going nuts. We walked to the edge of the village and tried to go up to the Cat Ba National Park viewpoint. It was only 2 kilometres there, but we decided it was too risky to try climbing it today. It was so mucky, there were dangerous electric cables strewn across the path, and it seemed steep. Coming down would be a problem, and we would definitely not be back in time for dinner. So we just enjoyed to scenery and nature at the bottom:

After exploring around the lookout trail head, we decided to continue walking down another trail to the ancient Vietnamese houses in the jungle. Below is the gateway and the well to the ancient village.

Passing through this gate felt like we entered another time. Families were playing soccer in the ancient patios, and hanging their laundry and leaning their bikes and belongings around the old architecture. It felt like the old embraced the new generations with open arms. There were numerous old buildings on the outskirts of a field with a main house that was converted to a restaurant for visitors. Below are some of the scenes I captured (filtered for effect):

After exploring, we realized it was dinner time! We ran all the way back in the hot and humid air to our junglow. On the way, we passed the locals having a volleyball tournament (the net seemed a little short). I would have loved to play with them but they had full teams, and to be honest, the ball seemed a little hard. Buckets of sweat were pouring off us by the time we reached the resort. But we dove right into our meal anyways without a shower. The table was set for six of us (three couples). We had very grown up chats about work and travel and Masters degrees and politics and cancer research.

After a long day in the rain/post rain, I was impressed with what the humidity does for my thick (typically straight if only slightly wavy) hair. Fabulous curls on either side of my face and BIG hair.

Noe is also pleased with what it does for his hair.

And here we are now, settling in for bed, listening to Monday night local karaoke and the crickets. Good night! There will be more adventures for you tomorrow!

Haha, I lied…I’ve totally not blogged for 9 days, and holy hell I have LOTS to catch up on! Ok, here it goes…

June 25, 2019 – Still in Viet Hai

Another leisurely morning in the hammock, visited by your friendly neighbourhood lizards and mice.

I took the morning to catch up with my family back home. Then we took some bikes to the harbour for a swim. The route to the harbour was a lot less ominous during the day time than it was when we first arrived at night.

We found a perfect swimming spot. It was SO quiet. There was not a soul around. Our voices echoed off of the mountains surrounding us in the little secluded bay. I practiced some improvised Tai Chi / Yoga / Super slowmo dance moves in the water, while Noe meditated while swimming on his back. Some crows came to visit, and were chatting me up as I responded to them with my best crow-speak. Sometimes I feel I communicate better with Vietnamese crows than with Vietnamese people.

Feeling refreshed, we headed back to Viet Hai for a quick lunch before our second attempt at climbing to the viewpoint. For lunch, we chose a different restaurant and ordered some clam sour soup, veggies, and seafood spring rolls – YUM!

On completely full stomachs, we rode our bikes back to the trail head and started the assent. No more jungle crabs on this particularly dry day. Though, it was still incredibly slippery. The climb was steep, mucky, and nerve-wracking, all the while traversing next to thick power cables that went all the way up the mountain. I was behind Noe, and he must have been disturbing the bugs, because they all came out right in front of me – EW. Noe claims that they only show up for me because I’m the biologist… Can I be honest? Sometimes I don’t like being a biologist :S. There were nearly invisible big spindly spiders crawling over the ground with a body the size of a pea, and legs that are hair-thin and super long, as well as a HUGE venomous centipede and jumping worms that still give me shivers writing about 9 days later. Although, I did see my first Asian stick bug in the wild! Pretty cooooool. Let’s not forget about our friends the Golden Orbweavers. They were still all over the place, and sometimes we didn’t spot them until they were hanging right in front of our faces.

We started wondering if this insane ascent was actually a legit hike for travellers, or just a scam to get North Americans to pay for an uncomfortable and potentially fatal experience. Though, as we were nearing the top, we ran into another silly soul – an English guy coming down super steep jagged boulders in flip flops, his long sleeve shirt completely drenched in what could only be his own sweat. FLIP FLOPS?! This guy had a death wish, and he admitted it. Though we were all mutually thankful that we were not the only crazy people on this “hike”. Going over and under more power cables, we finally reached the summit that revealed the purpose of all these power cables – a massive cell tower. So we were right in assuming that this “hike” was not originally intended as a “hike”, but was just a route to lead cables up to a cell tower…that tourists paid to climb. There was a platform on one side, and a little lookout nook on the other. Even though the whole climb was uncomfortable, the view was totally worth it…see for yourself:

If I thought the ascent was crazy, the descent put me out of my mind. I had at least three points of contact for every step I took, because one mis-step could mean injury. It was too steep and too slippery, with awkwardly shaped rocks and cables to watch out for. At this point, I didn’t even care about the creepy crawlies (ok, actually I did…AGAIN they came out just for me, the same centipede and jumping worms – EWWWWWW!). I just wanted to get down alive. I even did the infamous butt-slide several times. Trees and branches were my friends. The stupid whop whop bird was laughing at us all the way down “Whoooopwhopwhopwhop.” I kept asking Noe, my legs shaking, “Are we almost down yet?” and he kept answering “We’re probably only just a 3rd of the way down.” Until finally we were down! YES! I was alive!

It was almost dusk by the time we got down the mountain, and we decided to go to straight to the bat cave. We rode our bikes along the jungle trail to get there faster. By the time we found it (and it was NOT well marked at all), it was getting really dark under the jungle canopy. I was getting freaked out, and totally did not want to go into the dark scary cave. Instead, I watched Noe and little phone flash light go deeper and deeper into the gaping hole in the mountain side, as little bats fluttered around my head. I picture myself as Shaggy from Scooby Doo, trembling outside while the brave Fred, Daphne and Velma dealt with the scary thing in the haunted castle. When I couldn’t see Noe anymore, and was left alone in the dark outside with the bats, I called and called for Noe to get going. He didn’t come, and no Scooby Snack could have kept me there, so I high-tailed it back to the bikes – Yes, I left my fiance alone in a dark scary cave…but he also shouldn’t expect me to be left alone outside a dark scary cave in a dark scary jungle and should come when called! There was still a long bike ride through the dark jungle to survive, and I wanted to get out of there. Unfortunately, I sliced my leg open on some thorns as I scurried away from the cave. I made it to the bikes, and waited their nervously, my leg burning…my calls getting angrier and more frantic, until finally I heard Noe trampling through the bush towards me. We rode out of there, hoping we wouldn’t crash into anything as we were partially blind in the twilight dark.

Thankfully, we got to the road and rode as fast as we could back to the homestay, as we were late AGAIN for dinner. The homestay manager was riding on his motorbike looking for us in the dark and seemed a little miffed. We didn’t expect anyone to be waiting up for us to be fair. Maybe he was just concerned for our safety. I might have forgotten to mention, but his name was Mr. Chilly Chill. Mr. Chill liked to chill with his guitar and play some chill tunes. Interesting. And so, again, we ate dinner while drenched in mud and sweat and adrenaline from the day.

And we slept well that night – our last night in Viet Hai. The next early morning, we were given a ride to the public boat from Viet Hai to Ben Bao Port, and from there took a taxi to Cat Ba town to eat a typical breakfast of Beef Pho (or Pho Ba), and catch a bus to Ninh Binh (pronounced Ning Bing) – the focus of my next blog post :). We rocked that Cat Ba Island! So long Halong!