Sorry its been a while,
So I'm dancing the "Soldier Boy" in a swimsuit at 1am on a boat surrounded by 1969 little islands. That sentence describes the first night on our Halong Bay adventure! At that moment, I was having a hard time grasping the fact that, my brother and friends were heading to a long day of school.
Let's go back in time... After spending a couple days in Hanoi, we were definitely ready to leave the crowded and dirty city for a first real adventure. We were tired of getting offered photocopied books and opium from the same Vietnamese guy twice a day every day. By the way, crossing the street in Vietnam will be by far the most dangerous activity of my trip. There are no stoplights or rules, so to safely cross the street you must walk in a consistent and predictable motion, hoping that the bikes and buses will swerve away from you. They will normally avoid you, but you still must be very attentive... Unfortunately, there are 31 motorcycle fatalities in Vietnam daily.
After hearing the Irish girls speak so highly of their Halong Bay trip with the Backpackers Hostel, we figured we couldn't go wrong. Without hesitation, we booked a ticket, and were off to Halong Bay in the morning (One of the "1000 places to see before you die"). We would soon find out that this 3 day trip really is everything its made out to be and worth every penny.
The first day, was spent cruising while meeting our "soon to be" friends for the remainder of the trip. Before dinner, we went on a kayaking safari and swimming in and around the caves in the bay. Dinner was great and we spent the remainder of the night drinking, dancing, and swimming in 90 degree weather. Not too bad...
The second day, marked my favorite day of the trip so far. We went rock climbing with a huge African-American guy, Slo, who looked identical to the guy in gladiator. We climbed on the beaches of the uninhabited Halong Islands. Slo free climbed rock after rock without shoes and without a helmet.
That night, we spent on Cat Pah Island. We played some soccer with the locals who play every day all over the country at exactly 5:00am and 5:00pm. After soccer and dinner, pool and darts at "The Good Bar". My skill in both pool and darts is embarrassing, but should improve throughout the trip, as we play every night.
The next day, we took a bus back to Hanoi.
It wasn't easy to squeeze four full days into one blog post. Hope I wasn't too brief. I need to keep getting caught up with the posts. Now that I'm actually back to civilization, the blog posts should be coming almost daily. Pictures to come soon too!
Miss you all,
Sam
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