pictures are being uploaded as we speak! four hundred and eight of them, i'll probably need to delete a few of those though, just crap shots or multiples. in the mean time i thought i would relay my trip to halong bay.
it was amazing! super, the place is absolutely stunning and picturesque. the tour was so-so, just meeting the other people on the boat (2 germans, they brought chocolate, 4 swedes, 2 aussies, 1 belgian and portugese couple, 4 italians, a brit, and an italian and kenyan couple; a bag of mixed nuts) and just floating around halong bay was worth it though. it started out as a four hour bus ride from hanoi to the bay. i got a two night three day tour with all the food included, which was nice; but we had to pay for drinks. i remember we got there and pretty much threw our crap in our rooms and had lunch, it was good, seafood, rice, some tofu dishes. a little better than i expected. then started our trip to a cavern. trip was beautiful, all of us were on top of the boat taking pictures and just reeling from the ethereal aspect of this other worldly place. the cave was so-so, it was cool, but packed and everyone was just bunched up taking pitures. so, i kinda just charged through, took some choice shots and got back outside for some air and just to gaze, transfixed. next, we boated over to an area where we could swim, which was awesome. i jumped off the top of the boat first thing, had to, didn't have a choice... i had to do a flip as well. we all swam around for a little bit and then went over to a sea village to kayak. the sea village felt kinda contrived like the cave; but it was neat to be able to just kayak at the bottom of these giant mountians of rocks just breaking up out of the water, and going through other little caves to bay enclosures and soaking it all in. we got back to the dock and i made friends with a dog and when i would try to walk away but he would put his jaws around my wrist like plumas does whenever i she her. it was a nice moment because i really would like a dog when i get home and also made me miss home a bit. the captain and our tour guide picked out some fish we would take back on the boat and cook up for dinner. dinner was excellent, we had a spring roll making class, and had the fish and some other dishes and some ha long beers. things were mellow after that for a bit, we all sat around talking and bullshitting and drinking beer. that is until one of the dudes on the boat came in and introduced himself to everyone and said it was karaoke time. the sounds of crickets filled the boat. there aren't even crickets there. so, this is it, this is my time. be brave, i'll never see these people again... i pound my beer, get up and tell them to put, "genie in a bottle" on. hahah, apparently i have great forsight as i was driving around reno in the week leading up to my leaving and that song came on. i thought, this is such a shit song, it's like four lines repeated for three or so minutes of the worst shit imaginable; and that's when it hit me that i HAVE to use this as my karaoke song. and i made my mind up right there that it would be and i have never even sang karaoke. hahaha, so i did it. it wasn't great, fuck, it wasn't even good; but i had a great time and there is something releasing about being able to face that particular fear and put yourself out there. other people started to sing and they announced that if you scored a 100, you could get a free drink. so, what do you know, i had a little competition with the vietnamese and this uruguayan that was my roommate. i won't come out and say i had a definitive win; but, i did. it was blast. after going to bed i had a great conversation with the uruguayan about his life, and how he'd been in new zealand for the past year and how it was time for him to go home and find a wife and start and family and how he had been feeling pressure from his family for this and also that he wanted to, was ready. it was cool, i just listened and weighed in when i had something to say.
the next day, i woke up a little slow from being karaoke champion. heavy is the crown, as they say. breakfast was so-so but it was food, and then we boated over to cat ba island. cat ba island is this giant national park, conservation, and study area. we had a choice, go on a hike or do a bike ride. i chose the hike. the hike, like all the ones i've been on here is straight up. i don't think they believe in switchbacks. but then again, that is pretty hard to cut into the jungle and all the rock that is here. so straight up it is. i wore my flip flops, a swedish couple and gonzalo (my roommate); were all laughing and asking if i was gonna be alright. they don't know this is the same kid that use to climb moutains barefoot at jamison and get chewed out for it. i was good but it was kinda sketch at the top with all these smooth stones worn from usage and then the slick hard packed clay trail on the way down too. but i made it! when we got to the top it was amazing. miles and miles of these rock structures. you would think, awe, the same thing; but it's just breath-taking. and then there was this fucked up, like fire tower above it like 40 ft, with a narrow stair case and steps the are so tiny. and then, the shit is hella old and rusted through in places to boot. but i had to. i climb this death trap, and the fucking stairs and wire, so your just looking through them as you climb and get higher and this gives you a little dizziness and you're not looking at where you put your hands when you hit a rusted through spot and cut yourself and get tetanus. hahha, i'm kidding i didn't cut myself; but there's a high probablity of it happening. so i get up, almost to the top, and i look at the platform... and shit you wouldn't believe it but i'm staring at peoples' feet and legs. i shouldn't be seeing that i'm thinking there's wood there. hahah, some wood. hella planks are missing and cracked and basically all of us up there are sticking to where we can see the metal below that. i'm shitting in my pants, some bees have built a nest up there, there is a ferocious wind and too many people on this questionable platform. but it's sick. i can now see the other side of this island and it's just unreal. we take some pics very quick like and get the fuck off of it. we hike down, i get a drumstick at the bottom of the hill and it's awesome. my shirt is sweated through twice over and this ice cream is the best thing i've ever had. we meet back up with the rest of the group and head over to monkey island. monkey island is this little resort with bungalows about a twenty minute boat ride from cat ba. it's really pretty cool, but not in an over extragant way. our bungalow is pretty spartan and there is a giant rock coming up in the bathroom floor but this adds a little something to the place. we get the lunch, some more good seafood and i get the best lemonade of my life. we get the afternoon to do whatever we want, kayak to where you can see the monkeys, chill, swim, play volleyball, read, whatever. i go swimming and do some yoga on the beach, it was pretty nice since i haven't taken the time to do a lot of it here. i read for a bit on the beach, just staring at this mountians, take a nap, play volleyball with some other kids, take pictures of the sunset and then get back in the water for a minute. it sounds like a did a lot there but it was so relaxed and so chill that it felt like nothing. it was seriously a great afternoon. i didn't kayak over to see the monkeys as i'd heard their kind of aggressive and basically just didn't feel like it. dinner was awesome that night, we had some two different kinds of muscles, some barbaqued chicked and beef, a cucmber salad, and something other than sticky rice. after i played shithead with a couple of the kids, bought some oreos to share and the germans broke out their chocolate, which i don't even have to say was hella good. anyway, i had an early night, read for a bit and went to sleep. we woke up at seven, had breakfast and then boated back to the docks. it was great boat ride back in, staring at the rocks, appreciating everything, doing some yoga and a little half work out. it was nice.
anyway, that's it for now. i just met back up with charlie and we are headed to cambodia in da morning. that's only in da morning.
lates.
p.s. pics posted on google+. here's the link:
https://plus.google.com/100425108117169097988?hl=en&tab=h#photos/100425108117169097988/albums/5672576968041058465
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