Looking back

I can only give a brief entry on the time spent in Vietnam but want to do so before it's too far in the past. A 30 hour "sleeper" bus brought us from Vang Vient go Hanoi. The sleeper consisted of an overcrowded bus with reclining seats that had foot cubbyholes. My feet only fit in the cubbyholes at certain angles and I was too tall for the seat but it was manageable.

I loved Hanoi instantly. Cheri and I decided not to go with the hawkers who boarded the bus immediately upon arrival. Instead, we wandered the street to find food and took a taxi to a hotel. We paid a bit more but got a better feel of the place.

The next morning, we took a bus to a boat to Ha Long Bay. The first stop made me nauseous. The geologically awesome cave filled with stalagmites and stalactites was turned into Disneyland Vietnam. We waited in line after line in order to work our way around crowds of people posing for photos, climbing over barriers and pushing through to get as many pictures of the purple and pink lighted cave.

It could only get better and it certainly did. A bit more time on the boat showed us the gorgeous landscape of jutting islands in calm water. Boatmen sold goods like you'd expect street hawkers to do. Boats filled with chips, drinks and fruit.

We were dropped off and because we were piecing our trip together, we didn't stay in the tour affiliated hotel. Instead, we paid 5 dollars between us for an ocean view, third floor room with a hot shower!!! So nice!!

We left Ha Long Bay to meet up with a couchsurfing connection. Not knowing what to expect, we were pleased to meet a Vietnamese business owner and her British NGO executive husband. We were treated well, got to relax and discussed our goals. On our last full day in Vietnam (much too short a trip) we aimed to go to a national park. I thought that we were spending too much time "doing things." I couldn't put it better but felt that Following tour books every day was keeping us from seeing the places we were visiting. Instead, we wandered around Hanoi and felt great. Aimless and care free how I like it.

Unfortunately, my ATM card was lost somewhere in Vietnam so I've been working to fix that situation. My saviors in Singapore helped me by using their address as my new mailing address and lending me cash for my Indonesia leg. Yesterday, however, I had only foreign currency on a Sunday. I had to use my passport as collateral at a hotel and wandered the HOT and HUMID Padang city hungry and useless. Today, a friendly bank assistant took me around on his moto, being sure to show me some of the destruction from last September's Earthquake. There are huge splits in the asphalt and destroyed buildings all around the city. A bit out of the loop regarding world news, I only remembered there being the huge earthquake in 2007. The language barrier kept me from learning too much before visiting Google this morning.

Now I hope to get a day on the Mentawai islands. I will try to surf if it's not too far out of my ability level.

Love to all!!