June 8-9, Hanoi, Vietnam

The last two remaining days in SE Asia (for now) I spent checking off a few more tourist locations. I made a stop at the Hoa Lo Prison Museum which was used by the French Colonialists to hold Vietnamese and later a prison the Vietnamese used to hold US POW's (most notably John McCain). On my last night, besides running numerous errands, I went to a water puppetry show (puppets that dance on water) that is famous here. The performance was pretty amazing, the performers were great and the music was amazing. My favorite was the Dan Bau, a monochord instrument that has a great sound to it.

That's all from South East Asia for the time being...off to South Africa tomorrow morning!!

John McCain's recovered army outfit

Water puppet stage

Water puppets

June 6-7, Halong Bay, Vietnam

My English friends and I booked a two day trip to Halong Bay, one of Vietnam's most beautiful sites. After a 3.5 hour drive to Halong City we arrived at out boat; a huge ship for only 5 people on the trip!

The first day we sailed for a few hours, having an amazing lunch as we went through the thousands of island that are part of Halong Bay. Our first stop was at the Amazing Cave, one of the biggest I've ever seen. It took about an hour to walk through the entire thing. Following the cave, we had a swim in what was extremely refreshing water and then kayaking throughout part of the bay. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the kayaking but we went through water caves and even to a remote lagoon where we watched monkeys playing in the trees. We then had sunset cruise and some more delicious food followed by karaoke, of course! I also slept outside on the deck until it started raining and was forced to go inside.

It continued raining the next day so our hike to the Ti Top mountain was nice but a bit wet (it also meant I didn't have my camera for the great views). The last couple hours were spent cruising and eating.

Halong Bay

Amazing cave

Floating village

June 3-6, Hanoi, Vietnam

To get to Hanoi I decided to take the overnight train, my first one which was quite an experience in itself. I booked a sleeper room for the 15 hour ride to Hanoi even though most of the trip was to be spent during the day. The first 1.5 hours were remarkable with beautiful landscape. On one side the view was of the ocean and beautiful beaches, with the other being of dense jungle. I shared the room with about 9 other Vietnamese people even though there was only room for 6. Even though they didn't speak much English they took a liking to me and soon enough I was surrounded by numerous Vietnamese of all ages. We arrived in Hanoi around 5am and to my surprise I ran into the two English girls that I befriended a few weeks back. We've been traveling throughout Hanoi together ever since.

The first few days here we walked all over town. Some of the highlights included Hoan Kiem Lake where legend has it that emperor Le Loi handed a magic sword called Heavens Will which brought him victory in his revolt against the Chinese Ming Dynasty back to the Golden Turtle God in the lake; the Temple of Literature a Confucius Temple and the first University in Vietnam; and to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum where we were able to see Ho Chi Minh's body. Despite the fact that he requested to be cremated, his body is kept in a tomb that visitors can see (except for 3 months when he is taken to "mother Russia for maintenance"). There were hundreds of people there (mostly Vietnamese) and we heard that locals come from all over the country just to see him.

Vietnamese friends on the train

View from train

Other side from the train

Inside Temple of Literature

Texts at the Temple of Literature

Ho Chi Minh's House on stilts...where he worked
for 8 years

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Hoan Kiem Lake

Hoan Kiem Lake

May 31 - June 3, Hoi An, Vietnam

May 31 - June 3, Hoi An, Vietnam

The night bus to Hoi An was one of the worst bus rides I've had thus far in SE Asia. I was unfortunately stuck in the last row meaning their were three other people sitting next to me (at one point in the night I woke up with the guy sitting next to me legs resting on the seat in front and to the right of me). I finally did arrive in Hoi An, which turned out to be a beautiful place that reminded me a lot of a European town. The first day I arrived I walked around to the Japanese Covered Bridge, the Chinese Pagoda, and other old houses that remain from the old trading town between the Chinese, French, and Vietnamese.

There is not a ton to do in Hoi An so, most of the time I spent either walking around town or just relaxing on the beach. One evening I met some people from Jordan who had been living in Hoi An for 5 months who showed me some fun places to go and things to do. I also had what was one of the best meals thus far: handmade spring rolls. First you took a piece of rice paper and filled it with lettuce, young banana leaves and cabbage. Then you added a fried spring roll, either grilled sesame pork or fish, rolled it up and dipped it in a peanut chili sauce. Glorious!! The woman who owned the restaurant absolutely loved me so I made sure to go back there two nights in a row.

Hoi An

Japanese Covered Bridge

Old Chinese House

Best food ever!!

May 28-30, Easy Rider Tour (Da Lat to BMT)

Day 1 7.5 hours on the bike; 165 kilometers traveled

Early in the moring I headed to the Easy Riders shop where I met Rocky and would begin what was to be one of the most amazing adventures I've been a part of. Based on a recommendation from my friend Will, who did a tour with Rocky a few weeks ago, one can do a tour for as long as desired (1 day, 3 day, 21 day, whatever). We packed up the motorbike, full with my big pack and a few bottles of water. We hit the road singing "hit the Road Jack" as was custom each morning for the tour. Our first stop was just outside of Da Lat, at the Buddha Pagoda. Since it was the buddha's birthday, everu pagoda was well decorated and parades were happening on the road. From there we made our way to one of the Vietcongs bunkers used during the Tet Offensive. One of the most common themes during our journey were numerous war remnants locations, which, seem to be everywhere throughout this country.

After seeing the bunker, we really hit the open road and got cruising through the central highlands and the fresh air of the pine forest. After about 2 hours of riding, we stopped at a local silk factory where I saw the entire process of making silk artifacts -- from the silk worms producing the silk to the final clothes, cloth, etc. that was sold. Again we went on the open road stopping at the Elephant Watefalls for a refreshing dip in the water. It was seriously hot and you get extremely dirty on the bike (don't think they have smog standards for vehicles here). We then made a quick stop at a local hill tribe village, where I gave candy to kids and a girl gave me a bracelet as a sign of good luck on the adventure.

The open road was ours again and two hours later we stopped at another local tribe for a break sitting on the bikes. The highlight here was an impromptu English lesson to many of the kids. We reached our final destination for the day, Lak Lake, aroud 5pm for a well deserved beer and a great local dinner.

On The Road

Pagoda

Rocky

Silk factory

Happy Buddah

Vietcong Bunker

Giving out candy

Cashew Nut

Elephant Waterfall

Day 2
6.5 hours on the bike; 150 kilometers traveled

After a good nigth's sleep we headed out for our first stop of the day, Drysap Waterfalls. We spent a few hours here as their was a long hike to the waterfalls, but felt great after being on a bike for so long. We continued on to a coffee plantation and then after lunch a long haul towards the Cambodia border where we were spending the night with Rocky's family. Upon arrival at his sisters house food was instantly provided and many of his relatives came over. It was special for some, as a few of them had never seen a foreigner before. After the "appetizer" of homemade spring rolls, we walked across the street to his parents house for a real dinner. The meal consisted of numerous meat dishes, about 10-15, which after awhile I stopped asking what they were. To my dismay, I later found out one dish (that I didn't care for) turned out to be dog. I stopped asking what the rest was. Rocky showed me a great time here in his hometown, introducing me to many of his friends and going to a karaoke bar at night where I sung Vietnamese songs well into the night.

Hill tribe man

Drysap Waterfall

Drysap

Rice paddies throughout the trip

Dinner at Rocky's

Never seen currency besides

Vietnamese Dong

Day 3
4 hours on the bike; 100 kilometers traveled

The last day was a bit shorter than the previous two, and consisted of traveling to BMT where I was to catch the bust to Hoi An. On the way we went to a rubber tree plantation and another local tribe of hillsment. After waiting out a 45 minute rain storm (which is an every day experience now that the rainy season is starting) we reached BMT. This concluded what was one of the most fun/best ways to see a country tours I've ever done. There were countless times on the back of the bike where I couldn't believe how amazing this was. Certainly something I will never ever forget. Rocky is also one of the friendliest locals I've met anywhere and is extremely knowledgeable about anything and everything. Anyone who comes to Vietnam needs to find Rocky in Da Lat to take his tour. I hope to stay connected with him via email.

Floating home

Jungle trek

Rubber tree

They carry everything on motorbikes!

Cambodian Mountains