So much Dong

It's really hard to get myself to write a post after the adventures we had last week... In comparison, things are moving at a much slower pace now. I have that feeling now like the first week of summer after a hectic finals schedule. We have spent the last week in Hanoi, just drinking amazing coffee, eating at French pastry places, walking around town, and finding local streetside beer stands. Sounds great, right? Except I just cant stop feeling the urge to keep doing something.

The great thing about Vietnam is that I can afford to do quite a few things. The currency here called the Dong (yeah, we've made all the jokes already;)) is one of the most devalued in the world, coming in at about 16,000 per dollar. Great for us lowly backpackers who can finally stuff ourselves for dinner for under a buck!

While in town, the only "cultural" sights we saw were the "Hanoi Hilton" (left) and the water puppet show. Both were a dissapointment. About 75% of the prison used in both the French and American wars (what the Vietnamese call them) was destroyed to make room for this fancy hotel... the rest was overly restored. As for the water puppet show, it was as boring as it sounds, despite the positive Lonely Planet reviews.

After an easygoing week in Hanoi, the three of us made our own tour to Cat Ba island (in Halong Bay). The first view of the ocean and the smell of salt in the air made my body feel at home. Once I took a dip in the tropical ocean, I was cured of all remaining bits of altitude sickness and travel aches I had left over from China. While the beach was great, the three of us still had trouble just "being" there (especially me, I just cant sit still on the beach; it gives me so much energy!), so we went off looking for a little more action.



The cheapest thrill on Cat Ba island is definitely the motorbikes. Since it is still early season for tourists, there are tons of streetside hawkers trying (relentlessly!!) for our business. We managed to rent morobikes for 50,000 Dong (less than $5) for the whole afternoon. The island felt like a safer bet than Hanoi to rent bikes, since there are hardly any other vehicles on the road. So, off we went exploring the island and heading towards the National Park somewhere nearby. The park seemed as if it hadn't seen tourists for months, and we easily persuaded the guards to let us take our bikes through the walk paths. We didnt see a single monkey in all the trees, but couldn't care less... we raced over dirt/road paths, up and down hills, and through long tunnels of overhanging trees. And to top off our sunset cruise back to the hotel, we played soccer with a bunch of local kids in a dried up rice field. This little excursion was definitely the redeeming factor for an otherwise boring island.

And now we are off to the central coast of Vietnam. I am crossing my fingers and praying to the surf gods that this typhoon might just send some little waves to our next destination...