Hanoi, Halong Bay, & Sapa (updated)

From the DMZ we took an overnight 'sleeper bus' north to Hanoi. Huge mistake. We've taken a couple sleeper trains so far that have been great. Not the case for the bus. We did get gyped with the seats we were given, which probably accounts for about half of the misery. The seats were about five feet six inches long. In the back of the bus were five seats right together, side by side, making up a big rectangle for five people. Two of those people were Kyle and I, the other three didn't much English. Actually they didn't speak any English. Bottom line, it's just tough for 6'10" monsters to fit in some of the vehicles over here. I spent about six hours squirming around listening to all the old country music I used to listen to in high school, which brought back some good memories, and two hours cuddling with Charlie Chan. Hanoi was a pretty neat city. Lots of motorbikes and lots of nice people. We were only there for a day and a half though, before we left for Halong Bay.

I'm sitting here ten minutes now, trying to figure how to describe Halong Bay. I don't think I've got the talent. Breathtaking? Legitimately might be the most beautiful place I've ever been. Go ahead and scoff at that statement if you want. The pictures won't do any justice either - keep scoffing scoffers. I'm actually really bummed right now as I'm writing this because our camera picked up a virus last week so I'm not able to upload any of our Halong Bay or Sapa pictures. It's actually not the camera, thank God. It's the memory card. A @%$!*&% virus on a memory card! Unbelievable. If I ever find the memory card virus creator I'm gonna punch him in the face. No, I'll kick him in the balls. We've been hanging out with a group of English for the past couple weeks, so all the pictures here are from them. We met these guys in Halong Bay, happened to be going to Sapa at the same time, and now we've all kinda changed our plans a bit to stick together. It's been fun.

Sapa is a small mountain town right along the Chinese border. Gorgeous. Here were the best terraced rice paddy views we've had so far. It's amazing how they are able to carve these paddies out of steep slopes. On our second day there Kyle and I did a little walkabout outside town, trying to find some of the villages that we had read were in the area. About mid morning we ran into a local lady who was walking some goods back to her village and ended up sticking with her all day. Her village was actually the one we were aiming for, which worked out well, and we got to eat lunch at her house with the family which was pretty neat. No pictures damn it.

From Sapa we took a grueling two day bus trip to Laos, where we are now. We've had a couple rough rides but I think this one was safely the worst. By worst I just mean bumpy and life-threatening. The scenery was some of the best. Our drivers on the first day were absolute psychopaths. Driving as fast as possible on these windy roads, high as can be on opium - every two hours or so we'd stop to get out and stretch while the driver and a few of the local men took bong hits of opium. Dead serious. Watching the driver giggle and stumble back to the wheel was a little troubling to be honest. They got us there though, and they had a good time doing it, so more power to them. Once I truly thought we were going to tumble over the edge on a turn. I mean, full blown SNS flight or fight for about five ten seconds. It was a fun trip though, especially being in a group.

We just arrived in Vang Vieng, Laos this afternoon after three great days in Luang Prabang, Laos. Our last country in Asia! It's gone pretty fast. This is all I got for pictures right now. Lo siento. I'll try to add more to this post next time. Take care back home. Miss you guys,


**We got the memory card sorted out, so here's a few of our photos and a few of Aarons...

Hanoi


Waldo?

Halong Bay

Kyle being harassed by hawkers while kayaking




Ian, the English guy on the right, explaining the game 'Smashy Canny.' It goes like this....

hit the can against your head until it starts to fizz....


...suck the fizz...

...pass it to the next guy who smashes the can thrice, sucks some more fizz, and passes again...

.

...until the can busts.

Good fun

Sapa

-Ryan