The Fairy Thief

Here we were in Halong Bay (which is being considered for the new list of wonders of the world it's so great) on a classic wooden boat called Junk. We were perfectly located (so we thought) next to a cute little floating fishing village and nestled in the limestone islands. But soon us and the other ten tourists were flustered, madly checking belongings, and carrying out an investigation because Rodney (a fellow cruiser) walked in with news that a man was rummaging through stuff in his room and then jumped like a fairy out his window escaping. The scheming began and continued throughout the night ending in conclusion that it had to be a crew member as the stealing fairy had not jumped in a boat, or the water, but in fact back onto our boat. In the end it was hard not to find at least somewhat humerus though as everyone did have all of their stuff.

Pictures 4 (Halong Bay, Cat Ba Island)

View from our 3 dollar hotel. Deals.
Motorbiking experience number one!

Floating village in Halong Bay


Endless limestone islands in Halong Bay

Pictures 3 (Sapa, Hill Tribes)

Year of the Tiger

We left Hanoi a few days ago to escape the city chaos and all the people who are apparently rushing to get married or have babies since it is the year of the tiger (which is high on the luck scale). The past two days we have been in Sapa which is nestled in the northern hills making it very chilly and at times completely white with fog.

Luckily today it cleared up though as we went on a tour to visit the nearby hill tribes with a company boasting "we make you go wow!" At the entrance and throughout each village you are swarmed with women chatting you up and attempting to sell you things.

Most of the tribes are originally from China and distinguish themselves by colors of clothing, from black to red to green and so on. Rice can't be grown all year round here due to the harsh climates so they do a lot of weaving, sewing and plant other crops like cinnamon and cabbage. It does not seem like the concept of saving is very well known though because as soon as they get money from selling a large cinnamon plant they party and spend it all. Most families have a water buffalo or two and a motorbike. To my surprise, water buffalo cost about 1,000 USD and are therefore equivalent to motorbikes. I am also once again shocked to see women with big earrings (symbolizing marriage) that are 17 or 18 and have a child or one on the way. The calculation is too easy and scary that Zoe would have popped a baby out and I would have one due any day now. So glad that is not the case. At least there seems to be a schooling system that is paid for by the government to some extent. There are also some funny customs like if people do not approve of a marriage the groom can just carry off the bride and if they stay away for three days it is a done deal whether people like it or not. Well, beyond that check out the pictures... got a few of some darn cute little kids.

Pictures 2 (Perfume Pagoda)

Attempting to row the boat. And, failing. But they do row backwards here which makes it trickier than you would think.

Well, more to come when I find a computer that works...

Perfume Pagoda

Boats headed home or to the Perfume Pagodas

Check out the epic piles on the motorbikes

Birds in pop cans

The Shortness

Well, here we are, wandering Vietnam knowing no Vietnamese (which makes me feel pretty guilty and everything is a little tricky). Luckily everyone is incredibly friendly. Although, this does not keep us from getting miserably lost. In our first encounter of asking for directions we walked up to 5 cheery looking elderly women. We could still not locate ourselves on a map after the exchange but we at least shocked the women with our height, or lack of height. They were quite enthused about our shortness and kept motioning how we were the same height as them and that most everyone else that is oddly tall. And, walking through a market a girl giggled and motioned that she was taller than me. So all in all, our shortness is much appreciated here.

As for the food, the tales are true. We passed a table of perfectly roasted dogs the first day here. Heads, ears, tails, everything looking very dog-like just in food form. We also spotted rows of pop cans that then appear to have little birds stuck and cooked in them with their little legs poking out the top.

Recently we took a tour, but I will just post pictures instead of rambling about how beautiful it was.

Hello Vietnam!

Adventure part two has officially begun. Starting off with about 20 hours of planes and airports of course. But, Asiana airlines treated us very well with everything from tooth brushes to aftershave in the bathrooms, and individual TV's. Also, our hold over in Seoul was quite entertaining as there were cultural rooms where you were welcomed to play dress up and paint little wood tables. And of course it was a small party on the plane with a baby sized chocolate mousse cake because Zoe turned 19 as we were in the air!

The only thing that didn't go so well was ATM's at one in the morning in Vietnam. I am now convinced ATM's all over the world are out to get me. I tried 10 to 15 different bank machines with no success, and then one with a touch screen which must really despise me gave me cash without me selecting an amount. And it just so happened to give me 100,000 Dong which is like 7 USD which means I payed more in bank fees than I got in cash. It caused a small breakdown but soon we were off in a cab and on our way to Hanoi.

We took a main road into Hanoi at about two in the morning and it just so happened that is when everyone is transporting their goods for the morning markets. We passed one after another motorbike pilled with about 3-5 feet of stuff hanging off in each direction. First there was the produce parade of motorbikes and then the flower fleet. Everything else was a mystery though because of the darkness, so this morning we woke up to a bustling Vietnam and started wandering our way through. So far the motorbikes have dodged us but I am sure one of them might bump over my toes one day.

Pictures 1 (Hanoi, Airport)