Day 61: Lonely Planet Said it Best

Listening: I don’t need anything else to make me feel alive.

What's my problem? Traffic, long distances and pushy tuk-tuk drivers.

Oh, Phnom Penh. It's exotic, it's chaotic, it's beguiling, it's distressing, it's compulsive, it's repulsive. Every day brings a different experience, some a shock to the senses, others that bring a smile, some that confound all logic, others that wrench the emotions."" --Lonely Planet's Southeast Asia on a Shoestring

This place truly is all of that. It's disgusting and intriguing, and most of all frustrating.

I woke up yesterday morning and moved closer into town. Michelle is a weird one. I'm not going to get into it, but she's just bizzare. She caught the tuk-tuk with me to the guesthouse so she could try to exchange her Vietnamese dong (money not penis) for some US dollars to someone on their way to Vietnam. No dice. So, while I checked in, she scurried around to each of the people in the restaurant.

She only had that day to see the sights. She was scheduled to be on a flight at ten that evening. But, instead of sharing a tuk-tuk with me for the day, she chose to go out on her own. It was a financially bad decision for her. It made no sense. The only thing that I could think of was that she really had no interest in hanging out with me. If that was the case, then why did she choose to split a room with me for the last night, when she could have shared with someone else? Whatever. She was weird.

By the time I had finished all of my dealings, it was right around eleven o'clock in the morning. I had planned on going to see the Royal Palace and then to the Silver Pagoda, but whadday ya know? They're closed from eleven until half two for lunch! That's one hell of a siesta. To be honest, with this heat, I don't blame them.

I ended up sitting at a cafe for a bit, reading up on my guidebooks, and then my relaxing book (I've moved on to Alex Garland's The Beach.). I had a rather lackluster lunch, but I think I sacrificed quality for aircon. If you were here you might do it as well.

From there, I hired a tuk-tuk driver for the day and headed out to the Killing Fields, where thousands of Cambodians were killed under the Pol Pot administration and the Khmer Rouge. Three words: Mass. Graves. Everywhere. Huge craters in the ground are all that are left of some of the mass graves. It's almost like you're walking on the raised walls of rice patties, but instead of growing life in the craters, it was where life was ended. In the middle of the "Genocide Center," was a large pagoda that was filled with the skulls, bones and clothes of the victims that were unearthed from the mass graves.

After that sobering place, I went to an even more sobering place. It was an old high school, converted into a prison, where many of the people who were killed in the Killing Fields came from. Tuol Sleng, or S.21 is a five building compound where torture and false imprisonment happened. The mugshots on the walls were eerie. Some of the prisoners were hardly ten years old. They're dead, but their mugshots stare at you as if to say, "Why the fuck aren't you helping me?" Even more sobering than the mugshots were the cells that they preserved. Classrooms were turned into cell blocks, with as many as fourteen cells per classroom. Think about that. Fourteen individual brick or wooden cells in a classroom. It was dark. It was dank. And you could feel the death that happened there. It took me a good hour and a half or two hours to get through the entire compound.

By the time I got out of there, it was already half four. There was no chance that I would be making it to the Royal Palace or to the Silver Pagoda, so my drive took me to the Russian Market, which was just like the JJ Market or the weekend market in Bangkok... except the schwag wasn't as good.

After that, it was dinner and drinks with my tuk-tuk driver and some of his friends, and then a long hot night in a fan cooled room.

Since I didn't get to the Royal Palace or the Silver Pagoda, I decided to stay another day. So that's where I am now. Still in Phnom Penh. I'm going to the National Museum, the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda today. I'm also planning on booking my bus to Siem Reap. I was told recently that during dry season, the boats can get stuck in the mud, and that they really overcrowd the boats as well. I have a feeling that it wouldn't be as pleasant as the Slow Boat to Luang Prabang.

Oh, and I forgot to give you my final impressions of Vietnam. Hmm.... Vietnam was kind of a mystery to me. I had some really good times and some really bad times. I got good vibes and bad vibes too. Overall, I liked it a lot. It definitely got better as I traveled south, but I also think that it had a lot to do with the fact that I met people in the north and kept bumping into them all of the way down the country. It was a beautiful thing.

Here in Phnom Penh, I'm alone again. I have a mere nine days before I fly to Hong Kong. I don't want to stay in Phnom Penh for much longer, but I sure would like to stay traveling in this part of the world for a lot longer.

Day 59: A Rush Through the Delta

Listening: And we learned fast to travel light. Our arms were heavy, but our bellies were tight.

What's my problem? I need a massage, but I'm holding out for Thailand.

Well, I've left Vietnam. I spent two days in Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon, one day in the Mekong Delta, and I spent the greater part of today in transit to Phnom Penh.

I got to Saigon early in the morning. It was probably half six, and things were already bustling. I didn't have a room, but I knew where a good place was supposed to be. Across from the Yellow House, a hostel that a lot of backpackers go to, is a hotel called Tan 58. John from Nha Trang/Switzerland had recommended the place. When I got there, the metal gates in front of the door were closed and the lobby behind it was dark. It wasn't strange though. Everywhere was still locked up tight. It was early.

In front of Tan 58 was a little coffee stand. So I sat there with my bags, talked with an Aussie fellow, and had a bit of white coffee (coffee with condensed milk for all y'all not in the know). In about a half hour, the gates opened and I asked about vacancies. No such luck. They were fully booked for the night and this meant that I had to do some serious legwork.

Luckily I was in backpacker central for Saigon. There were about a million independent hotels (no exaggeration) on that street.I saw about four different rooms, all with prices ranging from $8 to $25, but I settled on staying at Hung Loi Hotel for $10 each night.

The room itself was adequate. It was small, but had aircon and cable TV. It did not, however have hot water. When I brought it up to the owner, he said, "Why you need hot water. It 37 degrees today! It hot every day. Aircon important. Hot water no important." He had a point, and I never did miss the hot water.

Since I was there so early, I first headed off to the market to find myself some breakfast. I ended up getting a bowl of glass noodles for twenty thousand dong, or a buck twenty five. It was actually recommended to me by a couple of Australian Vietnamese girls who were already sitting and eating. To be honest, they were okay. They weren't the best noodles that I have had and they were hella hard to eat. They kept slipping out of my chopsticks and spoon.

After that, it was off to the internet to do a little bit of research. I needed to know how I was going to go from Saigon to Phnom Penh. Do I do it by myself, or do I do it with a tour? Do I choose an expensive tour that seems to have a lot of really cool things or do I do a cheap tour? Do I do one night or two nights? I actually spent a lot of time gathering information. I went around to different tour places seeing what they had to offer. By the time I had finished collecting information, it was noontime and I was drenched in sweat.

So, I kicked it back to my room for an hour. I knew that the sights would be closed for the next hour or hour and a half, so I chilled out and enjoyed a shower and the aircon.

In the afternoon, I hit the sights. I first started at the Reunification Palace. It was the place where the tanks crashed through the gates and Saigon fell. Everything was kept as it was when Saigon fell, with the exception of some plaques being put up detailing what each room was for. Overall, it was a little less than impressive. I thought that it would be like the White House or something, but it really wasn't that big. It was four floors and all, but just not impressive. There were hoardes of school groups there making a racket and just generally being unruly, but who am I to talk. I was that way when I was a kid.

After the Reunification Palace, I headed over to the War Remnants Museum. That place was intense. After walking through the gates and seeing all sorts of old war vehicles and weapons, I went into a room that was dedicated to all of the photojournalists who died in the war. There were a lot of prints of their last photos and stories about how they died. It was very sobering.

From there, I went into the "tiger cages." The tiger cages were prison cells where they used to keep war criminals. They were tiny little cells where anywhere from five to fifteen prisoners would be kept. They talked about how the Americans tortured the prisoners and even had paintings depicting the torture methods. That's when it got grim. There were pictures of the victims of Agent Orange, and crayon drawings that Vietnamese kids made asking for peace. It was a rough place to be an American.

From there, I walked around town some more and ended up back at my room around six so that I could have another shower before dinner. When I got to my hotel, I ran into Paolo and Craig, two Indian fellows from London who were on my Halong Bay trip. I had run into them in Nha Trang as well. They said that they were going to eat at the Rainbow Cafe down the street, but when Lydia, a girl I met in Hue and ended up hanging out with in Hoi An, turned up and we went to meet them, they weren't there.

Instead, we went to meet some of Lydia's friends that she had met in Phu Quok. It was a good thing we did too. One of her friends had lived in Saigon for the past six months or so and knew the terrain quite well. We met her at this great barbecue restaurant. By barbecue, I mean like Korean barbecue, not southern barbecue. The menu had a lot of great stuff on it. We just sort of ordered everything and shared. It was a lot of fun and the food was good to boot.

By the time dinner was over, Lydia and I had to rush back to our part of town to book a Cu Chi Tunnels tour. Somehow over dinner, she convinced me to do the full day tour which included the Cao Dai temple in Tay Ninh.

Cao Dai is a sect ov Vietnamese who believe that we all worship the same god and proceeds to combine a number of religions and philosophies such as Daoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity and Islam. It's pretty hokey. I did, however have the privelage of seeing a ceremony of theirs. It was cool seeing all of the monks and nums bowing and singing. I dunno if it was worth the three hour bus ride, but it was something to see.

The Cu Chi Tunnels were quite an experience as well. Talk about communist propaganda. They talk about a girl who has to pick up a gun to avenge her family who was killed by the "crazy devil" Americans. I got to see a bunch of the different types of traps that they used to hurt and kill American soldiers. I went into the tunnels for about sixty or so meters. They were hot as hell. I can only imagine how they were in the hottest part of the season. I was sweating balls.

That night, I went to Pho 2000 for dinner, a place that President Clinton went to on his visit to Saigon. I have to say that it was some damn good pho.

Oh, I totally forgot. The day before, I went for pho for lunch and ended up meeting an older couple from Malaysia at the pho stall. We talked for a while and he said that his neice, who lives in Saigon, would be going to do some work at Mass General Hospital. He wanted me to get together with her to tell her about the city. I told him that I would try to meet him the next day, but that I wasn't sure what would be going on with my tour and with my friends. Unfortunately, since I went on the full day Cu Chi Tunnels tour, I didn't get to meet his neice.

Yesterday, I checked out of Saigon and hopped on my Mekong Delta tour. Everyone that I have talked to has said that it can be done in a day, so I opted for the Sinh Cafe two day/one night tour to the delta, exiting in Phnom Penh. It was quite a whirlwind. First, it was three and a half hours in a minibus. Then, it was onto a boat, where we saw people making coconut candy, rice paper, and puffed rice. Then, back on the boat to the place for lunch. After lunch it was a four song traditional music performance followed by taking the boat to a ferry. Once on the ferry, we rode to the other side of Can Tho, and hopped back into the minibus. The minibus took us to another bus that we transferred to and rode to Chao Doc.

(If this sounds rushed it's because it was)

We overnighted in Chao Doc, and I shared a room with another American. Her name was Michelle, and she was a Vietnamese American. She spoke the language and everything. We got along well enough and all, and we're even sharing a room tonight in Phnom Penh. It was included in our tour.

This morning, we were woken up at half past six, had breakfast and got on some rowboats and headed up the Mekong. We saw a fish farm and a Cham village, and then took a boat up river to the border crossing.

The border crossing was pretty crazy. We were waiting forever in this god awful heat. The restaurant that they brought us to was wikkid overpriced and though I ate a bowl of pho there, I ended up getting a second lunch at another stall for a quarter of the price. Bastards.

Literally the rest of the day has been spent on that loud ass uncomfortable boat. It was only like the slow boat to Luang Prabang in that it was on the Mekong and it was slow. Other than that it was totally different because it sucked. I don't know if I would have liked to have taken the bus more, but I know that the ride was rather unpleasant.

From the boat, the crowded us into another minibus and brought us to Phnom Penh. I actually only had half a seat to myself. The other half of my ass was over a wheel well. It was like being in the back of a very uncomfortable place. It was an hour and a half before we reached Phnom Penh. And, actually, I'm on the outskirts. I'm going to have to find another hotel to stay in tomorrow night. Hopefully it won't take up too much of my time tomorrow morning. I plan on going to see the Killing Fields and some of the other sights around town. I don't know how long I'm going to stay in Phnom Penh, but so far it hasn't made a great impression. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Day 55: Farewell Dinner

Listening: Please forgive me, girl, if I say the future is not bright. But please take my hand and we'll have one last dance in the place where we first met eyes.

What's my problem? I only found the fish lady today!

1 Night's accommodation at Backpackers House Hostel: $6
1 BGI Beer at the Red Apple Bar: 15,000 dong ($0.80)
1 Deck chair at the Lousiane: 25,000 dong ($1.50)
4 lobsters, 4 tiger prawns, 3 crabs, 8 scallops, 2 conch grilled: 200,000 dong ($11.25)
1 last meal with your best travel buddy in Asia on the beach with the salt filled air and the aroma of shellfish as the sun goes down while Vietnamese women shout in the background: Priceless.

Day 55: Surprise, Surprise.

Listening: I did my best to notice when the call came down the line. Up to the platform of surrender, I was brought but I was kind. And sometimes I get nervous when I see an open door.

What's my problem? Only fifteen days left on the mainland.

They say that luck is when preparation meets opportunity. There was no preparation on my part. It was just the normal flow of traffic. There was no opportunity. I had to come here either way. My hands were tied. But, lucky, I was.

I took the night bus from Hoi An to Nha Trang with Julia three nights ago. We were both ready to leave Hoi An. We had both been there for four or five days. We had seen the sights, had our clothes made, and have had the local food. We had strolled aimlessly down the quaint Chinese/French streets and heard the touts of tailors and vendors saying, "You buy something from me?" It was time to move on.

Our night bus was a little bit late. It was supposed to pick us up at a quarter to six, but ended up picking us up at twenty past. To be honest, I was getting worried. The bus pulled up to the hotel, though and we hopped on. We chose two sleepers in the back row, thinking that if the bus wasn't filled to capacity, we would have more room. The back row consists of five sleepers across, whereas there are two sleepers on each side of the aisle all of the rest of the way up to the front. With the five across, if there is one person missing, you can just sort of spread out a little more.

That wasn't my our luck that night. Instead, there were three Norwegians, two girls and a guy, who talked extremely loudly the entire night long. Do you know what loud Norwegians sound like? They sound like a fjord is pouring water into your brain. It sounds like a viking is having a vasectomy. It's nothing nice. Or maybe that's just what it seemed like for at least seven hours of the twelve hour bus ride. This all could have been compounded by the fact that I hadn't found dinner before I hopped on the bus and the bus didn't stop anywhere that had any sort of food until around ten at night. It was bull, wait for it... shit.

After the bus ride that wasn't quite from hell, but was from at least one of the seven circles, Julia and I arrived in Nha Trang. Apparently, we got there on the right day, because the day or two before, there was a big rugby tourney that Ireland won. So, there was a big party in the room at Backpacker House that Julia and I were put in. Apparently there was a naked girl who showed up and proceeded to sit on one of the ladders of the bunk beds and urinate all over the floor. Lucky for us, it was all clean, couldn't even tell it had happened, by the time we checked in. To be honest, everything in the dorm looked great. It was near immaculate.

After dropping our bags and getting into our swimmers, Julia and I headed over to the Louisiane Brew House/Relax Club. Louisiane is kind of like a bar/restaurant on the beach that has a pool, deck chairs, a stretch of beach, cabanas, and so on and so forth. It costs 25,000 dong ($1.50) for a chair for the entire day, which is a small price to pay for the luxury that you feel.

We sat at the Louisiane all day long. All. Day. Long. It was brilliant too. I read, wrote a postcard, listened to some music. It was totally relaxing after running around in the heat of Hoi An. The sea breeze was refreshing, as was the pool water. I made some friends at the pool, took a nap. How much more could you ask for?

Prior to coming to Nha Trang, I had heard awful things about it. I heard that it could be any beach town and that it was crazy touristy. I heard that it was a lot of party and that it could be skipped. Truth be told, all of that is accurate. The thing was, it was what I needed right now. I needed some beach days. I needed some relax time. I needed to catch my breath after the Sapa->Hanoi->Hue->Hoi An stretch.

After a day at the luxury club, Julia and I met John. He's a guy who just finished University in Switzerland, and has been traveling around for about four months. He joined us for dinner and then some drinks at the Red Apple Bar next door to the Backpacker House.

It was ladies night that night, so Julia got a bunch of discounted drinks. I was just drinking beer all night. I saw a bunch of people that I knew from different places. There were the Norwegian girls who sang me happy birthday at Halong Bay, along with a couple of British blokes from that trip as well. I saw Annti from Finland, who I had met in Hoi An, as well. It was a good time. I spent a lot of time bouncing from table to table, meeting new people and hanging out with the "old" friends.

The next day Julia and I split. She went on one boat cruise and John and I went on another. After comparing notes, they were exactly the same (including in price). We all had a pretty good time, but, for me, it could have been a lot better. The food was pretty good and plentiful. I think what got me was all of the hidden charges. You had to pay to swim in the Marine Protected area. You had to pay to lay on a beach in a cabana. You had to pay to get into the aquarium. You had to pay for your beers. I miss the days of all inclusive or, at least, just pay for your own booze. I think that the fact that I was shelling out and additional 120,000 dong ($6.50) for all of these activities made me not want to drink as much on the boat. I had heard that it was a booze cruise, but not a single person was even tipsy on the boat.

There was a Vietnamese family on the boat, as well. There were two adorable little girls. I kept trying to make the younger one smile, but she was having none of it. She just sat there staring at me, looking at me like I'm crazy. I even tried to reason with her, telling her that she was a kid and that she was supposed to smile and laugh. Clearly she didn't believe me. I ended up running into the family on the way to dinner in front of a shop. I kind of got a smile out of her then, but I don't think it really counted. That kid could have been classified as a tough crowd. I don't think that even Mike Wazowski could have made that kid smile.

That evening, Julia, John and I walked around town for quite some time. We found ourselves outside of the tourist area and happened upon a restaurant that was PACKED. I mean this place was hopping. It was all locals. So, what do we do? We decide to have dinner there. Not a single thing on the menu was in English. One of the servers, who I think was the owner, spoke very little English. I tried to order grilled lobster, but ended up with grilled squid. Not what I ordered, but really fucking tasty. This stuff was fresh and perfectly grilled. John got some beef noodles, and Julia got some sort of clam and rice soup. To be honest, for two nights in a row, I have won the dinner competition. I ordered the best dishes. The night before, it was beef in boiling vinegar.

After dinner, we kind of got lost. We ended up running into a couple of guys who work at the Backpacker House. They were eating dinner at another restaurant and looked at us like they were wondering, "What the fuck are you doing in this part of town?" Luckily, they pointed us in the right direction, and we made it back okay.

The rest of the night was filled with drinking and dancing. Julia, John, two of his friends and I were all out until three in the morning. It was one of John's friends' birthday, so we whooped it up a bit. I ran into Mikey from Canada/Chiang Mai. He hung out for a while. We all just had a blast. So much so that I'm the first one out of bed this morning.

On the way back to the hotel, I was walking with John and Julia, and what happens? John and I are accosted by prostitutes. Luckily, I just get a back massage, but John gets the full on cock grab, and breaks his flip-flop as he tried to get away. Julia grabbed my camera and tried to take a picture of the action, but the hookers were having none of that. I was afraid at one point that my camera would get smashed. Luckily that didn't happen.

So that brings us back to today. Julia and I are going back to the Louisiane Club to chillax for the day. I'm going to be hopping on a night bus to Ho Chi Minh City tonight at eight o'clock. I think Julia may be getting a job at the Backpacker House for a little while. I don't blame her. If I could do that I would. Maybe next time. Maybe next year. We'll see.

But, much to my surprise Nha Trang has been awesome. I've had a lot of fun and I've relaxed quite a bit. Now I'm off to the heat and the bustle of Ho Chi Minh. Hopefully, I'll meet some more great people there. It'll break my heart to leave Julia. She's been a fantastic travel companion. Hopefully I'll see her on the trail somewhere else, or maybe she'll even visit me in the States. Until then, fuck Facebook. I'll just e-mail her.

Day 52: I Don't Need No Stinkin' Sun Creme

Listening: Yes, I'm jumping like a jumping jack. Dancing, screaming, itching, squealing, fevered, feeling hot hot hot!!!

What's my problem? My lips don't feel like my own.

The way I usually work with the sunshine is that I burn my first time out in it, and from there on out, I tan until the end of the season. So, as I hopped onto the back of Leo's bike and he asked me, "Do you have sun creme?" I nonchalantly answered, "Nah. I don't need it." Ha. Right.

Off we went, straight out of Hoi An. At first, I thought we'd never get out of populated areas. There was small town after small town. I'm not talking about multiple street towns. I'm talking about stretches of shops and buildings alongside the road we were riding on. But, before long, they all disappeared. There we were in the mountains riding along.

About an hour and a half in, we stopped for coffee at a little roadside cafe. I think it was the only place for at least a few kilometers around. I had some killer coffee and watched four Vietnamese guys play cards. I tried to figure out the rules, but once I thought I had it, I saw something else that just kind of blew out the structure of the game in my head. From there, we headed deeper into the mountains.

Since we left at around half past seven in the morning, I hadn't had breakfast, or ingested anything besides that miniscule, but very tasty and strong cup of coffee. So when we pulled up to the pineapple farm at around ten in the morning, I was famished. I don't know if it was that I was hungry, or if it was because the pineapple had been harvested minutes earlier, or if it was the fact that it was grown by an ethnic minority, but it was probably the best pineapple that I have ever tasted in my life. It was soft and juicy. It was sweet, and just exploded with flavor in my mouth. I ate the entire pineapple myself.

From there, we hit the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was a network of roads used by the Viet Cong to transport supplies, weapons, and personnel down into southern Vietnam during the war. The landscape itself was beautiful. I could see how fighting on that land would be extremely difficult. It wasn't that it was all jungle. It was jungle and mountains and brush.

One of the more sobering sights that I saw were large black expanses on some of the mountains around the Ho Chi Min Trail. Napalm. The effects are still apparent today, thirty years later. The land is still completely scorched. The earth itself is black as coal and there are hectares and hectares of flattened black land. Apparently, nothing can grow there anymore.

If there's any wonder why the Vietnamese hate the Americans, there's your reason. And it's so funny thinking about how many Americans hate the Vietnamese because of the war. We were on their land. We were napalming their mountains and fields. They killed some of our people. We killed some of their people. That's a score of three to one. I feel bad that my country did this. I feel bad when I see the amputees still on the streets here in Vietnam. I know that my people did this to them, and I'm pretty powerless to do anything about it.

We had a long ride from there. We followed the Ho Chi Minh Trail up through Snake Road, which winds precariously through the mountains, back and forth, uphill and downhill.

On that stretch of road, there's nowhere to really stop for lunch. We stopped at a few minority villages so that I could see the longhouses or see how they live, but there was no chance for food until we hit Danang at around three in the afternoon. We ended up having lunch at China Beach.

China Beach was where one of the firs US army bases were in Vietnam during the war. Unfortunately, and fortunately, there is no longer any evidence of the occupation. China Beach is now a pretty pristine stretch of beach with resorts popping up all along it.

For lunch I had the frog with chili and lemongrass. I have to say it was pretty yummy. However, by the time I sat down to eat, I noticed a red line on my skin around the bottom of my shorts. Yeah. I'm a moron.

To be honest, my sunburn isn't that bad. It's no worse than the one that I got in Koh Tao. I'm sure that my nose and legs will start peeling in a couple of days and it'll be all good.

From there, we went to Marble Mountains where it's just one giant tourist trap. And I got trapped. See, Leo's family is from Danang. Coincidentally, they live at the base of Marble Mountain where there are numerous shops selling marble sculptures and so on and so forth. Are you seeing where this was going? Yep. I got the sell. And I got the sell hard. Not by Leo, but by his family. Yeesh. So, I ended up buying a small marble buddha. It's supposed to bring me luck on my trip. We'll see how that goes.

After I got back to Hoi An, I checked into the room that Isa had gotten earlier in the day and showered off the dust of the day. Since Isa wasn't around, Lydia had left town, and I didn't know where Julia was at the time, I set out looking for dinner.

Of course, I was in the mood for some local specialties, because I knew that I wouldn't be in Hoi An forever. So, I went to Miss Thahn's. Miss Thahn's is a little food stall among about ten other food stalls. Each food stall has their own row of tables. They all try to hawk their menus and get people to sit in their row of tables. The action takes place when someone beckons someone over to sit in their area and then they end up sitting in another. Sometimes it gets heated, and sometimes, there's a downright yelling match. It can get kind of amusing. I saw a couple the day before when I had lunch there.

For dinner, I had two orders of "white rose" and an order of cau lau bo. White rose is a sort of open dumpling. The meat in it is pork and shrimp and the wrapper is translucent white, kind of like the wrapper of har gau (if you're familiar with dim sum. Cau lau is a local specialty. It's a thick noodle with a little bit of broth and some veg. These noodles are specific to Hoi An, as that the water used to make the noodles must be from a specific well. These noodles are about a quarter of a centimeter by a quarter of a centimeter thick and aren't soft or white like pho. They're a little bit brown and they're much more firm. I have to say that I really enjoy it. I have had at least one bowl of it per day that I have been in Hoi An.

As I walked around town, I bumped into Isa. We walked around for a bit, ended up going back to the room to chill, and then headed out for some snacks for her and a drink for me. While we had been walking around before, we noticed some people eating some eggs on the street. They were eggs right? Yeah. They were eggs... half developed eggs.

On our trip out, Isa got the idea that we should try them. I thought about it for a second. I thought about the massive amount of food that I ate for dinner, and... I went for it. So there we were, Isa and I, sitting on plastic stools on a dark street in Hoi An. The silk Chinese lamps glowed red down the street and we had balut (the filipino name for the half developed chicken egg) by candle light.

We had an audience as well. There were a couple of old Vietnamese ladies who watched us eat. First, we had to crack the shell at the top and drink the broth from the inside. Oh yes. These eggs were warm/hot, so they were cooked in some way/shape/form. The broth on the inside tasted like chicken broth. It was actually quite delicious. The "meat" inside was truly like a cross between a soft boiled egg and chicken. It tasted like a really great piece of chicken, but had a texture softer than a hard boiled egg.

There were bits of "anatomy" in the egg, such as a head and some feather like things. They didn't make much of a difference in texture or taste. It took a little while for me to look at it and get the nerve to put it in my mouth, but I did it and I didn't gag. It took us a solid ten minutes to down the eggs. Isa said she thought it was okay, but didn't know if she would eat another. I thought it was okay as well, and if I were in a place that had it, I might get one every so often. I really do think that it's worth trying, for everyone.

After that, we ran into Julia and one of her friends. They were headed to a bar that was kind of noisy, so Isa and I opted to go to a more quiet bar. It's amazing how much you can learn about someone over a drink if you're listening. I learned quite a lot about Isa that night, about her dreams and aspirations, about her insecurities, and about her past.

By the time we finished our drinks, it was half past eleven, and I was knackered. So, we retreated back to the room and I fell asleep almost immediately.

The next day, Isa headed off to Hue so that she could catch another bus to Laos, and I headed to Julia's hotel so that I would only be spending five dollars a night instead of fourteen by myself.

Julia and I ended up going to My Son, a Cham ruin just outside of Hoi An. Sure, it's a UNESCO World Heritage site, but then again, so are the Cahokia Mounds in Illinois. They were much more Cahokia Mounds than they were Mesa Verde. There were some ruins of some temples and it just wasn't as impressive as the photos made it out to be. Leo had told me that if I planned on going to Ankor Wat, I should skip My Son. He was right and I haven't even been to Ankor Wat.

The weather was blisteringly hot, and steamingly muggy. It was so hot and muggy, forget about frying an egg on a car. You could steam a lobster in a shoebox, and melt the drawn butter right on top. Also, there were just so many tourists. I know that it'll be like that in Ankor Wat, but, shit.

By the time we got back to town, it was one in the afternoon, so I went to get another fitting for my chef's coats. They had it wrong again. *sigh* The first time, they made it double breasted, but they didn't have it for both sides, so you couldn't switch panels. This time, it wasn't even double breasted. So, now I have to go back today and get them fitted again. Hopefully, they'll be ready by five in the evening, so I can catch my six o'clock bus to Nha Trang. We'll see.

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about the dinner on the night before I went on the Easy Rider tour. Leo, my driver, took Lydia, Isa, Julia and me to a local restaurant outside of Hoi An proper. We were away from the tourists, and away from the people trying to sell you this, that and the other thing. Dinner was simple and delicious. Of course, there were home made spring rolls, but the main course were kind of like spring rolls as well. There was rice paper, some greens, some pickled cabbage, sliced cucumbers and baby bananas, some meat on a stick and some shrimp omelette. You roll it all together in the rice paper, dip in a sweet chili sauce and enjoy. Oh man, I must have had at least twelve of them. They were definitely delicious and definitely something that I want to have again.

Anyhow, that's all for now. I'm sorry about not uploading any pictures lately. The connections have either been way too slow or the machines have blocked USB drives. It kinda makes me sad, but not too sad to keep on truckin'.

Day 49: I Should Just Hand Over My Wallet

Listening: Well here we go again. You've found yourself a friend that knows you well. But no matter what you do, it always feels as though you tripped and fell. So steady as she goes.

What's my problem? Clashing personalities.

A brief update. So I am getting five chef's coats made. One long sleeved, two three quarter length sleeved and two short sleeved. I'm also getting two reproductions of one of my favorite shirts. The shirt I'm reproducing I got at the Garment District for pennies. Unfortunately, it's falling apart and I'd hate to lose the shirt with that cut. So, altogether, I'm dropping two hundred US dollars.

Tomorrow morning, I go on an Easy Rider tour. It's me and a motorcycle driver going out to the Ho Chi Minh trail, then to a ethnic minority pineapple farm, and finally to Danang where China Beach is. After that we're going to go rock some local food. I spent about two hours last night talking to this guy about the Easy Riders. He was one of the originals who started in Dalat and then opened up the one here in Hoi An. He showed me the website and everything. There he was. So, I'm paying a hundred US dollars to take the two day tour in one day, plus go rock the local food with the dude. He had breakfast with Lydia (a girl I'm sharing a room with) and I this morning too.

Well, I've been hanging out with German girls. There are two that are a pair and one that's a little awkward. The pair are leaving Hoi An tonight, and Lydia is leaving tomorrow night. Luckily, I met a girl from Shanghai at breakfast this morning who might share my room with me. Grandma would be proud. She speaks four languages and is Chinese.

Oh well, I have to meet the German pair for lunch tonight. I have dinner with Lydia and the Shanghai girl, Isa, tonight. Hopefully Julia will show up as well. She just got into town too. Man... me and my women.

Day 48: Hue More Than Enough Time

Listening: Evolution is real. Secrets we have never revealed. Did you leave your mark? Was it real?

What's my problem? More time? Less time? I can't tell anymore.

So, clearly I have a death wish. When I got on my motorbike, I completely forgot that Sapa is a town surrounded by mountains. What that means is that the roads wind around said mountains, and one side of the road looks out over the cliffs of said mountains. Yeah. Clifhanging, white knuckle scootering. And I felt completely sketched out if I went over 40 kph. I tried gunning it on a straightaway, but when I hit 60, I was like, "Whoah... Mucho rapido! Mui mal!"

I took the scooter up to Silver Waterfall, which is a good eighteen kliks away from Sapa. The bike rental guy told me that it was all new roads on the way there. It gave me a sense of security that I would easily be able to navigate the roads and check out this cool site. I was wrong. By new roads, I guess he meant that they were still being built or were in such disarray that they would need new roads soon. Sure, there were stretches of pristine pavement, but there were large stretches of large gravel roads (by large gravel roads, I don't mean that the roads are large, I mean that the gravel is large), dust roads, dirt roads, roads of broken pavement, and some straight up rocks. It was daunting, to be honest.

I was about nine kliks in when I saw a couple that I had met in Sapa walking the road back towards me. I stopped to ask if the waterfall was close, because it had felt like I had rode eighteen kliks. They said that they didn't know. They had been walking since Sapa and had decided to turn around because they couldn't find the waterfall. I told them that I would drive ahead and that if it was close, I would come back to tell them. I never went back, because it was another eight kliks until I found the waterfall area.

The waterfall area itself is pretty small. Since it was dry season, it really wasn't more than a trickle. Sure, it was nice, but I couldn't see Fanxipan like I thought that I would be able to.

After hitting up the waterfall, I was pretty hungry, so I headed back into Sapa to a place called Baguette & Chocolate. This place was mentioned in the Lonely Planet, and I'd say that a good two thirds of the places that I have tried have sucked. This place, though, looked nice and comfortable. It had a number of people sitting and enjoying their meals, so I decided to try it.

I ended up ordering the snack menu which consisted of my choice of sandwich, a side of fries and a Vietnamese coffee. I picked a chicken pesto sandwich. It was all very good, and they probably had the best fries that I have ordered in southeast Asia. I ordered a tiramisu for dessert, but that kind of sucked. I guess when you're spoiled by Cafe Vittoria in the North End, all other tiramisu sucks.

After lunch, I headed to Cat Cat Village and Sin Chai Village. I actually went to Sin Chai first since it was already three in the afternoon, and Sin Chai was further away. I had to have the bike back around five. Sin Chai was definitely an operational village. There were people living there and working the land. It was not touristy at all. There was a single woman who tried to sell me a bag. I followed the road in Sin Chai until I could no longer go. It literally ended at a house's doorstep. The residents looked confused as I tried to turn my scooter around. Luckily, I got some help from a Hmong teenager.

Cat Cat Village was more than I expected. It was definitely touristy, but it was expansive and it was beautiful. The land was terraced, and there were handicraft workshops everywhere. Pigs and ducks roamed freely up and down the steps of the village. There were cool bridges and a waterfall. I only had enough time to see half of the village, unfortunately. It was really nice though.

From there, I returned my scooter. I was afraid that the guy would run off with my passport, but at the end of the day, there he was and my passport was in tact. I got the scooter for an amazing price. Normally, manual motorbikes go for about five dollars a day. Automatics go for about ten. I got an automatic for six dollars for the day, and it was a brand new scooter. As a matter of fact, a bunch of locals that I stopped in front of commented on its newness.

Just as I was about to head up the hill to the travel agency, I see a group of motorbikes coming down the hill. I recognize a face. It's Clover, half of my favorite set of twins! "Clover!" I shout. She turns around on the bike and says, "Heeeeey!" as Adam, the guy driving continued away. I followed them down to the Queen Hotel where I got their update.

We had all left Hanoi on the same day. A group of twelve of them took off on motorbikes to ride from Hanoi to Sapa. The ride was supposed to take two days. I ran into Andrew, one of the drivers, on the day I got back from my trek to Ban Ho. He said that he and another driver lost the rest of the group on day one. He said that the others were having problems with their bikes. He said that they broke down a number of times in the first half of the first day.

It took the rest of the group four days to get to Sapa. They had crashed a number of times, gotten flat tires, ran out of petrol, and a host of other things. It was good to see Clover and Sophie again. Actually, about half of my Halong Bay Tour people were on that trip from Hanoi to Sapa. It was, indeed, craziness.

Not long after I ran into Clover and Sophie, I was back on the night train to Hanoi. On the night train up to Sapa, I was freezing cold. I had worn the wrong clothing and the A/C was blowing on me all night long. So I was prepared this time. I had on my heavier pants, my thermal shirt, my fleece vest and my jacket. A lot of good that preparation did.

This time, the cabin Robert and I were in was a sauna. It sucked big balls. I sweat my entire way back down to Hanoi. I think I could have died in there, or at least I could have lost 90% of my water weight.

Since May hooked me up with a room at Hanoi Backpackers, I was able to sleep a few hours, get a nice shower and just feel cleaner. I got into Hanoi at around five in the morning, was able to check into my bed at eleven, got up and left the hostel around two and had lunch with Robert.

After lunch, I went over to Hoa Lo Prison, also known as the Hanoi Hilton to American pilots shot down in the Vietnam War. It was a pretty intense place. There was much more history to the place other than the fact that there were some American pilots caged there. There were Vietnamese caged there as well. They were imprisoned by the French. It was really interesting how first the Vietnamese were imprisoned and then the Americans.

By the time I had finished with that, it was time for me to pack up and head to Hue. I cut it really close getting to the bus though. I had put my laundry in for express service, and it was being packed up just fifteen minutes before I was supposed to be at the bus.

The bus itself kinda blew. It was a sleeper bus, but it was still very cramped. The bus was two beds high by three beds wide with an aisle going between the rows. My bed was about a foot and a half to two feet wide. Yeah, I was cramped, and my shoulders and elbows spilled into the aisles.

I did my best to make the best of it. I plugged in for a while and read "Eat, Pray, Love." I made friends with some German girls. Other than that, the ride was uneventful.

We got to Hue at around nine in the morning. I ended up following the German girls to their hotel, because I didn't have anywhere booked. I ended up paying fifteen dollars for a room by myself. Luckily, it was clean, had A/C and had TV.

The first thing I did after I cleaned myself up was go find some Bun Bo Hue, as requested by Linh. I asked the person at the front desk where the best place in town to get Bun Bo Hue was, and she marked it down on my map. Originally, she said that it would take twenty minutes to get there. I looked at the map and I didn't believe her. And I was right. It only took about ten minutes. I didn't need to rent a bicycle. I didn't need to catch a cyclo or a motorbike. I didn't need a taxi. I think she was just try to sell me.

When I got there, it was kind of an open storefront. All it said in front was "Bun Bo Hue." I knew that I had arrived. From the first spicy slurp, it was pure bliss. Bun Bo Hue is a beef noodle soup with a spicy, rich broth. Mine came with a huge chunk of a cow, skin, bone and all. The skin had been simmered for so long that it had turned into beefy jello. Sinking my teeth into it was a purely pornographic act. It was depraved and dirty, and I liked it.

After my breakfast/lunch, I headed over to the Citadel, where I ended up bumping into another German girl that I had met in Sapa. Since we were both lone travelers, I invited her to join me. At one of gates to the Forbidden Purple City, I saw the two German girls from the bus, and invited them to join us.

It took a couple of hours for us to walk around the Citadel. To be honest, there wasn't an incredible amount to see. There were a lot of ruins, but there wasn't a lot of information. I could have, however, paid some money to have dressed up like an imperial mandarin.

After the citadel, we all got some food that, well, to be honest sucked big donkey balls. It's not worth saying much more than that. Let's just say that it fell into the two thirds of the places in the Lonely Planet that can kiss my yellow ass.

We all kind of decided that we wanted to go see some tombs and pagodas, so we collectively hired a taxi to take us around. Coincidentally, it was the same taxi driver that brought the two German girls and I to our hotel. He was a good sport though. He took us to Tuc Du tomb and to a Pagoda. While we walked around, we heard that all of the tombs are relatively the same, so we skipped out on a bunch of them.

As we walked around, we looked to see how much more there was to see in the city. It didn't look like much. There were the DMZ (demilitarized zone) tours, but I was told and I read that if you;re not a Vietnam war buff or you weren't there, the tours aren't going to mean much to you. So I opted out. As the four of us walked around, we pretty much decided that there wasn't enough to keep us in Hue another night.

For dinner, I brought them to the Bun Bo Hue place. They loved it. I loved having it again. I think that the owners thought that I was weird for being the only foreigner there the first time, and then coming back with some more foreigners for seconds.

That brings us to this morning, where the four of us hopped the bus to Hoi An. It's beautiful here. I get a really good vibe from this place. I'm currently having one chef's coat being made and a reproduction of one of my favorite shirts being made as well. If they look nice, I'll buy more. The chef's coat will cost thirty five dollars each, less if I buy enough, and the shirt will be ten dollars. I also was looking at prescription glasses. I can get a pair here for about fifty US dollars. I'm thinking about it. I think that if everything goes as planned, I'll pay about $200 for six chef coats and maybe another $20 for two shirts. Should I throw in a pair of glasses? Man I'm really stimulating this economy.

Anyhow, I have to go meet the Germans for dinner. More on the progress of the clothes later.

Day 45: Big Hard Sun, Cold Misty Mountain

Listening: There's a big, a big, hard sun beaten on the big people in the big, hard world.

What's my problem? I'm wearing ALL of my warmest clothes at one time.

It was perhaps the best move I've made since I left Laos. Sapa. Sapa is an old French mountain station in a valley surrounded by huge limestone mountains. All around the town there live a variety of different hill tribes, people in traditional costumes, living almost the same way that they have since the beginning of their civilization's existence.

I left Hanoi at about a quarter past nine in the evening. It was myself and a guy named Robert from Sweden. On the train ride we got to know each other. He's an IT guy, but it looking to perhaps change careers. He recently got laid off, and is taking this time to travel and figure out not only what he wants to do with his life, but a little bit about himself. He's a good man with a good sense of humor. It's shown in his tolerance of other people.

See, Robert is a... larger person. Ain't nothing wrong with that. He's still a human being. Unfortunately, a lot of people in town don't seem to think so. He's constantly being the butt of Vietnamese jokes. The Vietnamese people will just come up and rub his belly and call him Buddha. They'll stand behind him and smile and laugh with their friends. It's really kind of angering. Robert is not a circus freak, but the ingnorant people seem to treat him like one. I truly feel bad for him, not because he's the size of two Vietnamese guys, but because he has to deal with the discrimination and the ignorance.

Anyhow, Robert and I were joined by Helen, an environmentalist from Montreal, for the two day trek to and from Ban Ho, a hill tribe village belonging to the Tay people. We had gotten off the train at around a quarter to five in the morning and were walking by ten. We barely had time to shower, grab breakfast, and take a quick nap before we began walking the rice paddies.

Initially, we got a ride for about seven kilometers to Ta Van, a Dzay village, but before we knew it, we were deep in the mountains. Ban Ho was a good ten or twelve kilometers away, and we were walking it all. The terrain was difficult, but not nearly as difficult as my trek in Chiang Mai. There was never a time when I felt that I would slip off the mountain into oblivion.

The hill tribe people of the region have transformed the mountainous land into hectares upon hectares of rice paddies. They're like giant muddy steps that ascend into the mist that covers the mountain tops for most of the day. From high above, the paddies look like a topographic map, each ring denoting a different elevation. Water buffalo roam freely about the paddies eating any vegetation that they see fit, and dropping large piles of shit everywhere in their wake.

For the first half of our day, we were followed by a number of Hmong women. They were all extremely friendly and talked to us in nearly perfect English as we trekked up and down mountains. The three of us and our guide all had on reasonable sensible shoes, whether they were trail runners or sneakers. These ladies wore plastic sandals and made the walk look easy, while the three of us did our best to find sure footing.

We knew it before we went on the trek that we would get the sell. That's what a lot of these hill tribe people do. They hang around you for a while and then they try to sell you some swag that you don't need. I had befriended the woman with the one month old child. Yeah. That was smart. So, when we came to her village, the whole group got the press from the Hmong women. "You buy from me?" was the question. And the question was asked over and over.

To be honest, my pack was pretty full. I left my big pack at Hanoi Backpackers and brought only what I needed to Sapa. What I needed turned out to have filled my daypack to the brim. I wasn't prepared to buy stuff from the hill tribe people, nor did I think that any of it would make good gifts. Luckily, I got away with only buying a little cloth bracelet for five thousand dong (about 33 cents). Helen ended up buying a silver bracelet. Robert came out of it unscathed though.

By the time lunch had rolled around, I had stripped off my fleece vest and my thermal shirt. I guess, as it turns out, that if you walk up and down rice paddies in the sun you get kind of hot. We were all a big sweaty mess by the time we sat down. There was another group of trekkers there that we shit shot with for a while.

After lunch we made an incredible descent. We went down, down down into the valley to the village of Ban Ho. It was so steep in places that I felt like my feet would go out from under me and I would fall five feet to the next little plateau.

It was five in the evening by the time that we pulled into the homestay. Our family was quite nice. The mother of the family allowed Helen and I to watch her cook dinner. I helped a little too. Everything was done over a fire. The wok rested on a grate over the fire, so I kept the fire at an appropriate temperature by either feeding it more bamboo or smothering some of the burning pieces.

As I expected, the food was all quite simple and very tasty. We had a pork dish, a chicken dish, a tofu dish, and two vegetable dishes. It was all accompanied by... rice wine. I have to be honest, I'm a bigger fan of Lao Lao than I am of rice wine. I know that Lao Lao has more alcohol in it, but it just tastes nicer than rice wine. But, in order to be polite, you HAVE to drink every time you're poured. By the time dinner was over, we had done at least five shots. I had already had a beer with dinner too, so I was sleepy.

However, instead of going to sleep, I went with the group to a special traditional dance show at the local primary school. There was a group of Singapore high school students there, who were the reason the show was being put on. The traditional dances were amazing. There were fan dances, umbrella dances, kind of square dances, and, my personal favorite, the candle dance. The Singapore kids did a couple of quazi hip hop, pantomime dances which were much less impressive and entertaining. But they're high school kids. Maybe they haven't grown rhythm yet.

At the very end, they did the bamboo dance, which is kind of a cross between dancing and jump rope. There are three sets of bamboo poles that go in a rhythm. Two taps far apart, and two taps together. The goal is to not get your feet caught and dance to the rhythm of the taps. Everyone was invited to try and I had a great time doing it. By the end, I was one of the people tapping the bamboo poles.

After dancing, the three of us, as well as a Dutch girl from another homestay, got roped into doing karaoke. I have to say that it was a lot of fun. The Vietnamese guides were really into it. One guy even got an 100% score. I had fun singing Elvis' "Suspicious Minds," the Spin Doctors' "Two Princes," Guns 'n' Roses' "Sweet Child of Mine, and Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline." There was some Frank Sinatra in there done by Robert and Britney Spears' "Hit Me Baby One More Time" by Helen and Cindy (the Dutch girl). We all rolled out of there exhausted and laughing our asses off.

The next day we woke up to a banana pancake breakfast. It was a good start to the day which was followed by a trek to a very small waterfall. The waterfall was immensely crowded. There were trekkers all over the place, as well as local kids playing in the water. I think that on a hotter day in a hotter climate I might have taken a dip, but that day I was really fine with just soaking my feet.

At around half past eleven, we had to leave the waterfall area, because higher up on the mountain, they were building a road and needed to blast some rocks. That was supposed to happen at noon. So, as we're getting back to the homestay, I ask our guide if we'll be able to hear the blast when it happens. He said, "yes." Then, Helen looked up and asked, "So when is it supposed to happ..." And BOOM! We heard the explosion. It was some of the best timing ever.

Back at the homestay, we had lunch and said our goodbyes. Then it was the long trek up the mountain to where a van would pick us up and drive us back to Sapa.

When we got back to Sapa, I found myself a hotel and ended up seeing some folks that I knew from back at Hanoi Backpackers. There were supposed to be twelve of them who rode motorbikes up to Sapa. When I saw them, there were only four. Apparently on the first half of the first day, a couple of the bikes broke down. So, they don't even know if they would make it to Sapa or if they would just turn around and go back to Hanoi. It was unfortunate. My favorite twins were on the back of a couple of those bikes. I hope none of them got injured.

That night, I had an early dinner (and a late dinner for that matter), and walked around town before I met up with Helen and Robert at the Lovers Market.

The Lovers Market happens every Saturday in the square in Sapa. Single people from all of the surrounding hill tribes come around, play music, dance, and try to find a spouse. It used to be a really popular thing for the hill tribe singles, but in recent years, it has become a bit of a tourist thing. Apparently, now there are underground Lovers Markets that tourists aren't privy to.

I was surprised by the average age of the "singles" at this market. There were very young children there. I think that the oldest "single" that I saw there could have been eighteen years old at the oldest. Man, why do they need to be starting so early?

Anyhow, it was there that I was accosted. I feel a tap on my shoulder and the question was asked in tiny little voices, "You buy from me?" I turned around and there they were. Two cute little girls. Just looking at them melted me. They were just. so. cute. I made them work for it though. I talked with them for a little while. I asked them their names. The twelve year old who was much more talkative was named Ban, and the seven year old didn't say much more than "You buy from me?"

I told them that if they wanted me to buy something, they would have to talk to me in English. They would have to tell me their names, how old they were, if they went to school, where their village was and so on and so forth. Ban, who was cuter than cute did her best, and I rewarded her with buying a bracelet from her. Once the other kids around realized that I was buying from her, they all crowded around to try to get me to buy from them as well. Luckily, I made and excuse saying that Ban and I were friends now and that I would only buy from her.

Ban and her friend hung out with Helen, Robert and I for a little while longer. I was able to get a picture with them. They were just so cute that I wanted to put them in my pocket and take them home.

Anyhow, today, I have a free day in Sapa. Helen and Robert are going to see a rather large market about two hundred kilometers away. They paid for it in the package. The motorbike guys are going with some Hmong women to their village to cook lunch. I rented a motorbike and will be riding to Cat Cat Village where many Hmong live, and also up to the Silver Waterfalls about nine kilometers away. I hear that you can see Fanxipan mountain from there.

A funny story about Fanxipan. I was in the kitchen at Hanoi Backpackers talking to another American who had just traveled from China to Sapa and was now in Hanoi. I told him that I would be going to Sapa. So, he asked me if I was going to see Fanxipan. Now, I hadn't done a lot of research. I had no clue what Fanxipan was. I just thought he was saying Fancy Pants. I was like, "what're these fancy pants you're talking about? Is it a certain hill tribe dress?" Then he informed me that it was a mountain with a lot of good trekking and that it's the highest mountain in the area. Fanxipan. Not Fancy Pants.

Tonight, after I drop off my motorbike, I get on the bus with Robert to catch the night train back to Hanoi. I'll get back there around five in the morning, and, luckily, I'll have a bed waiting for me, thanks to Mei. Unfortunately, she won't be in it. I guess we can't have it all.

I'll actually only be in Hanoi for about eighteen hours. I plan on catching a night bus to Hue tomorrow. The three places in Vietnam that I have been in have all been radically different. I wonder what Hue will bring.

Day 42: The Change-Up

Listening: Rid me of the problem. Do all that you can. Keep me in a daydream. Keep me goin' strong. You don't wanna save me. Sad is my song.

What's my problem? Changing a flight takes forever.

Well, here's the update. I changed two of my flights, so now I fly from Bangkok to Hong Kong on April 8th and I fly from Hong Kong to Los Angeles on April 15th. This means that I'll have five and a half or six days in Los Angeles before heading back to the east coast for Brian's wedding.

I have realized that it's going to be a pretty big shit show when I get back to Boston. I'll be arriving home on the night of the 21st. The next morning, I'll be heading down to NYC for Brian's wedding. The 23rd is the rehearsal dinner. The 25th is the actual wedding. Then I have to come back to Boston, get my shit together, and get back down to the island sometime around May first. I can just tell what kind of mess I'll be. I guess that's the life of a traveler though, huh?

I finally decided to take Mei's and Jessica's (another hot worker at Hanoi Backpackers) suggestion and go Sapa for a few days. I'm going on a three night organized tour and then I extended one night more so I could walk around on my own or rent a motorbike to check out the things that I feel I might have missed. I hope it's nice.

I get back to Hanoi at around five in the morning on Monday morning, and Mei was nice enough to book me for a bed when I get back for free, even though I'll be leaving later on that night to go to Hue. It's amazing how much you fall in love on the trail.

I'm leaving the bulk of my gear here in Hanoi and am only taking my day pack. It's packed to the gills right now. I heard that it could be cold in Sapa, so I'm bringing all of my warmest (which isn't much). It's only four nights. I wonder how bad it could get. Hopefully I'll get a nice day or two in there when the fog lifts, the clouds descend, and I can see the mountains. I'm pretty excited.

I'm a bit worried about the whole night train thing. I hope they're as nice as the night train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, but I'm not holding my breath. I think that it'll be more like the sleeper from Frankfurt to Prague. Twenty-five minutes and I'm off. Here's to hopefully meeting nicer locals.

Day 42: Vietnam May Have Won The War, But It's Losing The Battle

Listening: Come and see. I swear by now I'm playing time against my troubles. I'm coming slow but speeding.

What's my problem? The people of Hanoi.

Well. Hrumph. I want to like Vietnam. So far, Hanoi isn't making it easy for me. The girls who work at the hostel are nice. The hostel itself is very nice. The people at the hostel are nice. The servers at the restaurant that I ate at last night were nice. Everything else that I have found has been crap.

Today, I went to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. First of all, there are not only foreigners, but there are hoards of locals as well. They all feel that they can jump the cue. They push and shove. They stare. They're just generally inconsiderate, rude, nasty people in this city.

The sidewalks are crowded with motorbikes and people selling stuff, so you have to walk in the middle of the street and dodge the oncoming cars and motorbikes. The weather here, for every day that I have been in Hanoi, has been cold and misty, yet also kind of warm and humid too. I know it's a bit contradictory being cold and warm at the same time, but Hanoi has brought the unpleasantries of both.

I don't know who told me this, but I was expecting the more beautiful girls out of the trip to be coming from Vietnam. I expected the French/Asian mix to really show off some beauty in the fairer sex. So far, Thailand and Laos blows Vietnam out of the water. I can count the beautiful locals that I have seen wandering about the city on two hands. Sure, I haven't gone to any clubs, but c'mon. There have to be some hot working women.

So, right now, Vietnam is losing the battle with me. Maybe I expected too much. Maybe I wasn't prepared enough. There is just so much negativity here coming both from the locals as well as from the travelers. I have heard countless stories of pick pocketing, bag slashings, muggings, beatings.... Apparently, these Brits got into a fight with a taxi driver about the fare and they ended up getting jumped by a crew of Viet guys. Two of the guys have severe injuries and one is in the hospital. I dunno if it's Vietnam or if it's Hanoi, but I'm rather uncomfortable here.

I'm ready to move on... today.

As I type I'm across from the Cathay Pacific office in Hanoi Towers. They're closed for an hour for lunch. I had to forward some stuff to them so they could make sure that they didn't charge me too much or too little for my flight changes. Hopefully it'll only cost me the one hundred bones to switch it up. It'll give me an extra week on the mainland, and maybe some peace of mind so that I don't rush through Vietnam. Or, if I do rush through Vietnam, I'll get to spend some days diving in Koh Tao. That would make me happy. It's a nice happy place.

Well, that's all I have to say for now. Tonight will either be a night train to Sapa or a night bus to Hue. Funny. I'll leave in less that ten hours and I have no clue whether I'll be going north or south. But, heads or tails, I want to get the fuck out of here.

Day 41: Vietnamese Wedding Crashers & Growing Pains

Listening: We make plans for big times, get bogged down, distracted. We make plans for good times, all neon, all surface.

What's my problem? A little soreness and pain.

Ahh, the culture shock and jolt to my system that is Hanoi. Blah. Hanoi. I'm ready to leave already.

Laos is a great country. For the most part, people are nice. They have fun with the bargaining. And though they want to part you and your money, they have found that being nice is the best way to do it. Hanoi is a different story.

Hanoi, they're money grubbing, mean spirited and kind of evil. Case and point: I was in a market with my friend Erin (more on her later). I pulled my camera out of my right pocket where I had put some change (about 40,000-50,000 dong [please no dong jokes], or about 3 or 4 US Dollars) I didn't notice the bills fall out of my pocket when I pulled out my camera until I noticed a sinister looking Vietnamese woman at my feet picking up the bills and running back to her stall. There was no, "excuse me sir, you dropped your money" when it was clearly mine.

In Cat Ba (more on that later), a motorbike driver hassled me for a good three blocks trying to get me to go for a ride for "boom-boom." People at the docks follow you around trying to sell you refreshments. In Hanoi, people follow you around trying to sell you books. In the night market people brush your ass seeing if they can pick your pocket.

It just seems as if everyone in Vietnam is trying to hustle you. I heard that the people get friendlier the further south you go, which makes sense considering the Vietnam War. It's just so different from Thailand and Laos. They both seem very similar, but if I had to say, I'm going to bet that Vietnam is much more Chinese than Indochinese.

Anyhow, my time in Vietnam thus far.

Well, my first full day in Hanoi, I ended up just walking around, getting lost. I happened upon the Temple of Literature, where the men who passed the eighteen doctoral exams way back in the day had their names engraved on tablets which rested on giant stone turtles. There's beautiful architecture and a giant brass bell and drum. I liked it quite a bit. The problem was that my camera battery died while I was there. So, I didn't get to take the pictures that I wanted to take.

After I finished seeing the temple, I hiked the two kilometers back to the hostel to check into my bed and to pick up my camera battery. It was there that I ran into Erin.

I had talked to her a little bit earlier that morning. She too couldn't get into Hanoi Backpackers the night before. So I asked her if she wanted to see the town with me and she said she had to run some errands and asked me if I wanted to go. I said why not and tagged along. By the time the errands were finished, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was closed for the day, so instead, we went to the Water Puppet Theater show.

Water Puppet Theater is a marionette show with traditional Vietnamese music, which used to be done on the rice patties. It's actually much more entertaining than I had anticipated. The music was pretty good (nothing I would put on my iPod though), and the scenes were entertaining. There was an amusing one where unicorns batted a ball around, and another where there were dragon boat races. I thing my favorite one was the water fairy dance. First you see two fairies spinning about, and then, miraculously (well, not really, because they came from behind the screen), there were two more, then two more, and two more and two more. They would all spin in unison equal distance from each other. It was very cute.

After the water puppet show, Erin and I raced back to the hostel to get changed. We had somewhere to be for dinner that night.

The night before, Erin had met a woman from Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon at the airport. She was fifty three years old, owned a manufacturing company, and had two kids going to college in the States. As they were talking, somehow she invited Erin to go to the wedding which was the reason that she and her... boyfriend (?) were in Hanoi. I was invited as a friend, and off we went.

Apparently Vietnamese weddings are pretty short affairs. The wedding started at six o'clock, and by the time that we got there at seven, people were already leaving. It was very surprising. But, we were invited to sit down and eat regardless. We had some fun conversations with the boyfriend (?) who was trying to teach the other older men exercises so that they could "keep their wives happy." It was quite amusing. Also there was a point where one of the guests was a university French teacher in Hanoi. Since Erin is from Canada, I think they assumed that she spoke more French than she does. See, Erin is from Toronto, not Quebec. There's not as much Francais there. So, she was a good sport and muddled through.

Probably the best part of the evening was when the two of us got called up to take pictures with the bride and groom. Granted, it wasn't just the two of us and the bridal party. There was the woman and her boyfriend (?), some other family members, and a bunch more people that we didn't know. They tried to push Erin and I up front, but I wasn't having it. Erin, though, was just about front and center. The lone caucasian. At least I was a little less conspicuous.

Since the wedding was over long before either of us expected, and the bar in the hostel was dead as a doornail, we headed out to "beer corner." At the time, I had no clue what beer corner was, but when I asked the hot girl that works at the hostel who has a tat on the back of her calf, she said that we should head there.

Now, beer corner is an intersection in Hanoi's Old Quarter. It looks like the intersection of two small streets. Nothing special. But on each of the four corners are little storefronts that serve beer for three thousand dong (about seventeen cents). So a lot of the backpackers sit out front of the stores in plastic chairs drinking beers until the eleven thirty curfew.

At first Erin and I were kind of by ourselves. We couldn't work into any of the bigger groups of people. However, as the night went on, we met more people. There was Vincent from Lyon, France, Samuel from Nord See, France, and Sabine and err... I can't remember her name from Germany. We had a good time. We ate fries and fried corn. A good time was had by all.

The next morning I was on my way to Halong Bay with the Hanoi Backpackers' "Rock Hard, Rock Long" Halong Bay tour. We left around eight in the morning and was on the boat by around noon. After lunch, we all went kayaking. I have to say that we had a pretty cool group of people.

As we were kayaking, we went to this cove where we might have seen monkeys, but no one saw any. Instead, we all played games and screwed around. We were having so much fun that AJ, the group leader said to us, "I know you're having a good time here, and we can stay here as long as you want, but we can go see other things if you want too." We had no clue that there was supposed to be more.

From there, we kayaked to some caves which were not the coolest caves that I have ever seen, but we were with such a great group of people that it was a lot of fun.

Now, I mentioned that I was going to Halong Bay for my birthday, because I wanted to be somewhere beautiful. Mei, one of the other group leaders asked me when exactly it was and whether I was on the two or three day trip. I told her that I was on the three day trip and that I would be on Cat Ba Island for my actual birthday. I was also only one of four out of twenty four people who decided to go with the three day trip. The birthday festivities actually started just after we got onto the boat. I was presented with a bouquet of flowers by AJ (a big Canadian guy who was masquerading as a Scotsman... He kept the accent on all day and then dropped the accent on us at dinner).

At dinner, and I totally wasn't expecting it, they brought out a cake and it was really nice. I mean it was really, really nice. I was so surprised. I really couldn't believe that it was all happening. I thought that I would be in a beautiful place with some fun people. I thought I would have a few drinks and it would be cool. What happened was that it turned into a full fledged birthday party.

One of the ladies working on the boat smeared some of the icing on my face. Mei, who is a rather attractive Indonesian girl from Holland who is a manager at Hanoi Backpackers, licked it off. It was very nice.

Once the cake was finished, that's when the drinking started... and it all started with happy hour, three for two drinks. People were buying me drinks left and right. My two favorite twins, the 19 year olds, Clover and Sophie, bought me a gin and tonic. The barkeep bought me a B-52 shot. I had a couple of beers. That's when things got wild.

I was sung "Happy Birthday" in three languages. Once in English by everyone, once in Norweigian by two delightfully beautiful blondes from Norway, and once in Hindi by some really cool British-Indian fellows. At the stroke of midnight on my birthday, I was picked up, my pockets were emptied, and I was thrown from the top of the boat into the water. That's where a bit of trouble began.

When they threw me off the boat, I landed square on the back of my neck and shoulders. I'm not going to lie. It hurt like a mofugga. I put my best game face on, breast stroked back to the ladder and got back aboard. One guy asked me if that hurt. I told him that it did, and he told me that it looked like it hurt, but he couldn't tell from the way I was swimming.

But it really did hurt. I only stuck around long enough for some of the guys to shove some of their loaded rum and cokes in my face before I decided that I had had enough and went to sleep. Though I don't know exactly what time it was, I'm guessing that it was somewhere around three in the morning. I probably should have gotten to bed earlier, but my favorite twins were kicking around.

The next morning I was crazy sore, and a bit hungover. As most of the people where two day-ers, they dropped me and the other three off at Cat Ba Island for some trekking, and I was supposed to do some rock climbing in the afternoon. I felt so sore that I knew that I wouldn't be able to rock climb. As we were doing the trek, I could feel how bad my back, shoulders and neck felt. I could feel my weakness and dehydration. It wasn't a pretty scene. So, when we got back for lunch, I called it off.

Instead, I rested. I took a two hour nap, had some dinner, got a massage to try to rework my back, and called it an early night on my birthday.

Today, they picked us up at Cat Ba, and most of the day was spent traveling. We caught the next boat back to the mainland, and then the bus back to Hanoi.

Once I got back and checked in, I ran into Erin again. She left today to go to Hue to do an Easy Rider motorbike tour. Also, when I got back to Hanoi, I ran into Kate from the Hague, whose name is actually Julia, but I just had it wrong for the past week. We had dinner with two girls from London at a really cool restaurant. What it is, is a restaurant where they have all of the best street food vendors in Hanoi with specific specialties. They're all situated around the outside of the restaurant facing in. The guests are in the middle with menus, and when you order, the server runs to all of the different vendors to place your order. It's really quite brilliant. I expected it to be really ghetto but good food. Instead, it was much more elegant than I expected. I had some beef noodle rolls which were okay. Nothing like the Hanoi style spring rolls. I also had bun bo hue, which is beef noodle soup in the style of Hue. That was pretty good. For dessert I had dried longans, which were reconstituted in simple syrup and were with a sort of gelatin and with ice. It wasn't all that good.

The rest of the night was spent shit shooting with the girls and some people that I had been on the boat with. It was a good night.

Tomorrow, I'm getting up early (in like 6 hours) to go see uncle Ho in his Mausoleum. I'm also planning on seeing the Hanoi Hilton jail, and getting my flights changed. Tomorrow, I'm also either going to take the night train to Sapa or the night bus to Hoi An/Hue. I'll decide after I rebook my flights. I have a feeling that I'll be going south to Hoi An/Hue, but you never know.

Day 37: Hustle & Flow

Listening: Yeh-ee, yeh-ee, yeh-ee-yeh... yeh-ee, yeh-ee, yeh-ee-yeh (It's a Thai pop song I keep hearing)

What's my problem? Culture shock!

Well, I made it. I'm in Hanoi. The flight was... well... short. I almost felt like it was as short as the flight from Nantucket to Hyannis. When I got here, though, I was shocked.

Luang Prabang is a pretty small city. I mean, realistically, it has only a few major thoroughfares covering only a few square kilometers. Hanoi, on the other hand, is a very busy, bustling city. There are motorbikes everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. Apparently, there are streets so narrow, no cars can pass, only motor bikes.

When I got to Hanoi Backpackers, it was kind of loud and rowdy. It was a true Aussie backpacker's hostel. It was clear that the beer was flowing and the backpackers are young. Unfortunately, they were booked for the night, so I had to wander around Hanoi, pack on front and back, looking for accomodations.

I looked at a number of places, but they were all for upwards of twenty five US dollars a night. Finally, I went back to the street that Hanoi Backpackers was on and found a place for fifteen a night. I think that tomorrow I'll check out of my hotel and try to find a bed at Hanoi Backpackers again. I'll probably end up booking my HaLong Bay trip with them too.

For now, I think I'll end up going to HaLong on the ninth, being there for the ninth, tenth and eleventh, and then coming back to Hanoi for at least one night before going to Sapa.

So, there's a guy looking over my shoulder at the sketchy little internet cafe. He's looking at my screen and I can tell he can't read a single word I'm typing. I think he just asked me if I was writing a love letter. HA.

Anyhow, after I checked into my hotel, I instantly bought a sim and called Caroline. Caroline is pretty much a friend of CTodd's, but I met her one time before at one of his parties. Even though she was having a night in with the boy, she came out to the Old Town (where I'm staying) and took me to a restaurant with a good view of the street below.

It was there that I had these amazing Hanoi style spring rolls. Instead of being wrapped in rice paper, they were wrapped in uncut pho noodles. They were divine. I asked her if there was an indicative or a distinctive Hanoi dish, and that was it. Oh, yes. I will be having them again.

From there, we went to the night market. I have to say that I was vastly disappointed in the schwag. Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Luang Prabang all had better schwag. The people watching there is okay though. For a while, we tailed a group of pick pockets, after one of them bumped me and figured out I was sporting a chain. It's people like that that make me want to fight. But I am very good at the self restraint.

Anyhow, I'm so used to country life that this whole urban thing is wigging me out a little. It seems a bit different than in Bangkok. Maybe, like Bangok, I just have to get used to it. It's a little tough though, being on the run, being pressed for time.

Finally, in other news, I tried to move back my flights while at the airport here in Hanoi, but the agent there said that it wasn't a ticketing office. She said I should try the ticketing office in town. So, I have the card and I'm going to try to get there the day I get back from HaLong Bay. I think it'll only cost me a hundred US dollars, which is better than paying a hundred and twenty to go to San Fran round trip when I get to California, plus the upcharge of eating in America. Now, I can pay a hundred US dollars, spend more time in southeast Asia, and spend less money while having a good time. So maybe I won't have to hustle through Vietnam. Hopefully I'll just be able to take it easy.

Day 37: The Things I Carry

Listening: Let down your guard just a little. I keep you safe in these arms of mine.

What's my problem? Wondering how much a tuk-tuk to the airport is gonna cost.

Right now, the things I carry are out of necessity and out of security. In my pockets, I carry my passport, my airline "ticket," my keys, an eyeglass cloth, my chain wallet with half of my bank cards and credit cards, some cash and an ID, and my Canon SD890 IS digital camera.

Today, I'm also carrying my DaKine backpack. In my backpack, I carry airline reservation information, two cell phones, another wallet with the rest of my bank cards (not to mention my Charlie Card), and a DVD of my SCUBA experience.

In another pocket, I carry a spare pair of glasses and clip on sunglasses. Somehow, in with that I keep an emergency tube of hydration tablets, and Caroline in Hanoi's phone number.

In the front pocket of my backpack, I carry several Sharpie markers, a few pens and pencils, my tiny pad, emergency contact information, zip ties, hand sanitizer, sun block, my iPod, my toothbrush, a bottle of Malarone, some Po Chai Yuen pills, a Caba seed from Thailand, and most importantly, toilet paper.

In the main pocket, I keep a bigger notebook, two Lonely Planet books, a copy of the Chefwear catalogue to show the tailors in Hoi An, an emergency sleeve of Oreos (so sue me), a knockoff Volcom cap, some plastic bags (not as many as my grandmother used to have), all of my electronics chargers and adaptors, and the book "Eat, Pray, Love."

It's a chick book, but I'm reading it anyways. Book exchange is a big thing out on the trail. People swap books all of the time. When I came to Asia, I carried with me a copy of "The Art of Happiness" by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler. I had read the book before, but thought that I would reread it here in Asia. As the first month passed, I only got a quarter of the way through. As I read, I remembered everything, and thought to myself, "I have already adapted most of this into my life and I still put effort into the teachings." So, at Utopia a couple of days ago, I traded my copy of "The Art of Happiness" with Chloe's copy of "Eat, Pray, Love" and spent this morning at Morning Glory Cafe eating a giant hashbrown, sipping coffee, and reading. For a morning that wasn't supposed to happen, it was damn fine.

There are a lot of intangibles that I carry with me. I carry with me a bit of paranoia, as I have had friends on the trail who have been robbed by peopleon motorbikes, or whose packs have disappeared in the blink of an eye. I carry a strong distrust of travel agents, for obvious reasons, and a strong respect for the monks that I see walking the streets. I carry an open mind and heart for my fellow travelers, and a smile for those I pass on the streets.

I carry my friends with me. I think about them often and wonder what they're doing right now. I carry the hope that maybe, just maybe, they'll be as lucky as I am to be doing what I'm doing, and seeing what I'm seeing. I hope that they won't have to trust the photos that don't give the scene justice. I carry the wonder of whether they think about me as much as I think about them, and the hope that they're as happy as I am.

I carry with me the dreams of my grandfather and my father. And although they aren't necessarily the same as my own dreams, I carry those as well. I wonder what exactly their dreams were or are. I wonder if they have achieved them. I wonder if the dreams I carry for myself are as simple as they seem to be, or as complex as I make them out to be.

And for now, I carry on, hopefully, to Hanoi. I'll be in search of a spicy beef noodle dish that Linh has told me to look out for. Maybe tonight I'll carry around a belly of that.

Next time I travel, I think I'll carry with me a copy of Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried."

Day 36: I'm REALLY Never Trusting Travel Agents Again.

Listening: Don't turn away. What are you looking at?
He was so happy on the day that he met her. Say, what are you looking at? I was a superman. The looks are deceiving.

What's my problem? Travel Agents.

Well, It's four o'clock and I'm not on a plane waiting to taxi to takeoff. I'm not in a gate waiting to board. And I'm not anywhere closer to Hanoi.

What, you may ask, happened? Well, the travel agent just about screwed me. I went to the airport in the travel agency provided tuk-tuk. I got to the check in, and was told that there was no flight today. The same agency had sent another person that day on this flight that didn't exist. BASTARDS!

Luckily, the guy from Vietnam Airlines was able to book me on tomorrow's flight for no additional charge, but I am stuck here for one day more.

After getting Vietnam Airlines to help me out, I proceeded to catch a tuk-tuk back to the travel agency, where I proceeded to give them hell. I told them that it was their fault that I was still here and that they sold me a bum ticket. I lied to them and told them that I had booked a room in Hanoi to guilt them some more. I told them that it was their fault that I had to pay for a room in Luang Prabang as well as in Hanoi, that I had to pay for the tuk-tuk back to town, and that I would have to go tomorrow. I gave him shit for a good half hour. He said he would pay me for the tuk-tuk, and would pay for another tomorrow. In the end, all I ended up getting from him was five dollars US to pay for my tuk-tuk today and for my tuk-tuk tomorrow. Fucking arseholes. The funny thing was that I only paid the guy five thousand kip to get back into town. Five US dollars is the equivalent of forty two thousand, five hundred kip. So, unless the tuk-tuk to the airport costs me forty two thousand kip, I'm up.

The real pain in the arse is that I did have to withdraw more kip. I don't want more kip. Luckily I only withdrew two hundred thousand. One hundred thousand to pay for the hotel room for the night and the other hundred thousand to get food tonight and tomorrow.

What bums me out is that I don't really know anyone else in Luang Prabang right now. If I meet people tonight, there's not really enough time to get to know someone. There's no more Chloe. And the rest of the people I know are in Vang Vieng. I really haven't figure out what to do with my night. I have already realy been taking it easy. There's not enough time to leave town for a bit. Well, I guess I'll figure it out. Tomorrow I'm going to the airport early. If I have to wait around for a while, that's fine with me. I just want to know that I'm getting outta here and onto my next base of operations.

Day 35: I Told Myself That I Wouldn't Go Bowling

Listening: I believe when I fall in love with you it will be forever.

What's my problem? No teaching kids today.

Well, it has been a gloriously wonderful few days in Luang Prabang. There's not an incredible amount here that's in the city, but I still found myself completely content with just hanging around. Of course, I saw the waterfalls. I didn't go see the caves though. I saw them from the slow boat on the way in. I did go up to the top of Phu Si and saw the city from its highest point. I wandered the night market and made some purchases. I ate street food and restaurant food. I drank at Lao Lao Garden and at the Hive Bar. And I went bowling.

And that brings us to yesterday. Yesterday, I spent most of the day hanging out at this place called Utopia. A utopia, it is. It's this wonderfully decorated bar and restaurant situated on the banks of the Nam Khan River. It has a bamboo patio up on stilts about three stories above the banks with couches, tables and games making it an amazing chillout spot. It was there that I ran into some Aussie friends, and then Chloe and her crew rolled in.

I have to say that the more and more I watch it, or be a part of it, the more I dislike big group dynamics. There's always someone who wants to do something that someone else doesn't want to do. And when it comes to making decisions, it always ends up coming down to what's the cheapest, not what's the best for the money, or the best for the group. Anyhow, that was just a little rant.

Earlier in the day, I went to go check out this free exhibit called Stay Another Day, which promotes sustainable tourism and encourages hilltribes and ethnic minorities to keep up with their traditional trades, whether it be weaving or hand forged scissors. Of course, below the exhibit is the shop where you can purchase all of these crafts. It's all fair trade and benefits the local communities. I thought it was a great little exhibit. They had some amazing jewelery and weavings.

Later on in the evening, I met up with Goi and Lucky for dinner. Originally, we were going to find some Lap, which is a traditional Lao dish, but we were told that the best place in town had run out for the day by the time we got there at half past six. That's right. They were eighty-sixed by half past six. So, instead we went to Lao barbecue.

Lao barbecue works exactly like Thai barbecue, which is kinda like Korean barbecue. You have some hot coals, and a pan with a raised center and a trough down the bottom. You fill the trough with broth, cook the meat on the raised part, and cook noodles, and vegetables in the trough of broth. I didn't realize until that point that I hadn't really eaten much by the way of vegetables in the past few weeks. I had been feasting on carbs, proteins, and fruit. Lots of fruit. The vegetables tasted so good to me and gave me this instant good feeling, that I must have needed them. I had to have had three big platefuls of veg.

Later on that night, after cruising the night market for one last time, I dropped my stuff off at my room and cruised over to the Hive Bar and Lao Lao Garden to see if I knew anyone running around. I thought that this girl, Andrea, would be kicking around. I saw her at the night market and she said she was heading to Lao Lao for dinner. When I got to Hive Bar, it was all new faces of people who must have floated in over the last twenty four hours. So, I headed over to Lao Lao Garden. Lo and behold, there was Chloe.

I actually thought that I wouldn't see Chloe again. She was catching a minibus down to Vang Vieng with her crew at six in the morning, so planned on having an early night. I even planned on having an early night because I thought it might be fun to teach some English at Big Brother Mouse, a non-profit organization aimed at getting books to kids and helping them learn English.

Anyhow she and Maita from Chile were out having drinks with some Canadians and some Aussies. I was psyched. So, I sat down and joined them for a beer. The Canadians and the Aussies had just arrived that night, so they really weren't all that familiar with the city or how it worked. So, when the bar started closing at a quarter past eleven, they kinda freaked out. At that point, Chloe was the only one of her crew that was left in the bar. The rest had gone home to get some sleep.

We told the newbies that the bowling alley and the discotheque (which I still have not been to) were still open, and we got pressured into going. I swear I wasn't planning on going bowling last night. Both Chloe and I told ourselves that we wouldn't go bowling. BLASTED! We were bowling.

Ended up hanging out until about half past one before we walked back to town. It was nice walking back to town with her at one in the morning. I really wanted to tell her just how smitten I was with her, but I bailed out last second. She has my e-mail and I have her picture (which I didn't have before). I was out by two thirty and, needless to say, no kids learned my awful English this morning.

My impressions of Laos, overall, is very good. It's perhaps the most beautful country that I have ever had the privelage to lay eyes on. The cities are a nice blend of French and Asian. The food available is both simple and elegant. And the women, well, they're just beautiful. They run around in these long skirts, and wear little or no makeup. It's all natural, elegant beauty, easy smiles and polite demeanor. It's truly a beautiful place that hopefully won't succumb to the homogenization that's taking place across the world. I hope the hill tribes are able to stay hill tribes and that the land will only crumble in the face of nature. Anything else would be a crime.

So, my bags are packed and I head to the airport in about three and a half hours. Off to Hanoi. I'm going to try to push back my Bangkok and my Hong Kong flights to shorten my stay in Los Angeles. I think it would just be more economical for me, and more fun, as I would have more time to check out Vietnam or I would have an extra week to go diving. If it all works out, maybe I will go for my PADI Advanced Open Water Cert. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Day 34: I am the Mayor

Listening: Control yourself. Take only what you need from it.

What's my problem? Lao Airlines is closed for lunch.

It's true. I really am the mayor. Coming up to Luang Prabang from Vang Vieng, I thought that I wouldn't know a single soul back in town. Sure enough, when I drop Sandy, Pauline and Amy off at SpicyLaos, I see someone I know. It's Eris, the British guy who was with me for the entire length of my trek in Chiang Mai. He, met my friend Mikey from Canada, who went with Jennifer and I to the Khum Khan Toke, on the bus from Houay Xai to Luang Prabang. Apparently, Eris said to Mikey, "I met this guy in Chiang Mai who just loves his job!" And Mikey asked him, "Well, what does he do?" And Eris told him that I was a chef, and Mikey instantly said, "Hey, I know that guy! It's gotta be Jason!" And from there they proceeded to have a conversation about me.

Then later that night while walking around the night market, I ran into Jennifer and Kate, two British girls that I met at the Chiang Khong/Houay Xai border crossing. They went on the fast boat, and claimed that I way overhyped the dangers of the fast boat. To be perfectly fair, I told them that I had never been on the fast boat or the slow boat myself, but only what I had heard. So, they introduced me to a number of people that they were rolling with in Luang Prabang, and made a plan to meet for drinks at the Hive bar later that night.

At Hive Bar, I met up with Mikey, Sandy, Pauline and Amy, along with another crew of people that they were with. I made friends with a bunch of Israelis, and we all merged with Jennifer and Kate's crew. Fun was had by all, and when the bar closed at half past eleven, we all piled into a tuk-tuk and headed for the bowling alley.

Now, there were a good sixteen people in the tuk-tuk. People were hanging off the back and were sitting on the roof. One guy, Garrett, was hanging off of the side, near the driver and somehow let go. We were going full speed (like 30kph) and he bounced his ass first off the pavement, and then his head. Luckily the injury wasn't so bad. There was a little bit of blood and a few scrapes, but other than that, he was okay. He could have easily had a concussion, but he seemed fine enough after we got to the bowling alley.

At the bowling alley, I met some more people, Blaine and Kate from the States, and Luke and Alicia from Australia. It's funny how the bowling alley becomes such a social center when there is a midnight curfew and everything except the discotheque and the bowling alley are closed.

On the way home from the bowling alley (we walked because the tuk-tuk driver wouldn't except three thousand kip per person) we ran into some people who had just arrived from the border. One of my friends, Marion from Canada, offered her one of the extra beds in her guesthouse rooms, so this girl Bina from London took it.

The next morning, Sandy, Pauline, Amy, Marion, Bina and I, along with another tuk-tuk full of people headed to the waterfall. Bina and I ended up hiking to the top of the waterfall before heading to the swimming holes below. The heat in Luang Prabang is oppressive. At the height of the day, you're not only sweating your ass off, but youre' sweating your tits and your face off too. So, the ice cold water of the swimming holes was a welcome feeling. What was not really welcome were the fat French guys "diving" off of the rocks into the water. When I say "dive," what I really mean is start off looking like they're going to dive, but ending up doing the belly flop. If they did it in the ocean, there would have been a tsunami.

After the waterfall, we all went our own separate ways. While on the way to meet back up with everyone for dinner, I ran into Blaine and Kate. I chatted with them for a while, and while I was doing so, Goi and Lucky walked up. I knew that they were getting in that day, but I didn't know how we would find each other. So I chatted with them as well before I met the crew for dinner.

After dinner, we all went shopping around the night market. I ended up hangng out with this girl Kate (I seem to meet a lot of Kates and Jennifers) from the Hague, and bought a pair of pants and a tee shirt for twenty thousand kip (two dollars an fifty cents) each.

On my way back to my room, I run into Goi and Lucky again in a wine bar, so I go in and have a few glasses of wine with them and shit shoot before meeting the crew at the Hive Bar again. When I get to the Hive Bar, EVERYONE is there again, except for two of the Kates, Jennifer and Blaine. The British Kate and Jennifer flew out that day, and I'm not sure what the other Kate and Blaine ended up doing.

It was a good party at the Hive Bar that night. We knew the DJ that night, and everyone was in a dancing mood. Earlier that night, I said to Sandy, Pauline and Marion that I wasn't really up for a hyped night, that I would probably be okay just closing down the Hive Bar and going to sleep. Well, Pauline and Kate from the Hague went home, but I ended up... going to the bowling alley with Sandy and Marion and a huge crew of people.

I didn't actually bowl this time, though. I ended up talking to this guy, Ryan, who is a rock climbing instructor and who loves his job like I love mine, and this girl Chloe. Okay, this girl Chloe makes me drool. She knew me before I even knew her name. She knew me as Jason, the chef from Boston. As she said it, looking straight into my eyes, she could have probably asked me for all of my money and everything I owned and I would have handed it over. She has the most amazing green eyes. Anyhow, we had a whole conversation about loving what we do and how important it is to love what you do in life.

Actually that has been a conversation that I have had a number of times on this trip. Even last night, Lucky was saying not to do anything to get rich, but to do things because you love it. If you love your work, money will come for a job well done.

But... back to Chloe. We talked for a good long while. Ther was a cat in the bowling alley, that was the most chill cat ever. It was probably just grown out of its kitten-hood. For a while it stayed with my friend Ariel from Israel, then with me and finally with Chloe. Chloe wanted to take it home. I wanted to take both of them home.

We ended up leaving the bowling alley at about half past one. Chloe stuck around with the other people she was staying with. But, when I woke up this morning and walked down the street looking for breakfast, there was Chloe, all alone in a cafe, hung over, waiting for breakfast. So I joined her. It was nice having breakfast with her. She's just so beautiful. I'm like "ghaaaaaa...." whenever I see her. Much taller than the girls I'm usually into, light brown wavy hair, usually tied up, green eyes and a killer smile. But yeah, she was crazy hung over. Her friends came to join us just as we were both finished. She stuck around for a bit before heading back to the room to try to sleep off some of the hangover. I ended up just hanging out with her friends.

After breakfast, they went to go work on their hangovers, and I headed over to Lao Airlines to buy a flight to Hanoi. Unfortunately, when I got there at ten til noon, there was a sign on their door saying that they were closed from half past eleven until half past one. BASTARDS! So, here I am, blogging.

As you can see from my adventures over the past couple of days, Luang Prabang is a pretty small place. I've found out that it's also a really fun place to meet people and hang out. You wouldn't think that a small river town with a midnight curfew that makes businesses shut down at half past eleven would be very much fun, but it is. I'm having a great time here just relaxing and doing my thing. I've met some fantastic people (all of whom are leaving on Friday, which is why I'm trying to leave on Friday), and I hope I keep in touch with all of them.

Anyhow, I've got a half hour before Lao Airlines opens again. If they're on SE Asia time, it means I have another hour of waiting on top of that. Oh well, it's better than being out in the heat. Speaking of heat, I think I'm going to go try to find a cold beverage.