Ha Long Bay/Nha Trang

So on the 27th, Michole and I went on a cruise through Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. It was absolutely incredible. We left Hanoi early in the morning and three and a half hours later, we made it to Ha Long Bay. Not to mention, in that entire three and a half hours we had the pleasure of listening to this Thai guy talk on one of his two phones (one a Blackberry and one an iPhone...which is completely necessary). This wasn't just any Thai guy. No...he happened to be Captain Amazing, or as Michole described him, "the most important man in the world." Really, he was. I mean, you must be the most important person on the planet if you're talking on your phone about your many houses around the world and that you're currently playing host to Jean Claude van Damme (or JC as he likes to call him) at your beach house in Phuket cause he's filming a movie there. Oh and also it was important for all of us to know that he was planning on building a Ritz Carlton in Phuket but is instead building some other fancy hotel because it was easier to plan or something along those lines. Basically, he's super important...switching between speaking in Thai on one phone and California surfer-esque English on the other. The best part, though, was when he stood up tall at a striking 5 foot 2. (No offense to all of you wonderful short people out there but damn. This guy has a Napoleon complex.) It made for an interesting ride to the bay.

Once we got there, though, we checked into our boat-Indochina Sails II. Here it is:

Sorry...not the best picture ever. But it was super nice. Our room was immaculately clean and pretty. Hard wood everywhere, marble bathroom, fancy bedspreads, free wine (!!!), and right down the hall from the dining room. Granted, I almost starved during lunch since it was a set menu...consisting of mainly Vietnamese dishes meaning fresh seafood. Luckily, I had a can of pringles in the room. And some oreos. I may or may not be gaining lots of pounds here. After "lunch," we took a boat tour through a floating fishing village in Ha Long Bay. It was eye opening. These people live in tiny shelters floating on the water and spend their days fishing and hoping tourists like us will float by long enough that they can attach their little boats to us and try to sell us a soda or water. Here are some photos of the village:


As you can see...they live in extreme poverty...although almost every house we went by had a nice TV. Crazy! Apparently they get electricity from generators, so I guess they spend a lot of free time watchin' the tube. It was really interesting to see this village though...completely floating on the water.

After the boat tour, we went kayaking through a cave with bats flying around our heads. After steering clear of rabies, we climbed this mountain with a pagoda at the top and took lots of cheesy pictures. It was really pretty up there, so we went kinda crazy with the cameras. I'll spare you all of those. Here are a few:

You can see Ha Long Bay in the background. There's over two thousand of those islands everywhere. The majority of them are just like floating cliffs, though.

This is probably a better shot of the islands.

It's a dolphin trash can!!! I couldn't resist.

After our photo session, we headed back to the boat for dinner. A buffet! I could eat! Ha...lots of good food choices. Lots of wine. Sleep at 9:00. It was amazing. The next morning, we woke up and went on a tour of the Surprise Cave, apparently named by the explorers in the early 1900s who were completely "surprised" at the inside of the cave that they happened across. It has three chambers, one of which being breathtakingly huge. I tried to take pictures, but none of them turned out very well...here's one of the better ones of the big chamber, although it really doesn't do it any justice:

All the rock formations from thousands of years of calcium being deposited from the water are amazing. It was really interesting, and I'm glad we got to see it.

After the cave, we had brunch on the boat then it was time to go! Don't worry...we were definitely with Captain Amazing again on our ride back to Hanoi. And also don't worry...he was just as important this time.

Back in Hanoi, we stayed at the Hanoi Elegance again...still the best hotel we've been in by far. Michole and I even decided to be less lame and go out! We found a bar with a balcony and were able to sit and look over the millions of motorbikes down below. Just to get an idea of how many bikes there are in this place, I took a pic from the balcony of a makeshift parking lot. Look at all the bikes!!

It's crazy.

Yesterday, we hopped on a plane to Nha Trang, which is where we are now. It's a beautiful beach town, and also happens to be the location of the Miss Universe 2008 pageant which takes place here in two weeks. They're already rehearsing and stuff for it so it's been interesting to watch some of it. The city is completely excited about it...posters are up everywhere advertising for the pageant. Obviously, it's a big deal here. I'll keep ya'll posted on any Miss United States sightings or anything. We layed out by the beach all day today. For like three dollars we got two comfy chairs under a cabana umbrella thing, so that's where we spent our day. And that's also where I developed the most awkward sunburn of all time. Apparently, when I spray my sunscreen on, I don't rub it all in correctly. So instead of being sunburned all over, I have splotches. On my knees, my legs, my arms, my back. Basically, I look like I have a skin condition. I bought some aloe and bathed in it earlier so we'll see what happens. It's really bad. Especially with the contrast of RED on WHITE. Nice.

We're about to go grab dinner and then there's this bar called the Sailing Club right on the beach that has happy hour tonight and really cheap drinks so we're gonna see how long we can stay out. I'm so proud of us for trying to go out! Ha...usually we just read until we fall asleep. Oh well...we're on vacation, right!?