Deciding to take advantage of the long holiday weekend (Reunification/Labor Days) Daphne headed for a village in Northern Thailand to do a Thai Yoga Massage training. Since it wasn't really the kind of holiday I could join, I made my first solo trip in nearly two years to the same place where I did my last solo trip. Rock climbing in Ha Long Bay.
Showing posts with label Rock Climbing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rock Climbing. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
Fowl, Dust and Quiet
I was woken up by a text coming in on my phone.
LEE: "Running a bit late. Be there in five."A quick check at the time and I realized that I was the one who would be late. Today, a small group of us were driving away from the flat urban expanses of Saigon to the nearest outdoor rock climbing location. Buu Long.
I rushed to get ready, packing my climbing shoes, camera, bandages, and tissues. All of which would come in handy.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Vacation Time!
The highlight of work like mine and Daphne's is the opportunity to leave the city fairly regularly. Living in HCM, regular trips away help maintain sanity in such a crazy place. Those that read my last blog entry will understand when I say that this trip couldn't have come too soon.
Friday - Arrival
Yvonne had once again opened her home to us in Villa Marina for our stay. There's no favour one can do you like a bed when you're in a place like Singapore, where prices are $100 a night even in the backpackers area. The theme for our trip was food. Daphne missed Singaporean food so much and listed all the foods she was dying to eat when we got there. Unfortunately, it would take a lot more than the six days we were in town to cover her dream menu. The Friday we arrived, the first thing we did after lunch was banking. I followed Daphne to four different banks where she cleared up one issue after another. This is part of a regular ritual for her every time she comes back to Singapore. One thing she had to do was opt-out of a new program her credit card was in that sent a code to your phone that you needed when making online transactions. That's great, except she doesn't live in Singapore and now couldn't do things like buy plane tickets while in Vietnam. "You mean you don't have a global phone number?" The bank clerks had difficulty wrapping their head around that one. What kind of Singaporean wouldn't have a global phone, right?
We had dinner with Daphne's parents and youngest sister, Georgina, who I was meeting for the first time. Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet Daphne's other sister, Michelle, on this trip as she and her baby son were contagious with Hand, mouth & foot disease. Dinner was good but there was so much! We ate at a local hawkers' centre/market and Daphne's mom kept getting up to get more and more food for us. When it comes to family feasts, Chinese can be just as bad as Russians.
After dinner, Daphne and I said goodbye to the folks and went downtown to meet some of Daphne's long time friends at #5 Emerald Hill, which is in an area of preserved colonial houses turned restaurants. The place was famous for its chicken wings but we were too stuffed to pursue so we stuck to the drinks. "Buy one get one martinis, only $16!" In Singapore, the food is quite cheap, but the drinking is very very expensive.
Saturday - A Wedding
The next day we went to the Singapore National Museum to see the Pompeii exhibit and brush up on some Singapore history. From there we went to a Buddhist temple where Daphne showed me how to get my fortune read. It was like a game, you get a wooden jar with a bunch of sticks, you ask a question in your head and shake the jar until one and only one stick comes out with some characters on it. You then roll two stones with one rounded side and one flat, if they come out the same you have to shake the jar again for a new stick, if they come up different then you take your stick to a counter and get your paper fortune. Daphne and I were both happy with our results.
That evening, we were running late for a wedding. Daphne's friend, Annie had just married and run off with a Spanish Swiss, Roberto, to Switzerland. This was actually the dinner, as the wedding tea ceremony was just for family. We arrived at the restaurant just in time to pass the bride and groom who were getting ready to march. As we get to the dining area everyone is standing and looking in our direction. Thinking that we were the bride and groom, the audience barely stops itself from applauding. One person in the back doesn't quite stop fast enough and releases a lone clap. Light laughter follows, cheeks flush.
After a really good four course meal at Da Paolo featuring the best Tiramisu I have ever had, we went with the newly married couple and friends down to the bay front, One Fullerton, and a club called The Butter Factory. The club has a $28 cover, which we avoided by buying four bottles of spirits, and consisted of two rooms, one hiphop, one electro, some very good DJing, good decoration, great sound system and a panoramic view of the coast with the Merlion and The Marina Sands in sight. As expensive as this place was, it didn't stop some patrons from buying one meter tall bottles of Belvedere Vodka. Our initial plan of staying until 2am already didn't offer us much chance for sleep. The fact that we didn't get home until 4am didn't help matters.
[Us With The Happy Couple]
Sunday - A Birthday
The next morning we had to be up to go to an 8am three hour yoga workshop with Yvonne. When I woke up, I kidded myself into believing that I was only tired and could make it. Halfway there in the taxi I had my hand over my mouth and was tapping the taxi driver's shoulder. The taxi driver was very nice to me and gave me his water, his way of showing gratitude that I made it out without messing on his cab. I spent the entirety of the yoga workshop sleeping on a couch outside the room. Daphne and Yvonne said it was a good class, I'll have to take their word.
We headed to a boat dock next where Yvonne had rented an 80 ft. long three story boat house for a delayed birthday party. The boat was beautiful and aside from a brief shower the weather was good. Yvonne's helper, Samita, cooked an amazing Sri Lankan feast. Fresh air, (fairly) clean water, good food, good day. We after partied at Daphne's friend Ruqxana, whose 1970's Beatle is probably the oldest running car in Singapore. Unfortunately, Ruk's nine cats, who although were very sweet and tame, gave Daphne a massive allergy attack leading us back to Yvonne's in search of antihistamines.
[We Had A Wii, But Nobody Touched It Because We Had A Boat, Too]
[People Are Going To Live There Someday]
Monday - Walking
Monday we spent all day on our feet. We met Andria and her baby [commercially viable cuteness] for lunch and then went to a couple Buddhist temples with Daphne's parents and 4 yr. old niece, Zenna. Zenna didn't remember me and was shy at first, but she warmed up and I even practiced my Chinese with her. We went to Chinatown where I bought a bunch of tea and met up with Daphne's friend, Zi, at a tea house. While shopping for tea, the clerks at one of the stalls were staring at a counterfeit $100 bill a customer had just used on them. It was a very good fake, even had the ghost Franklin, but it didn't hold up to scrutiny next to a real one. Unfortunately, my lecture in identifying real from fakes did not award me with a discount for my services. Anyhow, after we had tea we went on a quest for fried radish cake. We had been trying to get it all week but every stall we had gone to was out. This time, we went to three different hawkers' centers around the island before finding a stall that was serving.
[Apple Juice]
Tuesday - Climbing
On our last day we went to Little India's Mustafah market, a massive crowded places that sold everything. I bought some Darjeeling tea and Daphne got some yoga gear. In total, I had bought 1.5 kg of tea on this trip. Am I a nerd or what? At night I went climbing with Yvonne and her kids, Rohan, 7, and Uma, 9, while Daphne hung out with her friend Jeanne. These kids are every mother's dream. Very smart, outgoing, bilingual and well mannered. They took to climbing instantly and when we were on the boat, Rohan was the first person to do a dive from the top of the boat into the water. These kids aren't video game deprived either[they each have their own DS and a Wii] but they enjoy doing other things as well. Yvonne should write a book.
[Rohan Showing Us How It's Done]
The trip was a much needed change of pace and literally a breath of fresh air. Daphne even said that it was the best time she had in Singapore in a long time and wished we could have stayed longer, but its back to grind and honk of Saigon for us.
Friday - Arrival
Yvonne had once again opened her home to us in Villa Marina for our stay. There's no favour one can do you like a bed when you're in a place like Singapore, where prices are $100 a night even in the backpackers area. The theme for our trip was food. Daphne missed Singaporean food so much and listed all the foods she was dying to eat when we got there. Unfortunately, it would take a lot more than the six days we were in town to cover her dream menu. The Friday we arrived, the first thing we did after lunch was banking. I followed Daphne to four different banks where she cleared up one issue after another. This is part of a regular ritual for her every time she comes back to Singapore. One thing she had to do was opt-out of a new program her credit card was in that sent a code to your phone that you needed when making online transactions. That's great, except she doesn't live in Singapore and now couldn't do things like buy plane tickets while in Vietnam. "You mean you don't have a global phone number?" The bank clerks had difficulty wrapping their head around that one. What kind of Singaporean wouldn't have a global phone, right?
We had dinner with Daphne's parents and youngest sister, Georgina, who I was meeting for the first time. Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet Daphne's other sister, Michelle, on this trip as she and her baby son were contagious with Hand, mouth & foot disease. Dinner was good but there was so much! We ate at a local hawkers' centre/market and Daphne's mom kept getting up to get more and more food for us. When it comes to family feasts, Chinese can be just as bad as Russians.
After dinner, Daphne and I said goodbye to the folks and went downtown to meet some of Daphne's long time friends at #5 Emerald Hill, which is in an area of preserved colonial houses turned restaurants. The place was famous for its chicken wings but we were too stuffed to pursue so we stuck to the drinks. "Buy one get one martinis, only $16!" In Singapore, the food is quite cheap, but the drinking is very very expensive.
Saturday - A Wedding
The next day we went to the Singapore National Museum to see the Pompeii exhibit and brush up on some Singapore history. From there we went to a Buddhist temple where Daphne showed me how to get my fortune read. It was like a game, you get a wooden jar with a bunch of sticks, you ask a question in your head and shake the jar until one and only one stick comes out with some characters on it. You then roll two stones with one rounded side and one flat, if they come out the same you have to shake the jar again for a new stick, if they come up different then you take your stick to a counter and get your paper fortune. Daphne and I were both happy with our results.
That evening, we were running late for a wedding. Daphne's friend, Annie had just married and run off with a Spanish Swiss, Roberto, to Switzerland. This was actually the dinner, as the wedding tea ceremony was just for family. We arrived at the restaurant just in time to pass the bride and groom who were getting ready to march. As we get to the dining area everyone is standing and looking in our direction. Thinking that we were the bride and groom, the audience barely stops itself from applauding. One person in the back doesn't quite stop fast enough and releases a lone clap. Light laughter follows, cheeks flush.
After a really good four course meal at Da Paolo featuring the best Tiramisu I have ever had, we went with the newly married couple and friends down to the bay front, One Fullerton, and a club called The Butter Factory. The club has a $28 cover, which we avoided by buying four bottles of spirits, and consisted of two rooms, one hiphop, one electro, some very good DJing, good decoration, great sound system and a panoramic view of the coast with the Merlion and The Marina Sands in sight. As expensive as this place was, it didn't stop some patrons from buying one meter tall bottles of Belvedere Vodka. Our initial plan of staying until 2am already didn't offer us much chance for sleep. The fact that we didn't get home until 4am didn't help matters.
[Us With The Happy Couple]
The next morning we had to be up to go to an 8am three hour yoga workshop with Yvonne. When I woke up, I kidded myself into believing that I was only tired and could make it. Halfway there in the taxi I had my hand over my mouth and was tapping the taxi driver's shoulder. The taxi driver was very nice to me and gave me his water, his way of showing gratitude that I made it out without messing on his cab. I spent the entirety of the yoga workshop sleeping on a couch outside the room. Daphne and Yvonne said it was a good class, I'll have to take their word.
We headed to a boat dock next where Yvonne had rented an 80 ft. long three story boat house for a delayed birthday party. The boat was beautiful and aside from a brief shower the weather was good. Yvonne's helper, Samita, cooked an amazing Sri Lankan feast. Fresh air, (fairly) clean water, good food, good day. We after partied at Daphne's friend Ruqxana, whose 1970's Beatle is probably the oldest running car in Singapore. Unfortunately, Ruk's nine cats, who although were very sweet and tame, gave Daphne a massive allergy attack leading us back to Yvonne's in search of antihistamines.
[We Had A Wii, But Nobody Touched It Because We Had A Boat, Too]
[People Are Going To Live There Someday]
Monday we spent all day on our feet. We met Andria and her baby [commercially viable cuteness] for lunch and then went to a couple Buddhist temples with Daphne's parents and 4 yr. old niece, Zenna. Zenna didn't remember me and was shy at first, but she warmed up and I even practiced my Chinese with her. We went to Chinatown where I bought a bunch of tea and met up with Daphne's friend, Zi, at a tea house. While shopping for tea, the clerks at one of the stalls were staring at a counterfeit $100 bill a customer had just used on them. It was a very good fake, even had the ghost Franklin, but it didn't hold up to scrutiny next to a real one. Unfortunately, my lecture in identifying real from fakes did not award me with a discount for my services. Anyhow, after we had tea we went on a quest for fried radish cake. We had been trying to get it all week but every stall we had gone to was out. This time, we went to three different hawkers' centers around the island before finding a stall that was serving.
[Apple Juice]
Tuesday - Climbing
On our last day we went to Little India's Mustafah market, a massive crowded places that sold everything. I bought some Darjeeling tea and Daphne got some yoga gear. In total, I had bought 1.5 kg of tea on this trip. Am I a nerd or what? At night I went climbing with Yvonne and her kids, Rohan, 7, and Uma, 9, while Daphne hung out with her friend Jeanne. These kids are every mother's dream. Very smart, outgoing, bilingual and well mannered. They took to climbing instantly and when we were on the boat, Rohan was the first person to do a dive from the top of the boat into the water. These kids aren't video game deprived either[they each have their own DS and a Wii] but they enjoy doing other things as well. Yvonne should write a book.
[Rohan Showing Us How It's Done]
The trip was a much needed change of pace and literally a breath of fresh air. Daphne even said that it was the best time she had in Singapore in a long time and wished we could have stayed longer, but its back to grind and honk of Saigon for us.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Saigon!
Aaaaand...we're in Saigon. Haha. Sorry for the delayed updates, let me start this by going back to my last days in Cat Ba, which were quite eventful. I had a falling out at my hotel over the motorbike we had rented to Butterfly Valley. We could tell on the way that the air was very low in the tire, but by the time we got back it was completely flat. I pointed it out to the girl that rented it to us and she said, 'awwwww, you pay?' To which I laughed and shook my head, explaining that the tire was bad in the first place. Her husband came shortly after and with a big smile on his face tried to get me to pay 200,000 VND[$11]. But I refused on principal that the tire was bad at the start and I didn't cause the damage. Eventually, I just had to turn my back on him and rejoin my friends. The whole episode quite upset me because I was in good standing with the people that worked at the hotel. But then the next day, big attitude shift. The guy smiled at me in the street and, said, 'no problem, bike okay,' and that was that. I was happy enough to here that, but then the hotel staff spent the morning giving me free food and drink to make sure that I was completely content. And I was! People here can be quite petty in matters of business, so I'm glad this had a positive resolution.
We rented again from them that day[checking the tire] and went out for another climbing trip to Butterfly Valley. On the way back we grabbed some beers and decided to drive to the west side of the island in search of a beautiful sunset. We couldn't find the perfect spot, but we settled on a spot overlooking a pond that had palm trees. Although to get there, we had to climb over a bamboo fence. And, it was right next to somebody's grave stone. Audhild looked at Cheung and asked, 'you're the resident Asian. is this a bad idea?' to which Cheung had no response.
But Dominic was already over the fence and had opened his beer so it was settled. We climbed over and as we got to the pond we heard a shout over on the other side. An old man was walking towards us from the left side of the pond. We weighed our options. We could play it off as though we didn't know we weren't supposed to be, we could apologize and run, or...we could pretend like we WERE supposed to be there. We decided to try the latter. We waved at the old man and pointed at the beer and the sunset. We could hear him laughing. Along the other side of the pond walked a girl about 20 and behind us, on the other side of the fence, we heard an older woman yell to them. Basically we were surrounded, waiting to see how it would play out. The man and girl arrived and they joined us to watch the sunset. The girl could speak some English, which was helpful. After the sun had set they invited us up to their house to spend the night. This was very tempting, as we were all quite sick of the loudness that was Cat Ba Town, but unfortunately we had to get return our bikes, climbing gear, and arrange our boat for the next day[more on that in a bit].
So instead we agreed to stop in so we could see their house.
The house:
[Cheung showing his shy side. On the left, Thuan and the right, Hua]
[Dominic chatting with the Vietnam vet, who doesn't know any English]
They were extremely hospitable, an older daughter arrived, who was studying to be a tour guide at university and could also speak some English. They served us tea and mango and lychees and were just extremely hospitable. The old man, it turned out, had served his country in the Vietnam War. But he was completely unfazed by me being an American. Before we left, his wife gave us a giant bag of lychees to take with us.
The next day was my last in Cat Ba. For about $22 each, a small group of us rented a boat for the day so that we could go deep water soloing. This basically means that were going to climb rocks in the bay and we got to the top, or fell, we would be falling into the water below. It was a fantastic trip, and included a amazing lunch that had the best squid I've ever tried. I don't think I'll ever be able to eat seafood some where it isn't fresh again. As we watched the sunset on our boat in the bay, drinking our Tigers, we all agreed that $22 was too cheap for the day we had.
[John spotting Cheung]
[Our shoes dry in the sun as we take lunch]
[Beautiful end to the day]
Natasha helped me arrange the purchase of my first motorbike. That's right, like many Vietnamese I am now an unlicensed motorbike driver. The process of getting it was hectic and took two days. The guy brought the bike yesterday for me to examine. The light switch was broken, the seat didn't lock, and the gear lights didn't work. So he said he'd fix it and be back at 1pm. Four hours late, there's a knock on the door. Natasha and I go down to have a look, she notices that the front brake doesn't work, so away goes the bike. This morning, he brings the bike back for a look, and it gets sent away again because the gear shift doesn't work great. Soooo, finally about an hour ago I have my bike. Price: 4.8 mil VND[$266]. So, now that I have a bike I'm going to have some lunch and head downtown to find a cellphone. Tonight we're going to a Couchsurfer meet-up in Ben Thanh market which should be a good time.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Strange Hours
Well, its 12:30am in Cat Ba town and you know what that means? Nothing. Vietnam is early to rise and early to bed. But I can't blame them, I'm back in The Noble House for one night and as far as I've seen the girls that work here do so all day every day. I had a beer with Dominic, a Swiss climber I met yesterday, and had to knock on the hotel to get back inside. The town is quite now and I'm off to bed soon, but I wanted to take advantage of the wifi[which I probably won't have for a bit] and catch up on what the last post is missing. Yesterday was a beach day, all beach all day pretty much. I met Dominic who had come to Cat Ba with a tour group called Backpackers, but he was staying for the rocks. We did some bouldering on the beach and took in some surf and sun. Some local youths joined us on the rocks and showed off there arm wrestling skills. Turns out, Dominic is a friend of Cheung's so today Cheung and Audhild joined us back at Butterfly Valley for some climbing. I did lead climbing for the first time[that's where there's no rope supporting you until you clip it in] thanks to the support and teaching of the others. I lead three routes, a 5b[5.9] and two 6a's[5.10a]. The first was the hardest for me, even though it was one that I had done fairly easily a couple days prior, but its a different story when you have to rely on yourself for safety. But by the second I had the confidence I needed and even though it was a harder 'problem' I felt much more at ease doing it.
Tomorrow morning: another hotel change, some more climbing at Butterfly Valley and then the next day we're taking a boat for some deep water soloing[see picture from the last post where I'm climbing over water].
I leave here on Wednesday and should be in Ho Chi Minh City later that evening. But...I don't have a flight yet, have people working on that. And I don't have a house yet, working on that, too. I'll probably do a hotel for the first night or two, maybe use Couchsurfing, I dunno.
Tomorrow morning: another hotel change, some more climbing at Butterfly Valley and then the next day we're taking a boat for some deep water soloing[see picture from the last post where I'm climbing over water].
I leave here on Wednesday and should be in Ho Chi Minh City later that evening. But...I don't have a flight yet, have people working on that. And I don't have a house yet, working on that, too. I'll probably do a hotel for the first night or two, maybe use Couchsurfing, I dunno.
I'm here
[I wrote this post a couple days ago, internet here is tricky]
Hello everyone! I just got back to my hotel on Cat Ba Island after rock climbing on a couple smaller nearby islands. It's my third night here and I'm having a blast. The trip was a long one, not only did air travel take something like 28 hours, but right off the plane I grabbed a taxi to Luong Yen bus station and just barely made my bus. I had a little sheet of paper with detailed instructions on how to use the buses to get to Cat Ba which I clung in my hand as I lugged nearly 100 lbs. on my shoulders. First there was a 2.5 hr ride on one bus, another 45min on another, then a 30min boat ride which got me to Cat Ba, and another 30 min bus ride into Cat Ba Town. The bus conveniently let me out right in front of the rock climbing headquarters, SloPony. I went in to get some advice on where to stay but the crew was out climbing for another couple hours. Luckily, there was a room available right above them for just 10 dollars a night. The room...had its drawbacks. It was simple in appearance, fan, airconditioner, bed, but it had a bad odor to it, like sweat and sewage bad. It was their only room though and I was exhausted but I couldn't just take it as it was. I asked them to change the sheets which I don't think had been, and they also washed the bathroom, which vastly improved things. The bathroom was something else, the shower consisted of the shower head and a drain in the floor, so the whole bathroom was in fact the shower. In all, I think the hotel was worth it for its price, convenience of location, occasional wifi, and this view:
After unloading my stuff I sat down on the bed and let a sigh I'd been holding in since I got on the first [delayed] plane in D.C. The flight was in general decent, and China Airways is a good service. When I checked in they made me a fake booking for a return flight so that I wouldn't get turned away in VietNam for only having a one way ticket. This wasn't a problem though, as the visa process was quite simple. In customs, they asked for my passport and gave me an application to fill out. I was halfway through the application when the official got impatient and just told me to sign the bottom. He already had the visa glued inside the passport and stamped!
So on my first night in Cat Ba my agenda is simple, eat, talk to SloPony and get to bed! So I head out in search of some Pho[oh, and some shampoo, soap and water, amenities all in lacking at the hotel], getting called out for bike rentals and solicited by different restaurants along the way. The entire trip from Hanoi to Cat Ba I didn't see a single westerner en route and in town nothing had changed. The majority of tourism on the island came from within the island, as school's were letting out and family were on the beaches to escape the summer heat. Unable to distinguish one restaurant's value from another, I stop into maybe the 20th one that advertised pho. But for 12,000 Dong[18,000 Dong=$1] all I got was a big bowl of ramen noodles with beef. Sitting there, eating my fake pho, and watching the all the 'foreign' faces passing on the street the distance finally had caught up to me. I was so caught up the last two days in the journey that I had little time to even think about the destination, until I almost spontaneously realize that I'm on the other side of the world. I pay for my meal and head back to the hotel, finding Oslo, one of the SloPony founders. I was ready to climb the next day, but the next time they were going out was in two days so I threw down $60 and had my first plan made. Of course, that still left tomorrow open but I was tired and decided to save the planning for the morning. I was out cold at 7pm[that's 8am Eastern y'all]. For those wondering whether I had jet lag the next day the answer is a surprising no. I hear on NPR that fasting until just before you go to sleep will cure jet lag and having done so myself I can say that it definitely seemed to work.
I woke up at 6 the next morning, with the aid of a some one playing their radio through a concert speaker into the street. This seems to happen every morning as if to say, 'wake up, tourist! go spend your money!'. I was in no rush to get out of bed, I spent the last two days in a constant state of motion, so I was glad to exercise my right to not move. Besides, I didn't know what I wanted to do!
Finally, an hour later, I get my shit together and head downstairs for some breakfast[not included, but cheap and tasty]. I have a simple omelet and some Vietnamese green tea. For the tea they let the leaves steep in the metal pot and you drink it from a shot glass. Because of the oversteepage, the tea is quite strong and its also a dark, army green colour, but it still tastes good with a seedy, vegetative taste and some musky tones. Makes me nostalgic for home.
Hotels aren't just hotels here, they are restaurants, tour guides and they'll rent you motor bikes, too. While eating my breakfast, one of the girls that worked there offered me a motor bike for 100,000VND[$6]. I'd never ridden a motorbike or scooter before, but I also wanted something to do and I noticed a national park on bus ride in that I thought would be fun to check out. So after breakfast I go upstairs and get ready, but on my way down I run into some climber in the SloPony lounge trying to arrange an overnight boat for the next day. While I waited to ask Slo for a map, I struck up a conversation with them. Two of them, Cheung[Japanese] and Audhild[Norwegian] were going to a place on the island that day called Butterfly Valley to do some climbing. They ask me to join and its no question that I say yes. It was great to finally meet some people I could hang out with and that actually spoke my language[Audhild's accent sounds Australian, but she claims its American].
We rent some gear[$5 each], buy a day pass[$3] and order lunch at the site[$3], and then head downstairs where I rent my bike. I won't lie, I was very nervous. I didn't even know how to turn it on! Cheung takes me through the operating instructions, not hiding that he's nervous about me driving, too. We start slow, me following behind as I try to work out what I was doing. Surprisingly, I picked up very quickly, and Cheung didn't have to pace himself on my behalf for too long. It was a 30 minute ride through a beautiful countryside.
I'll try to write the rest of this post faster, as it's getting late, I'm getting hungry, and I've got a good lead on where I can get some quality pho. The rock climbing was great, and I did great at it. There was one route that I had to fall twice though before I got it[don't worry, there's a rope so no actually falling is involved, you just swing]. Lunch there was absolutely amazing. Spring rolls, fish, some omelet thingy, rice, lychees...awesome.
After lunch we took naps in hammocks under the shade, as chickens and dogs ran by us and a cat meowed in the distance[word for cat in Vietnamese is meow]. Cheung and Audhild were cool to have met and good climbers. Hopefully I'll climb with them again when they get back from the boat trip in a couple days.
That night, a quick swim at the beach before sunset, when a fully clothed man comes to blow a whistle and wave a flag for everyone to get out. Then, some very good dinner with other climbers I met. Owner of restaurant sat with us and told crazy stories, about how gecko vodka improves your sexual stamina and that he wanted a third wife[he has two!] that was foreign so that he could have a tall son to play play football[soccer] for Manchester United.
Today, had to switch hotels cause my room was booked. No problem, this one's around the corner and in better shape for the same price. Went on climbing trip with Slo Pony by junk[boat]. Hit up a couple beaches for climbing on some islands. The climbing there is different then in Butterfly Valley, the rocks are sharp to the touch, like climbing on axe blades. It was good climbing though, and lunch on the junk was great, too.
Tomorrow, national park maybe? I'm not sure. Just have to wait and see.
[Me climbing over water]
[One of the islands]
[Junk near a fishing village]
Hello everyone! I just got back to my hotel on Cat Ba Island after rock climbing on a couple smaller nearby islands. It's my third night here and I'm having a blast. The trip was a long one, not only did air travel take something like 28 hours, but right off the plane I grabbed a taxi to Luong Yen bus station and just barely made my bus. I had a little sheet of paper with detailed instructions on how to use the buses to get to Cat Ba which I clung in my hand as I lugged nearly 100 lbs. on my shoulders. First there was a 2.5 hr ride on one bus, another 45min on another, then a 30min boat ride which got me to Cat Ba, and another 30 min bus ride into Cat Ba Town. The bus conveniently let me out right in front of the rock climbing headquarters, SloPony. I went in to get some advice on where to stay but the crew was out climbing for another couple hours. Luckily, there was a room available right above them for just 10 dollars a night. The room...had its drawbacks. It was simple in appearance, fan, airconditioner, bed, but it had a bad odor to it, like sweat and sewage bad. It was their only room though and I was exhausted but I couldn't just take it as it was. I asked them to change the sheets which I don't think had been, and they also washed the bathroom, which vastly improved things. The bathroom was something else, the shower consisted of the shower head and a drain in the floor, so the whole bathroom was in fact the shower. In all, I think the hotel was worth it for its price, convenience of location, occasional wifi, and this view:
After unloading my stuff I sat down on the bed and let a sigh I'd been holding in since I got on the first [delayed] plane in D.C. The flight was in general decent, and China Airways is a good service. When I checked in they made me a fake booking for a return flight so that I wouldn't get turned away in VietNam for only having a one way ticket. This wasn't a problem though, as the visa process was quite simple. In customs, they asked for my passport and gave me an application to fill out. I was halfway through the application when the official got impatient and just told me to sign the bottom. He already had the visa glued inside the passport and stamped!
So on my first night in Cat Ba my agenda is simple, eat, talk to SloPony and get to bed! So I head out in search of some Pho[oh, and some shampoo, soap and water, amenities all in lacking at the hotel], getting called out for bike rentals and solicited by different restaurants along the way. The entire trip from Hanoi to Cat Ba I didn't see a single westerner en route and in town nothing had changed. The majority of tourism on the island came from within the island, as school's were letting out and family were on the beaches to escape the summer heat. Unable to distinguish one restaurant's value from another, I stop into maybe the 20th one that advertised pho. But for 12,000 Dong[18,000 Dong=$1] all I got was a big bowl of ramen noodles with beef. Sitting there, eating my fake pho, and watching the all the 'foreign' faces passing on the street the distance finally had caught up to me. I was so caught up the last two days in the journey that I had little time to even think about the destination, until I almost spontaneously realize that I'm on the other side of the world. I pay for my meal and head back to the hotel, finding Oslo, one of the SloPony founders. I was ready to climb the next day, but the next time they were going out was in two days so I threw down $60 and had my first plan made. Of course, that still left tomorrow open but I was tired and decided to save the planning for the morning. I was out cold at 7pm[that's 8am Eastern y'all]. For those wondering whether I had jet lag the next day the answer is a surprising no. I hear on NPR that fasting until just before you go to sleep will cure jet lag and having done so myself I can say that it definitely seemed to work.
I woke up at 6 the next morning, with the aid of a some one playing their radio through a concert speaker into the street. This seems to happen every morning as if to say, 'wake up, tourist! go spend your money!'. I was in no rush to get out of bed, I spent the last two days in a constant state of motion, so I was glad to exercise my right to not move. Besides, I didn't know what I wanted to do!
Finally, an hour later, I get my shit together and head downstairs for some breakfast[not included, but cheap and tasty]. I have a simple omelet and some Vietnamese green tea. For the tea they let the leaves steep in the metal pot and you drink it from a shot glass. Because of the oversteepage, the tea is quite strong and its also a dark, army green colour, but it still tastes good with a seedy, vegetative taste and some musky tones. Makes me nostalgic for home.
Hotels aren't just hotels here, they are restaurants, tour guides and they'll rent you motor bikes, too. While eating my breakfast, one of the girls that worked there offered me a motor bike for 100,000VND[$6]. I'd never ridden a motorbike or scooter before, but I also wanted something to do and I noticed a national park on bus ride in that I thought would be fun to check out. So after breakfast I go upstairs and get ready, but on my way down I run into some climber in the SloPony lounge trying to arrange an overnight boat for the next day. While I waited to ask Slo for a map, I struck up a conversation with them. Two of them, Cheung[Japanese] and Audhild[Norwegian] were going to a place on the island that day called Butterfly Valley to do some climbing. They ask me to join and its no question that I say yes. It was great to finally meet some people I could hang out with and that actually spoke my language[Audhild's accent sounds Australian, but she claims its American].
We rent some gear[$5 each], buy a day pass[$3] and order lunch at the site[$3], and then head downstairs where I rent my bike. I won't lie, I was very nervous. I didn't even know how to turn it on! Cheung takes me through the operating instructions, not hiding that he's nervous about me driving, too. We start slow, me following behind as I try to work out what I was doing. Surprisingly, I picked up very quickly, and Cheung didn't have to pace himself on my behalf for too long. It was a 30 minute ride through a beautiful countryside.
I'll try to write the rest of this post faster, as it's getting late, I'm getting hungry, and I've got a good lead on where I can get some quality pho. The rock climbing was great, and I did great at it. There was one route that I had to fall twice though before I got it[don't worry, there's a rope so no actually falling is involved, you just swing]. Lunch there was absolutely amazing. Spring rolls, fish, some omelet thingy, rice, lychees...awesome.
After lunch we took naps in hammocks under the shade, as chickens and dogs ran by us and a cat meowed in the distance[word for cat in Vietnamese is meow]. Cheung and Audhild were cool to have met and good climbers. Hopefully I'll climb with them again when they get back from the boat trip in a couple days.
That night, a quick swim at the beach before sunset, when a fully clothed man comes to blow a whistle and wave a flag for everyone to get out. Then, some very good dinner with other climbers I met. Owner of restaurant sat with us and told crazy stories, about how gecko vodka improves your sexual stamina and that he wanted a third wife[he has two!] that was foreign so that he could have a tall son to play play football[soccer] for Manchester United.
Today, had to switch hotels cause my room was booked. No problem, this one's around the corner and in better shape for the same price. Went on climbing trip with Slo Pony by junk[boat]. Hit up a couple beaches for climbing on some islands. The climbing there is different then in Butterfly Valley, the rocks are sharp to the touch, like climbing on axe blades. It was good climbing though, and lunch on the junk was great, too.
Tomorrow, national park maybe? I'm not sure. Just have to wait and see.
[Me climbing over water]
[One of the islands]
[Junk near a fishing village]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
