Lost Boys In Neverland

HELLO FROM HANOI, VIETNAM!!!!!! Oh how I've missed everyone terribly, and how I've missed blogging to you guys from the other side of the world!!! It's been one week since my last blog - my largest absence yet. BUT - so many incredible things have happened in the last week, I want to make sure I include every detail, so I hope you all have some time to spare. Before I delve in, let me first say a few things:

1) Vietnam is the most beautiful country (except Israel, maybe) that I have been to. The extraordinary scenery, beautiful people, and---most importantly---ease with which tourists are escorted around from place to place makes Vietnam my favorite country so far.....by far. :-) I strongly recommend that everyone travels to this country. You only need 2-3 weeks to do it right...perfectly manageable on an American work schedule (I think). Each day this country blows my mind. Minor things never cease to amaze me, major things humble me, and everything else in between reminds me how lucky I am to be here.

2) I am officially 7 weeks into my trip, and can now see India (part 2 of my trip) on the horizon. In the last few days I've finally met people who know all about India from their own travels, and I am starting to get excited. Very excited. Even though it's still 3 weeks away, and I have lots of amazing memories to create in the interim, I know that SE Asia is just preparation for what awaits me on June 20th.

3) I am no longer a tourist. While of course I stick out like a tall, white, and bearded westerner in this land of Vietnamese people, I am one among many backpackers living the traveler's life. I have stayed the longest in this country out of the 3 so far (it will have been 1 month exactly when I leave), so I feel a part of the traveler's world in this country. The rhythm and pace that is backpacking suits me - every day is still an adventure, I just am a little more prepared to handle it with ease now.

OK - let's continue on the story that is Danny Does Asia, shall we???

When I last wrote, I had finished Day 3 of the Easy Riders tour from Dalat to Hoi An. The start of Day 4 was most exciting, as Hung and Dinh had promised us that the scenery would be most amazing. In the morning, we drove to see a few couple of memorials around the town of Kon Tum: a suspension bridge built by the French in the 1930s, and from there we went to a wooden church for the local indigenous people's religion. Attached to the church was an orphanage with about 200 children, ranging in age from infants to 16 year olds. Zack and I visited the baby room first, and I fell completely in love with the babies...so absolutely adorable. We played with them for a few minutes - I think they were kinda shocked to see two white boys in their playpen, but they warmed up after a few minutes and their faces lit up with smiles. Apparently that orphange is frequented by European families looking to adopt children, so it was nice to know that there is hope for a better life for these children. Zack and I walked into a classroom of 12 year old girls who sang songs in English for us - very sweet. Their teacher was a translator for the American army during the Vietnam War, and had been working at the orphanage for about 10 years. All of the kids loved him - you could feel how warm his heart is just by looking in his eyes. It was amazing to enter a completely different world yet still feel so attached to these people. It reminds me how universally the same everyone is. Same same but different, of course. :-)

From the orphanage we went to the Kon Tum prison, where the French military held captive North Vietnamese (communist) political leaders. When the French left Vietnam in 1954, the prisoners were released, strengthening the North's military/political power, hence progressing the order of events that eventually led to the Vietnam War. The prison had been turned into a memorial, and what impressed me most was the photo collection from a 1994 anniversary ceremony that honored the living veterans of the prison, who are now (or had been) major political figures in the reunified (post-1975) government. Who knows what they had to go through to survive that prison; it was yet another example of this country's ability to move on from their history of war. One thing I've learned is that the people of this country love peace.

After the prison we visited a memorial for the liberation day in 1972 when the North came through Kon Tum and sent the Americans/South Vietnamese further south. And from there we saw a cemetery for unknown victims of the battle at Charlie Hill, before we drove onto the Ho Chi Minh Trail and stopped at Charlie Hill. Charlie Hill is actually a few hills around a central flat area where the Americans were stationed. A large landing strip for the American military is still there. Basically, Charlie hill was a 3-month long battle that had a 6-month build up (in terms of military strategy and planning). What is now green hills and quiet farmland was once bloodshed and murder. The Americans were at the top of the hills, and the North came up from the bottom. So many soldiers died in the middle. They nicknamed the battle a "hamburger" hill because of the "meat" that formed in the middle of two ends. Carnage. After the battle of Charlie Hill, the US Army pulled out from the central highlands and concentrated its stronghold around Saigon, until 1973 when the US left.

After Charlie Hill, we began our drive along the Ho Chi Minh trail up through the Central Highlands of Vietnam. To say that the scenery was stunning is an understatement. Imagine winding roads through the mountains, green all around you, mountains looming over you at every turn. It was as picturesque as you can imagine. The sun was shining, green farms and hills made me forget all the problems in the world, and for a few hours, this simple and beautiful existence was all that mattered. We kept passing through small villages, passing schools with children leaving for the day, and while it seems so trivial and insignificant, whenever I said hello to someone on the street, it made the day even better - especially the kids. They look so confused when I made eye contact with them from the bike; once I smile and wave and say hello, they light up and scream hello back at the top of their lungs. They love seeing westerners in their small corner of the world. The four of us stopped at a waterfall on the side of the road for a beautiful photo op - then we decided to walk up and hang out at the waterfall. Of course, Zack (who has proven more and more to be a klutz lately) slipped and fell flat on his back going down the rocks back to the bike. Luckily he was completely fine, minus a couple of wet legs and a wet bum. :-) Phew, the road trip carried on.

An unexpected and ultimate highlight came towards the end of our day when we stopped for water at a house on the side of the road. About 10 little kids came out from the surrounding houses to see us, and so Zack and I brought out our cameras and of course they had a field day. These kids were beyond cute. I have some great photos and videos. Of course, none of this would've happened if I were on a bus driving from city to city along the "regular" touristy backpacker route. Riding a motorbike is the only way to experience Southeast Asia. Period.

After what was probably one of the most amazing afternoons of my life, we arrived at our destination, a small Vietnamese town with a small-town feel: a couple of main streets, people walking around, shops lining the streets. It felt almost like an Old Western town. Anyway, the four of us enjoyed a great seafood dinner, ice cream, and then we called it a night. Day 5 was our final day. We visited a family that runs an incense factory, another family that runs a rice paper factory, and then it was on toward My Son. I actually visited My Son with Brad (my American travel companion my first time up Vietnam), so I wasn't in a rush to get back. Fortunately, (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), Hung's bike got a flat tire, so we had to stop for a half hour to get it fixed. Luckily there was a bike repair shop just up the street from where we stopped, so we didn't have to push it that far. Zack and Dinh continued on to My Son, and once our bike was fixed, I asked Hung if we could go back to the roadside store that Brad & I had visited last time (Remember: that was the one where Brad & I hung out with all of those kids and took pictures with them, bought them ice cream, etc?? Same place). The man was out there when we pulled up, and it took him a few minutes, and a viewing of my photos to remember when I was there. Apparently, since I'd left, one of the boys in the group photo broke his nose swimming. But, he's all patched up now and back at school. Another of the little boys (my favorite one) was nearby and walked over to the owner and his wife. I showed him the pictures of him that I took last time, and he said "yes" when they asked if he remembered me. He's 5 years old. So cute. How amazing that I was able to revisit a stop along the way of my travels and see their life 2 weeks later.

Once Zack and Dinh met up with us after the temples of My Son, (Zack was very impressed), we headed into Hoi An. That afternoon we checked into our hotel, ate a late lunch with Dinh and Hung, and then Zack and I went out and got some more clothes picked out for ourselves (I got a suit and another jacket). That evening we had our last dinner and drinks with Hung and Dinh (they were meant to leave for Dalat the next morning). They brought us to a well-known (except to Westerners) restaurant with great spring rolls. They kept bringing out food to us, and when she saw how much food was left over, the owner (this amazing woman who has been running the restaurant for 14 years, starting with no money in her pocket) came over to me, hand-made me a spring roll, and fed it to me, by hand. :-) Mom, you would've liked her a lot. I even said, "my mother would like you a lot right now." I was well fed that night. Not really sure with what type of meat I was well fed, but no need to worry about that.

Hoi An Part II was great - the next morning Zack and I headed for the beach and chilled out for most of the day, before picking up our new clothes in the afternoon. I have to admit, I'm less happy with the clothes this time around than I was last time, but hey, they were cheap enough - not a big deal. Bygones. That night Zack and I went for a walk outside of tourist zone (Hoi An is very touristy) where we found a pool hall full of Vietnamese. From there, we went out for some drinks with a German guy I met the night before, and we met a couple of Americans and an Austrailian girl for a fun night of card (drinking) games. Our last morning in Hoi An was spent picking up souveniers (Zack bought the souveniers, I joined him along the way - no souvenier shopping yet for me! To early!!) and then we headed to the airport to fly up to Hanoi. Our plan was to arrive around dinner time and meet my German girl friends from Cambodia, who were also in Hanoi and were very excited to meet us. Unfortunately, our plans got a little screwed up: our flight time was moved back 4 hours, we were an hour late to the hotel that the German girls were at, and once we did get there, I couldn't find them because I was heckled so much into staying at another hotel Zack and I left quickly. BUT - all ended well when I went out for a well-deserved beer with my German friends to finish the night. It was the first time I actually got stressed out on this trip, and the first time I let the stress affect my mood. I will now chalk it all up to experience...I forgot that not everything goes according to (my) plan, and I also forgot that I get stressed out when trying to coordinate schedules with other people and it doesn't go according to plan. Moving on, I was stress-free by the next day and Zack and I were able to carry on our fun travails. I guess getting slightly stressed out once in 2 months isn't such a big deal. :-)

The following day Zack, myself, Nicole, and Regi (the 2 German girls) spent the day as a tourist visiting the sights of Hanoi. We started out going to see the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum - that's right, Uncle Ho Chi Minh's body is encased in glass for all to see. After waiting in what was probably the longest tourist line ever, we got to walk (rather, we were herded) through the room containing his body. Very impressive. He looks good for a dead guy. That afternoon we walked around Ho Chi Minh's presidential palace grounds (again, very touristy), and then we headed to the Literature Temple, which was the first university in Vietnam, started in the year 1100 AD, or something like that. Super old. From there, we went to the Vietnam Military Museum, where we saw some great photos from the War era (again) and then climbed to the top of an old viewing tower for a picture of the city. Once we were done being tourists, the four of us headed to one of the 2 major lakes in Hanoi for some major (and well deserved) R&R by the lake. That evening, Zack and I parted ways from the girls to buy our flight tickets to Laos on June 3rd. What should have been a quick and easy experience yet again turned into a funny story. We were about to hand the lady our credit cards to pay for the tickets when I heard a crackling sound. I turned around and saw the mass of plugs and wires for the office literally burst into flames in a loud boom, and then the whole office went black. I can laugh about all of this now. :-) Only in Vietnam. That night we joined the German girls and a few other guys for cheap beer in the street of Hanoi (Bier Hoi - 2000 Dong for a glass...aka 10 cents for a glass of beer!!!) and then called it a night.

We left for Halong Bay the following morning. Zack and I booked the trip and our next trip (which I leave for in about 2 hours) with Kangaroo Cafe, in case anyone wants any travel advice. Great company, run by a loquaciously communist, yet well-intentioned Australian man. Halong Bay is at the northeastern coast of Vietnam, and I've seen so many pictures of it and heard lots of great things, but of course, nothing can prepare you for seeing it in person. Zack and I joined an 8-person, 2-day 1 night boat trip around the bay. Our group consisted of 2 Aussies, 2 Brits, 2 Canadians and us. We had to take a 3 hour minivan trip to the coast and then we boarded our junk boat (NOTE: Junk boat is the actual type of boat, not the descriptive word for its state of being - it's basically a large sailboat) and set off for the bay. Halong Bay is a huge body of water containing 2,000 huge rock mounds that just out of the water. Traveling through the Bay is quite impressive. All around you are these huge rocks with trees covering them, dotted all across the water. After sailing for a few hours around the bay, we went to see the caves of Halong Bay. To summarize: HUGE limestone caves, with stalagtites and stalagmites(kudos to anyone who actually knows which is which) highlighted with well-placed colored lights that make the caves look like a yet-to-be-made blockbuster Hollywood movie set. From one of the lookout points at the top of the cave, we could see all of the junk boats in the bay surrounded by the rocks. And then it hit us: we have found Neverland! Do you remember in the movie "Hook" when Robin Williams goes to Neverland? Remember all of the ships in the magical water surrounded by rocks, etc? Well, this is same same but better. Zack and I were pretty amazed and exstatic to be lost boys in Neverland. I so wanted to be Rufio back in the day, and for an hour or so, I felt like him. "RU-FI-O, RU-FI-O" Very cool.

Once we re-boarded our ship, we set off again to another point in the bay just for some afternoon swimming/jumping off the ship into the water. So much fun! The water was beautiful, and it felt great to get wet after hiking around for quite a while in the caves. We ended our swim session just as the sun fell behind the rocks. From the top deck of the boat, we set sail again in full view of the sunset. To be honest, I have never experienced anything quite like watching the sun set in Halong Bay. The sky was divinely lit, the rocks were glowing out of the water, and the water's reflection of it all would've proven difficult for any artist to replicate on canvas. (Luckily I have more than enough digital photos to solve that problem). The 8 of us sat on the top of the boat in silence. It was breathtakingly gorgeous. Yet again, I felt completely lucky to have seen it. After a delicious dinner, we hung out under the moonlight on the top deck and then called it a night. This morning we had a nice breakfast on the ship, and headed to a beach on one of the small rock islands in the Bay. Zack and I and the two Aussies wanted to go kayaking, but unfortunately it didn't work out. We had heard that there's a cave nearby through which you can kayak, but it was apparently too far in the timespan that we had. But, fate was on our side and there was a speedboat next to us, and for the same price as the kayaks, we were taken to the cave, which was actually a cavernous entrance to a hidden cove, enclosed on all sides by 100-foot tall rocks. The 4 of us were pretty blown away by what we had discovered. It definitely felt like a scene out of "The Beach." We swam in the cove for a few minutes, shouted at the top of our lungs to hear our echos, and then headed back in the speedboat to rejoin our group back on the boat to return to shore. Lunch back on the mainland was followed by the 3-hour trip back to Hanoi, which brings me to right now. (Deep exhale). Zack and I leave at 8pm tonight (9am NYC time) for an overnight train to Sapa, which is in the Northwest corner of Vietnam, and in the hills, so it should be a lot cooler up there. We're signed up for a 3-day, 2-night trip: one night in a hotel, one night staying in a village with the indiginous people, and lots of trekking/sightseeing/cultural stuff in between. It should be an amazing time. After we get back on the morning of June 2nd, Zack and I hang out in Hanoi for another day and then fly out to Luang Prabang, Laos on June 3rd. I can't wait to see Laos. As much as I love Vietnam, I know that it's time to go, and Laos should be relaxing and beautiful and a great way to end my SE Asian experience.

So, if you've gotten to the end of this blog entry, I salute you. Thanks for keeping up with my travels. It really has been a superior week of my trip, and I'm glad I got through all of it in the blog. I promise to update you either in Sapa or right after I get back in 3 days, so look out for the next entry. AND - Please be in touch!!! I think about you all so much, so please shoot me an email or add a comment to the blog. It makes me happy to hear from you guys. :-)

Until next time....

Lots of love always!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!