Halong Bay

After leaving Dalat, I split up from the two Germans and headed to Hoi An, a World Heritage City on the coast about half way up Vietnam. Hoi An is famous for its many tailors where one can buy custom fitted suits, dresses, leather jackets, boots, shoes, etc. With over 300 different tailor shops in the small city, the merchandise will run you a fraction of the price it would back in the States. Seeing this as a perfect place to buy a custom fitted suit to replace my $10 Goodwill jacket and pants, I purchased a perfectly fitting navy blue Italian cut three piece suit with turquoise silk lining, a burgundy shirt, and turquoise tie. 

I spent three nights in Hoi An, geting into a routine of going to the local gym and lifting with dozens of shirtless and sweaty Vietnamese men. Here also I befriended two Americans, and a Dutch guy, all of whom were motorbiking all of Vietnam from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi. My days were spent lifting, eating several meals of pho, chicken and rice, and bahn mi's, swimming in the ocean, and drinking 14 cent beers at night. Yes, the beer, Bia Hoi, are sold as low as 3000-5000 dong (14-19 cents).

After a few days in Hanoi, I took a long bus to Hanoi with Jazz, an English girl whom I met along with the two Americans. We spent a day in Hanoi in the beautiful Old Quarter before bussing off to Halong Bay.

In Halong Bay, Jazz and I avoided the expensive boat tours and cruises and took a slow ferry to Cat Ba Island, one of the biggest islands in the bay. Here we swam in the ocean, relaxed on the beach, and ate dozens of cheap and delicious pineapples. We also rented a motorbike and spent the day cruising around the beautiful island, visiting the Cat Ba National Park, which is home to the endangered species of orange and white langurs. While passing through a construction site, we passed some workers on the side of the road burning what seemed to be a small deer carcass. They saw we were curious and waved us over to investigate. The animal turned out to be a goat that they had just killed and gutted and they were burning off the hair before gutting it and cooking it further. They offered for us to stay and eat with them but with the butchering and cooking process in the early stages, we decided to continue on our motorbike journey.

Staying in the Halong Bay area for three nights, Jazz and I soaked up the ocean for one last time before heading back to Hanoi and to the mountainous region of Sa Pa.