Friday morning we woke up really early and drove for 3 and half hours to halong bay. on the way we stopped at the blue dragon center for children. the center helps street children and children who are abused or have a horrible family life. We had breakfast for the children and they taught us some vietnamese and performed drumming for us. the phrase oy tchoi oy, which means o my god, stuck with us and we've been saying it about every 20 minutes since then. after that we stopped at a place that sells a lot of stuff that supposedly disabled people make...it felt a little too familar to the factories in china and i felt like there was a lot hidden from the massive amount of tourists buying all the junk. after that we arrived at the harbor, boarded our luxury boat and cruised away from the harbor. we had a full crew and each our own rooms and bathrooms. lunch dinner and breakfast the next day was included and it was soooo good. after cruising for a while we arrived at a cave and did some caving. afterwards we rented some kayaks, and kayaked to another island which had a pagoda at the top on the mountain. we climbed up 420 steps (i counted) to the pagoda and pretty much collapsed while looking at the beatiful view. we then went swimming, kayaked to another cave you can only reach by kayak and then back again to the boat. alyson and i were afriad of the cockroaches on the boat and possibly in our bed so we slept outside under the stars (not really, more like haze we could only see about 3 stars). the next morning we went back to the harbor and drove back to hanoi stopping at a ceramic factory. the women who paint all the pottery were sitting there painting tea sets, bowls, anything you could imagine. they invited us to sit down and showed us how to paint and what kind of strokes to use. we continued out drive back to hanoi, had some lunch at koto and then went on a search for an all you can eat buffet of ice cream. to our surprise it was not all you can eat but it was still really really good. after that we went to the super market and bought some snank for the train. the super market was exactly like genuardis except asian.
At 6 we checked out of our hotel and went to the train station to board the reunification express, an over night train to hue (13 1/2 hours). i imagined it to look like the train from the darjeeling limited, but the room wqas smaller and not as nice. it was 4 bunk beds in the comparment and a small table in the middle. alyson hannah tina and i shared a compartment and had quite a party. we played poker and drinking games all night and everyone in the tour ended up in our cabin having a party. i actually slept pretty well even though i was afraid of getting crabs and slept with my hood up.
we arrived early this morning in hue, checked into our hotel and then went to breakfast at this french/vietnamese place. i had a crepe, croissant, and cappachino (so much for losing weight in vietnam). it was sooo good. its been my first western meal since ive gotten here. hue is much calmer than hanoi. there are still motorbikes, but not as many and it isnt as polluted. the perfume river flows right through the city and is decorated with giant pink lotuses. after breakfast we walked to a market and hai ou tour guide led us through explaining what all the different fruits and veggies are and how their cooked and eaten. afterwards we went to the imperial city. hai explained everything about it and the relationships between the king and the concubines and the unics. i also saw my first elephant (im sure of many). I'm now back in the hotel chilling out. tonight we are going to have a royal dinner and get dressed up as members of the royal palace. should be quiet interesting.
tomorrow we are going on motorbikes into the country side and visiting tombs of emperors and local villages outside the city.
lots of love,
Simi
