Vietnam is beautiful and amazing and I would love to share our hundreds of pictures with you, but unfortunately, they're at the bottom of Halong Bay thanks to a kayaking accident. How did this happen you ask? Let me tell you (sorry Riki!)
We were visiting Halong Bay, which is beautiful and has amazing caves. After lunch on the boat and the cave tour, we went out kayaking in the bay. It was a beautiful day and we were snapping pictures. We got one of Will in the other kayak then Will offered to take one of us. I sat there as Will rowed over to us. I turned around to talk to Riki, only to find Riki putting the camera on his oar and reaching it over the water toward Will. That same moment, the camera fell in the water and I knew it was gone. Riki dove in after it, but had a life jacket on so couldn't go deep enough. After that, we went to shore to ask for snorkel gear. Being islanders, we assumed they would have equipment, but all we got was a seriously old and ghetto mask. Enough for us to try! Will made many attempts for about 20 minutes and I tried for about 2 min (this is when my ears when crazy with shooting pain & the double ear infection started). Either way, it was pointless since the water was so dense and you couldn't see a thing until you got to the very bottom (20 ft down). So it was a total crap shoot. Then we offered a reward to the locals of $100, which could feed a family for a year there! We prayed they would find it and ship it back to us - apparently this sort of thing happens a lot there. But alas, they never found the camera - or claimed to find the camera. Will did have a weird interaction where they said "We didn't find the camera, but we might be able to mail you the memory card". How that makes sense, we don't know, but our guess is that if they had the camera, they just decided to sell it :(
Unfortunately Will forgot his camera and I didn't take any pictures on mine since Riki's is nicer. But I guess it's good that we had a camera at all for our Thailand pictures... Also, Will got a few pics on his camera and they're here.
Ok, on to actual Vietnam:
Phu Quoc Island
Riki and I had some alone time before meeting up with Will. Phu Quoc is a cute little island that really isn't touristy at all yet. It's like a different world. On one hand, the underdevelopment is really nice b/c you ride along crazy bumpy dirt roads and see local towns. The bad thing is that they haven't built up many touristy things to do like an easy way to go to the top of the island for amazing views, etc. Unfortunately Riki and I didn't get very good weather and it was a bit rainy and chilly, but it was ok - we wanted to just relax and spend some quality time together. We also had a great resort and found a really cute wine shop in town. This is also where I convinced Riki that Schafkopf is actually a fun card game :)
Hoi An
On to Hoi An, the famous tailoring town on the mainland to meet up with Will. The town was so cute and had such character. We also ended up buying a ton of custom clothes (suits, jackets, etc). It was amazing - you go there in the morning, order the clothes and then in the afternoon go for a fitting. Next day, they're done! We ended up buying the boys' suits at a shop called Mr. Xhe. The employees consisted of 1) Mr. Xhe, a gay guy who pinched Will's nipple moments after walking in and called Riki's stomach hair his love hair, 2) a girl who was obsessed with Will and kept saying the reason Will didn't have a girlfriend was b/c he was too picky. When we went to go get our measurements taken, we didn't do it at the shop, but instead we peddled a bike with Mr. Xhe on the back to the work shop a ways down the road. Obviously unique and awesome experience - especially the nipple grabbing and love hair :)
I also got groped by a shop-owner. I was bending over looking at scarves in her shop and she commented how lucky I was to be traveling with 2 men. She then proceeded to slap my butt. I was shocked and didn't move. Then she continued hitting each cheek and saying "One for you and one for you". Then she famously said to the boys "You hit that every day?" Will said my face was priceless and I would have to agree. And of course, this quote was used constantly through the rest of the vacation.
The rest of the trip consisted of massages, cafe sua da (iced Vietnamese coffee) and bumming around town stimulating their economy. Here is also where we discovered the amazing Vietnamese sandwich (Bahn Mi) that are about 50 cents and are seriously soooo delicious! At one of the food stands, Will got in a pepper match with the cart owner and downed an entire Thai chili...that was pretty fun to watch :)
Hanoi
Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and the 2nd largest city. When we arrived at our hotel, we went up to find a room barely big enough for 2 people and a 3rd bed crammed in the corner. We would have been really nice and cozy in that room! The hotel guy was really nice and mentioned that they had a sister hotel that wasn't as noisy and was bigger. So I hopped on the hotel guy's scooter to go check out the other room. Gotta love random scooter rides in these countries :) We ended up moving, which was an awesome choice.
It's a really cool city and we had a great time bumming around, seeing the sites, and eating a TON of pho on the streets. I think the entire Vietnam trip, we ate at 2 restaurants and voted to eat at the little stands on the street. The food was amazing and stuffing yourself of pho and having 2 giant beers would set you back about $2. There was a stand right outside the hotel that was awesome and had really cute ladies who didn't speak any English, but thought we were funny.
Will got sick here (cold from China, not from the food or anything) and took it easy and Riki and bummed around town. I'm having a hard time thinking of everything we saw, but there were really cool street markets, a nice lake in the middle of the city, and a great rooftop restaurant with views of the entire city. This is one of those cities that you could live in.
We did a day trip to Halong Bay (story is above) and then Riki and I set off for Thailand a day before Will.
Thailand (pictures)
Throughout Vietnam and Thailand, everyone thought Riki was a local and most likely Will and my tour guide. Poor Riki always had to carry his luggage while Will's and mine were taken immediately from us. And at the hotel in Bangkok, we went up for drinks and she double checked 2x that we needed the table for 3 (looking at Riki the entire time). And people kept saying - "same same?" to Riki to ask him if he was also Asian. The Thai massage ladies were also confused but did call him a handsome Asian in their language :P) With all of this, we started calling Riki our local "fixer" and "tour guide". Ahh...good times!
Bangkok
Bangkok is a really cool city with tons to do. Unfortunately we didn't really see anything outside of our BEAUTIFUL hotel room. Riki found a deal on Jetsetter and we booked this place for 2 nights. It was a mansion and to top it off, since we stayed in a suite, we got free food and drinks all day at one of the bars overlooking the city. The first night Riki got sick (bad fever, etc) so I just went up there and chilled. Then the next day when Will arrived, I wanted to go see the sights, but the guys wanted to drink for free :) So we stayed and enjoyed the perks.
Koh Chang
After a 5 hour bus ride, we arrived at Koh Chang. We chose these islands b/c they had all of the activities but aren't as touristy as Phuket and Koh Phi Phi. Good thing too since Phi Phi was affected by the flooding. Our hotel looked really nice and we even splurged for a bungalow instead of a regular room. To our dismay, when you order a 3 person room, what that really means is a small 2 person room with a cot. There was no way we were going to be able to stay there so Will & Riki sent the closer in (aka me). I negotiated with the hotel and was able to get us upgraded to an amazing room that was HUGE! India is making me a much better haggler :)
In Koh Chang, we rented scooters and bummed around the island and checked out beaches. We had a pool/water day which consisted of us stealing a kid's ball and playing "head ball" then going out to the ocean to play paddle ball. We also went elephant trekking and were able to feed the elephants. That was seriously awesome! I even got to ride on the neck of the elephant! After the elephants, I saw a little monkey who you could take your picture with. I thought "When in Rome!" and went up to him. He then started picking through my hair looking though bugs, which was interesting... Then Will went up to him and the monkey went crazy and started biting Will's arm. The guy working said that the monkey didn't like Will. After that, Will pretty much freaked out saying how the monkey "broke skin" and how he was really nervous. First of all, the guy said the monkey had his vaccinations so Will was fine. Secondly, the monkey DIDN'T break skin. Will had a red mark for a day. What a baby ;)
The other excursion we went on was a 1/2 day snorkeling off of a speed boat. It was really awesome and we ended up going to one of those beach areas that you see in movies - so gorgeous! And I love speed boats - so awesome! On the way home, a boat crew member suggested that Will sit on top of the very tip of the boat and dangle his legs off. Of course Will and I climbed up even though in the states people would freak out if you did that! I love 3rd world countries - they let you sit on an elephant's head and on the tip of a speed boat. No biggie :) The rest of the day was spent in the ocean playing paddle ball and watching the beautiful sunset sipping fresh coconut shakes. Now that's the life!
At night pretty much every night, we bummed around town for a bit, got a Thai massage, then ate some really yummy Thai curry. Will also often got whistled at by transvestites, which are insanely common in Thailand. I really wish we had more time on the island. Even though it was 4 days, it really felt too quick :(
Overall, this trip was amazing and I totally fell in love with both places. Vietnam is much less westernized than Thailand and is obviously a poorer country. But that's what I loved about Vietnam - it was truly authentic.
Quotes from the Trip:
"You hit that everyday?" -Vietnamese lady referring to Riki & Will hitting my bum
"Nothing goes better together than a cup of coffee and some cock" -Will just being Will
"Ripcord!" -Riki inventing a word for Will where if said, you are allowed to stop what you're saying since it is coming out as non-sense.
"You could fry me like a chicken!" -Will referring to the amount of oil the masseuse used on him
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