I left Korea a week and a half ago but it honestly feels like it’s been much longer. Having adventures regularly will do that to you, I guess. I started out this whole thing in Hanoi, after a horrendous plane ride from Korea sat next to the fattest, most misbehaved little Korean boy I’ve ever encountered. This could be a slight exaggeration, but he was awful and his Omma (Mom) seemed to encourage his rudeness and gluttony as she didn’t scold or stop feeding him for the entire five hour flight.

I digress.

I landed in Hanoi and immediately realized how much I’ve changed in the last year. Landing in such a hot and frenzied place this time last year would have probably given me a bit of pause for concern, of which I had none this go-around. Fight with the taxi drivers, make them take you all the way there, try and fool me. I dared them. They didn’t.

 

  I got to where I was meeting my friend, Niall, without issue and I was unexpectedly calm. Not really nervous, not really excited, just kind of another day, the first one of many on the move until December when I fly back to America. 

I had a great time staying and catching up with Niall and his fiancée Amy at their apartment the next couple days. Once I figured out how to cross the (chaotically) busy intersection in front of their apartment building without crying, I was golden. 

 

 We ate some delicious food the first night and signed me up for a boat cruise in Ha Long Bay, something I’ve been anticipating for a while now.

HA LONG BAY

  I signed up for the not-so-expensive but non-party boat tour for two days and one night. We took a very small bus from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay for about three hours (ROUGH) with one tourist-aimed stop between. Our guide was really sweet and funny and overall it was a good time. 

The tour included a stop off at a huge cave, called the Gate to Heaven, I believe. It was a huge, beautiful cave decorated with the ugliest, tackiest colored lights. This is also the first time I realized how jaded I am.

   
    
 
This place was discovered and ruined because the Vietnamese knew they could make money off of it by selling the “experience” to tourists, and here I was…buying it. I hated myself for it. And for all the little staged things we did on the trip, like kayaking with about four other cruising boats at some staged “fishing village” and anchoring for the night with even more other boats off of Cat Ba island, where other tourists slept.

All my cynicism couldn’t take away from how amazingly beautiful these limestone islands are, however.

   
   
We all went for a sunset swim in the (quite literally) piss warm and murky water. Not exactly what I had expected, but then again things rarely turn out how you expect them to. 

   

  

  

  

 After a chill night of dinner, beers and conversation, I went to sleep and *luckily* didn’t see any cockroaches in my room all night. Yay! 

The next day we learned how to roll up spring rolls as we headed back to port. We ended up eating the delicious things as part of lunch, while listening to the unfortunate sounds of an AWFUL British girl yelling at all the workers because the tables were too small for her highness to dine at. She was a bitch. I hate her. 

I digress.

All in all, as obviously set up for tourism as it was, I had a good time. I met some great people and experienced Ha Long Bay in the most common way. A couple days later and I was off to Hoi An…where I spent all of my money.