Ok so last update was from Bangkok, I'm well out of Asia now. I have been in Bogota for the past two weeks, but I'll keep going from where I left off.
We left Bangkok early in the morning to the view of the sun rising, and arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam a couple of hours later.We cleared immigration and made our way to our hotel in the city in the old quarter. It was really cool, tiny little side streets, scooters everywhere. It was like a maze. Then after navigation several aggressive tour salesman I found a little old Australian woman in a tour booth. Apparently she was filling in for her friend who ran the place, she was really friendly and helped us book a tour to Halong Bay as well as recommending several restaurants and things to see in the surrounding area.
The next day we set out on the 4 hour bus ride to Halong Bay, where we met the rest of the people that would be joingin us on our cruise, including a couple of hot french guys, and a hot Norwegian hahaha. We got there and boarded our boat and started our trip into Halong Bay.
It is one of the most beautiful places I have even seen. It is literally a maze of islands, each one breathtakingly beautiful. They rose up out of the water like ancient monoliths, their limestone cliffs weeping water and giving them depth and texture. We passed countless caves and strange rock formations. We got the chance to get out and explore some, both by foot, swimming, kyak, and bike. We spent on night on the boat in the bay, surrounded by other boats all lit up under a glowing moon (Said to be the eye of the halong bay dragon) It was really beautiful, and unfortunately my crappy camera doesn't quite capture it. We spent the second night on the largest island in Halong bay, which is surrounded by floating towns (which are littered throughout the bay everywhere). It's said that some of them live and die on the water, without ever setting foot on dry land, and those that do, are prone to the opposite effect of seasickness.
It was a really amazing experience, and it would take faaaar to long to go into great detail, so I hope the pictures speak a little for me.
Anyway after we returned from out trip to Halong, we flew to Ho Chi Minh city or Saigon as many still know it. We spent a few days there risking our life crossing the roads through the thousands of scooter who held absolutely no regard for any for of traffic laws haha. It was exhilarating and terrifying all at once. We also spent some time visiting The re-unification palace of the Vietnam war, left preserved exactly as it was the day the south surrendered. It was really cool exploring the tunnels underneath the palace filled with tactical maps and communication equipment. We also visited the War museum, which told the story of just how awful the Vietnam war was, from things like photos of USA war crimes, to the effects of Agent orange. We did have a bit of fun in one section where newspaper clippings from war protests around the world trying to find our countries. Australia was there, but Colimbia was nowhere to be seen.
After some more exploring of the city, markets, and food we packed our bags and prepared for the long flight home.
and upload a few more pics from my adventures.
And we had to skip over Cambodia for time constraints chicken, But it was originally in our plans, I even have the visa in my passport. Apparently Angkor watt is the largest temple complex in the world. But knowing it needss preservation work due to tourists is a good reason to say we didnt go haha.
