Stair Master

    Spent last night on a boat. Never realized how much I missed being on the water till then. The break from Vietnam was rather nice, although I'm noticing a huge difference between the Thais and the Vietnamese: If you're learning Vietnamese language the Vietnamese try to teach it to you and get you excited about Vietnam. One of the phrases our tour guide insisted we learn was "I love Vietnam." Thai people think you're adorable for learning a few phrases of their language.
    Thank you all for the 1000 pageviews. Reached it while I was gone but it means a lot to me, especially since I thought only my mother would be reading it.

• Saturday
• Left by eight to get to the bay. Instead of the usual vans we rode in a huge comfy bus for three and a half hours. The road had plenty of pot holes and the driver would randomly slam on the brakes but most of us slept the whole way there. Except for this rest stop which was more of a tourist trap. The outside was littered with the most random statues, some realistic ones (like fish, bears, children), others abstract, and some religious ones. By religious I mean Buddhist. Really wanted to buy one and send it home. While it was neat to see the people making the paintings in front of you, everything there could be bought for much less in Hanoi. Still didn't stop me from purchasing some ice cream. 
• Our guide met us exactly where our bus stopped. A bit creepy. We almost immediately got on the boat and were served lunch. This was no ordinary lunch, this was a five course lunch. I can't even remember all the things we had but a food coma was pretty imminent. I ate fish for a meal and since it was so fresh it went down well. I normally can't eat fish because of the smell/taste of it and because it still looks like a fish. This was disguised well and 
• Instead I went kayaking. Around a fishing village. And almost kayaked out to sea. Then ran into a rock. It was fun but I was so focused on keeping the kayak moving I didn't get to see much of the village. Except to notice they had a lot of dogs there. 
• When we got back on the boat we headed to a good swimming spot. All of us had some trouble getting in the water at first but once you jumped in it wasn't as much of a big deal. Minus the fact the salt water was freezing and Niko got stung by something on his butt, but the crew swore there weren't any jellyfish in the bay. After we got out my hair dried into River Song hair. I was tempted to go around saying "Hello, Sweetie" but no one would have gotten my reference.  
• Another huge meal for dinner. Our guide never ate with us but served us.
• Went fishing after dinner. No one was successful with the hooks (except me because I got a nibble from a squid which was more than anyone else got and Donna caught a jellyfish which proved the crew wrong!) but a few things were caught in the net. 
• Donna and I took a break from each other for a night. I roomed with Karen while she and Deanna were together. Things seem to be better between us, probably just too much togetherness. 
• Sunday
• Another early morning. The night before we had decided to go to a pagoda overlooking the bay instead of descending down into a cave. What no one said was that it was 424 stairs to the pagoda and even then it was a nice view. All of us made it to the top, even though we were in dresses and flip flops. Again. It was the waterfall all over again except this time there were actual stairs. 
• Did a polar bear dip after clambering back down. Barbara took a picture of us. Watched Drexler try to talk to Lilith about some issues that she has been causing but we watched their body language get more and more closed so it was probably not successful. 
• Jumped back on the boat to check out of our rooms and grab brunch. Their bacon was so juicy and wonderful!! After breakfast we tried to have a discussion on the book but our tour guide kept interrupting Papa Duck to talk to him or us about stuff. Never seen someone get on Drexler's bad side so quickly. Then he hitched a ride with us back to Hanoi, even though Drexler tried to leave him behind. 
• When we got back Donna and I spent six hours lounging around our room. We have yet to regret it. Made up for it by going to a random sit in restaurant and ordering something different. There was a chihuahua there who was very nervous about all the people. When we got back we found the elevator out of order. More stairs!! My thighs are telling me how out of shape I am!!

    I would have uploaded pictures but they will probably be on next time's post. They are mostly landscapes with mountains barely discernible from the fog surrounding them. Kinda boring. 

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