yesterday, in the late afternoon, ashley and i swam out with our masks and snorkels, and for 45 minutes swam with a gigantic hawksbill turtle. we were so close that we could (and did!) touch him a few times, diving alongside him to the coral, and popping up with him when he came back up for air. it was incredible. he had to be four feet long from nose to tail, making him god-only-knows how old, and all the time surrounded by hundreds of tiny irridescent blue and silver fish, making it look like he was being showered with confetti. yet another magical moment.
the gili islands are an island paradise. white sand, turquoise water, great snorkeling (obviously), coconut trees, no cars, no police... its a good place to start a new year. unfortunately we werent the only people to think so, and on arriving discovered that australians and europeans have been booking their rooms here months in advance, while we, as usual, decided to wing it. that turned out to be a miserably bad idea. our boat pulled in at about six in the evening. we then spent three full hours, with backpacks on, trudging through the heat, and then the dark in search of just one available room. after an hour we found one that we thought was overpriced, and passed on it, only to desperately come back later to find it taken. when every conventional option had been exhausted, we toyed with two desperation strategies. the first was to sleep on the beach, where a hotel security guard had promised us a spot on the floor of his hut. i thought it would be fine, but the lack of walls bothered ashley, as did the lack of a bed, so we went with option two: during our search we thought it would be quicker to have ash plant herself in a restaurant and watch our bags while i ran around searching. so at the very moment i had struck an agreement with beach security, ashley had a sympathetic waiter offer up his room for the night. at about ten pm he led us through the backstreets of the island, well off the tourist path, and into his dingy but much appreciated apartment. it certainly wasnt what we had planned, but it beat sleeping on the beach (possibly). next day we set out early, sniffing out early checkouts and found a beautiful bungalow on the water. ever since we've been having the time of our lives.
tonight we'll search out a beach party and stay out late, and then try to be on our way tomorrow. we're a little grey on our next few moves after hearing mixed reviews of lombok, but i think we'll have a look for ourselves before backtracking through bali and then again into java.
till then, happy new year!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Merry Christmas!!!
So it's the 27th of December, which makes me a little late in my holiday tidings, but better late than never. We spent our Christmas in Lovina, a tiny beach town in the North of Bali, renowned for it's dolphin watching, an activity we decided to skip. Apparently you pay $15 to head out in a fleet of boats that chase around a gaggle of fleeing dolphins, and we didn't feel like that would jive with the holiday spirit. Instead we rented motorbikes for three consecutive days and careened along the North coast.
Bali is possibly the most beautiful place I've ever been. Everything looks like a Bob Ross painting. It's almost cheesy how gorgeous it is. I would be only slightly surprised if we saw a unicorn galloping up a rainbow. So generally speaking, that's what we were driving through.
Christmas eve was our first day on the bike and we took a road along the coast towards a thousand year old temple perched over the water. So far the temples here have all been about the same, which is not to say they aren't beautiful, but if you see one, youv'e seen enough. This experience was special, though, because we were the only people there, except for the self-proclaimed "guardians of the temple" who prepared us for entry by dressing us in sarongs, flowers in our hair, rice on our foreheads and throats, and then annointing us with holy water. Atypical for a Christmas eve, to say the least.
After the temple we shot over to Art Zoo, an outdoor gallery/ homoerotic fantasyscape of the American artist Symon. We explored the grounds, again as the only tourists around, checking out Symon's massive canvases of Balinese landscapes, and, of course, his assorted blue reclining male nude sculptures. After the self guided tour we talked with Symon for a while before plopping back on the bike and riding through a two thousand year old village (according to Symon) and then home.
Back in Lovina we set out to fulfill a personal dream we've harbored since our time in Cambodia. Regular readers might recall mention of the durian fruit, the locally beloved fruit that smells like an armpit. We tried it back in Cambodia, and actually liked it, and even thought that because of its semi-savory taste and avocado-like texture, it might be made into a tasty guacamole, that if successful, we would name durcamole. So we went to a grocery store, picked up a medium size durian and all the regular guacamole accoutrements, and snuck everything into our room. In some countries in Asia durian is banned in public places and we thought our hotel might not smile upon us cooking with one on our balcony. Long story short, durcamole is some of the most foul tasting garbage I have ever eaten and our room smelled like shit for hours. Under no circumstances should this experiment ever, ever be repeated. I had to wash my hands about 20 times before I went to bed, just to ward off vomiting. We still had a lovely time making it, listening to Christmas tunes and decorating our makeshift tropical tree with seashells and flowers.
For dinner Ashley suggested we find a place that does pizza, as pizza is the Trottier family traditional Christmas Eve meal. Sadly the place we chose apparently boils their pizza, because it came out disturbingly wet. We also ordered guacomole which was actually thousand island dressing with shrimp in it.
Christmas day, we woke up, oredered coffee and tea to our room and opened presents. We put a five dollar limit on each other, but both made off with one nice gift and a chocolate bar each. Day two on the scooters took us up the side of a volcano to a massive waterfall, and then back down to some springs favored by the locals. When we came back to town we settled in for a beer on the beach at sunset and ended up meeting a couple guys who we hit it off with, and spent the rest of our Christmas with them eating loads of delicious Indonesian food and drinking cold Bintang into the wee hours. It turned out to be a very memorable and special Christmas day.
For Christmas Ove, as we are now and forever calling it, we tooled back up the volcano, tyo another set of falls that, honestly, were too good to be true. It's sad, I suppose, that this kind of gratuitous beauty always seems fake to us, but once again, it just looked like a horrible velvet painting. And I mean that in a good way. We hiked trails between a handful of waterfalls, and every time we thought we had come to the headliner, we crested a hill and stumbled onto one even more incredible than the last. So that was a good day.
Last night we met up with our Christmas pals for a few final drinks before parting we parted ways, and Ash and I made last minute deigns on getting to Padang Bai, where we currentyl find ourselves. It's nice here, but not spectacular. We snorkeled for a while, but there's very little else to do, so I think tomorrow we'll hop on a boat to the Gili Islands, just off the northwest coast of Lombok. Gili Trawangan has a reputation as the party island making it our hopeful spot of residence for New Year's Eve. Otherwise, none of the Gilis have roads, meaning no cars or motorbikes for a while, and they also have no freshwater showers, so we will be living a la Swiss Family Robinson for a while. I don't know if there's Internet or not, so if you don't hear from us, happy New Year's!
Bali is possibly the most beautiful place I've ever been. Everything looks like a Bob Ross painting. It's almost cheesy how gorgeous it is. I would be only slightly surprised if we saw a unicorn galloping up a rainbow. So generally speaking, that's what we were driving through.
Christmas eve was our first day on the bike and we took a road along the coast towards a thousand year old temple perched over the water. So far the temples here have all been about the same, which is not to say they aren't beautiful, but if you see one, youv'e seen enough. This experience was special, though, because we were the only people there, except for the self-proclaimed "guardians of the temple" who prepared us for entry by dressing us in sarongs, flowers in our hair, rice on our foreheads and throats, and then annointing us with holy water. Atypical for a Christmas eve, to say the least.
After the temple we shot over to Art Zoo, an outdoor gallery/ homoerotic fantasyscape of the American artist Symon. We explored the grounds, again as the only tourists around, checking out Symon's massive canvases of Balinese landscapes, and, of course, his assorted blue reclining male nude sculptures. After the self guided tour we talked with Symon for a while before plopping back on the bike and riding through a two thousand year old village (according to Symon) and then home.
Back in Lovina we set out to fulfill a personal dream we've harbored since our time in Cambodia. Regular readers might recall mention of the durian fruit, the locally beloved fruit that smells like an armpit. We tried it back in Cambodia, and actually liked it, and even thought that because of its semi-savory taste and avocado-like texture, it might be made into a tasty guacamole, that if successful, we would name durcamole. So we went to a grocery store, picked up a medium size durian and all the regular guacamole accoutrements, and snuck everything into our room. In some countries in Asia durian is banned in public places and we thought our hotel might not smile upon us cooking with one on our balcony. Long story short, durcamole is some of the most foul tasting garbage I have ever eaten and our room smelled like shit for hours. Under no circumstances should this experiment ever, ever be repeated. I had to wash my hands about 20 times before I went to bed, just to ward off vomiting. We still had a lovely time making it, listening to Christmas tunes and decorating our makeshift tropical tree with seashells and flowers.
For dinner Ashley suggested we find a place that does pizza, as pizza is the Trottier family traditional Christmas Eve meal. Sadly the place we chose apparently boils their pizza, because it came out disturbingly wet. We also ordered guacomole which was actually thousand island dressing with shrimp in it.
Christmas day, we woke up, oredered coffee and tea to our room and opened presents. We put a five dollar limit on each other, but both made off with one nice gift and a chocolate bar each. Day two on the scooters took us up the side of a volcano to a massive waterfall, and then back down to some springs favored by the locals. When we came back to town we settled in for a beer on the beach at sunset and ended up meeting a couple guys who we hit it off with, and spent the rest of our Christmas with them eating loads of delicious Indonesian food and drinking cold Bintang into the wee hours. It turned out to be a very memorable and special Christmas day.
For Christmas Ove, as we are now and forever calling it, we tooled back up the volcano, tyo another set of falls that, honestly, were too good to be true. It's sad, I suppose, that this kind of gratuitous beauty always seems fake to us, but once again, it just looked like a horrible velvet painting. And I mean that in a good way. We hiked trails between a handful of waterfalls, and every time we thought we had come to the headliner, we crested a hill and stumbled onto one even more incredible than the last. So that was a good day.
Last night we met up with our Christmas pals for a few final drinks before parting we parted ways, and Ash and I made last minute deigns on getting to Padang Bai, where we currentyl find ourselves. It's nice here, but not spectacular. We snorkeled for a while, but there's very little else to do, so I think tomorrow we'll hop on a boat to the Gili Islands, just off the northwest coast of Lombok. Gili Trawangan has a reputation as the party island making it our hopeful spot of residence for New Year's Eve. Otherwise, none of the Gilis have roads, meaning no cars or motorbikes for a while, and they also have no freshwater showers, so we will be living a la Swiss Family Robinson for a while. I don't know if there's Internet or not, so if you don't hear from us, happy New Year's!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
hi there.
ashley and i have moved away from the garbage-laden party beaches of kuta and into the more tranquil, hippiehaven, artists community of ubud. ubud is known as bali's cultural mecca, and with good reason, it seems. every street is strewn with galleries, artists workshops, performance centers, and so on. unlike many other "cultural meccas" we've visited on this trip, where gangs of art students pump out the same recreations of van gogh's starry night, or dime a dozen buddha paintings, there actually appears to be a sense of true art and individuality here in ubud. which is not to say that one can't find those same buddha paintings here, but not solely. i might have a hard time not dropping some moneys here.
our first night, after exploring the town, we went to a temple to see a traditional kecak dance. if you have the time, i would strongly recommend looking this up on youtube. it was incredible. the performance consists of a chorus of 50 men, rhythmically chanting in a circle around a massive candelabra, while characters from the ramayana (an elaborate hindu/ buddhist story that has come up repeatedly on this trip, from temple murals, to names of restaurants) take turns dancing and acting out battles. the show ends when a man dressed as a golden deer dances wildly through a large pile of burning hot coconut shells, sporadically kicking them towards the terrified crowd (cause it turns out they really are hot!). the music was incredible, the dancing was incredible, and even the story was compelling and easy to follow, considering it was all done in bahasa.
overall, the kecak dance was a far more enjoyable show than, let's say, the shadow puppet show we went to last night. a good idea in theory, the shadow puppet performance is an hour plus show of one puppeteer (with assistants) moving the arms of some leather cutouts in front of a flame-lit screen to the accompaniment of gamelon music. if you put an infinite number of monkeys at an infinite number of xylophones, eventually you would have the entire score of last night's puppet show. i'm sure that before television, watching sillouhettes move their arms around to the clamour of clanging bells was as good as it got, but i just couldn't take it. don't bother youtubing this one.
one highlight of ubud has been our trip to the sacred monkey forest in the middle of town. for a dollar fifty you can walk through a dense pocket of jungle, riddled with monkeys, and for an extra buck, buy a bunch of bananas to entice the little guys to be your friend. our bunch of bananas was short lived, as the second we took them out we were swarmed by monkeys, several of whom climbed onto my back and head, at one point, actually getting a foot into my open mouth while reaching for a banana. i know. disgusting... but awesome, nonetheless.
yesterday we rented bikes and tooled around the countryside, hitting up a few temples along the way and commingling with the natives. people love to find out that we're american, because it gives them the chance to tell us that obama lived in indonesia, and i would say one in six claim to be a personal friend of the president-elect. along the way we also saw a couple of snakes, one enormous but very dead, and one alive but manageable in size. as a result, i conducted my first under-the-bed-snake-search for ashley's benefit, with a 0% or 100% success rate, depending on how you look at it. the rest of our ride took us through rice paddies and over steep river gorges covered with jungle, and by the backstreet workshops of local artisans. we spent sunset at a ramshackle bar in a rice paddie, watching thousands of white egrets return to their nests in the trees right above us. we both felt lucky to not be shit on.
today i think we'll loaf about, read, and amble in and out of art galleries. there's a yoga class later for which i may join ashley, followed by a meditation class at sundown. tomorrow our plan is to head north to lovina, where i think we'll spend christmas watching dolphins swim from a black sand beach.
ashley and i have moved away from the garbage-laden party beaches of kuta and into the more tranquil, hippiehaven, artists community of ubud. ubud is known as bali's cultural mecca, and with good reason, it seems. every street is strewn with galleries, artists workshops, performance centers, and so on. unlike many other "cultural meccas" we've visited on this trip, where gangs of art students pump out the same recreations of van gogh's starry night, or dime a dozen buddha paintings, there actually appears to be a sense of true art and individuality here in ubud. which is not to say that one can't find those same buddha paintings here, but not solely. i might have a hard time not dropping some moneys here.
our first night, after exploring the town, we went to a temple to see a traditional kecak dance. if you have the time, i would strongly recommend looking this up on youtube. it was incredible. the performance consists of a chorus of 50 men, rhythmically chanting in a circle around a massive candelabra, while characters from the ramayana (an elaborate hindu/ buddhist story that has come up repeatedly on this trip, from temple murals, to names of restaurants) take turns dancing and acting out battles. the show ends when a man dressed as a golden deer dances wildly through a large pile of burning hot coconut shells, sporadically kicking them towards the terrified crowd (cause it turns out they really are hot!). the music was incredible, the dancing was incredible, and even the story was compelling and easy to follow, considering it was all done in bahasa.
overall, the kecak dance was a far more enjoyable show than, let's say, the shadow puppet show we went to last night. a good idea in theory, the shadow puppet performance is an hour plus show of one puppeteer (with assistants) moving the arms of some leather cutouts in front of a flame-lit screen to the accompaniment of gamelon music. if you put an infinite number of monkeys at an infinite number of xylophones, eventually you would have the entire score of last night's puppet show. i'm sure that before television, watching sillouhettes move their arms around to the clamour of clanging bells was as good as it got, but i just couldn't take it. don't bother youtubing this one.
one highlight of ubud has been our trip to the sacred monkey forest in the middle of town. for a dollar fifty you can walk through a dense pocket of jungle, riddled with monkeys, and for an extra buck, buy a bunch of bananas to entice the little guys to be your friend. our bunch of bananas was short lived, as the second we took them out we were swarmed by monkeys, several of whom climbed onto my back and head, at one point, actually getting a foot into my open mouth while reaching for a banana. i know. disgusting... but awesome, nonetheless.
yesterday we rented bikes and tooled around the countryside, hitting up a few temples along the way and commingling with the natives. people love to find out that we're american, because it gives them the chance to tell us that obama lived in indonesia, and i would say one in six claim to be a personal friend of the president-elect. along the way we also saw a couple of snakes, one enormous but very dead, and one alive but manageable in size. as a result, i conducted my first under-the-bed-snake-search for ashley's benefit, with a 0% or 100% success rate, depending on how you look at it. the rest of our ride took us through rice paddies and over steep river gorges covered with jungle, and by the backstreet workshops of local artisans. we spent sunset at a ramshackle bar in a rice paddie, watching thousands of white egrets return to their nests in the trees right above us. we both felt lucky to not be shit on.
today i think we'll loaf about, read, and amble in and out of art galleries. there's a yoga class later for which i may join ashley, followed by a meditation class at sundown. tomorrow our plan is to head north to lovina, where i think we'll spend christmas watching dolphins swim from a black sand beach.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
The late entry
Trotter 2 Here
Sorry this entry took so long but I chose the most difficult part of the trip to write about and, unlike Brian and Ashley, I have a job I had to get back to before I had time to write.
Sapa (An alpine village built in lush green mountains by the French to escape the Vietnam heat) was an overnight train ride away from Hanoi. We had a sleeper car with all the necessities (surly woman selling beer, strange Asian snacks, good euchre table, questionable bedding and some fake flowers which are everywhere in Vietnam despite the fact that anything could grow anywhere here). The train ride ended at a station just 3km from the Chinese border which seems like a missed opportunity for some shenanigans. We had only an hour long bus ride in a misty morning before reaching Sapa. The first half hour was gorgeous. Then our trip changed drastically.
Our minibus came around a bend in the wet and narrow roads to find another minibus that had just passed us, carrying about twenty locals, smashed up badly. It had been hit hard on the side by an oncoming truck. "OH MY GOD!"
I don't think details are really necessary but I also can't imagine leaving it out of our travel tales. There were some very seriously injured people on that bus and one fatality. Luckily we had some great people on our bus. We acted quickly and i like to think that lives we saved because of some our actions. My thoughts go out to the people still healing from their injuries and I'm very proud of the people on our bus for all the help that they gave that morning.
(Okay deep breath)
First beer in Sapa: 8 am
Luckily we had scheduled early plans for the day. A guide and 6 or 7 Black Hmong women met us in front of our hotel for a trek to their village about 6 km away. Our healing from an awful morning began immediately. Despite the cold, the scenery of theses terraced mountains was amazing and the Hmong women were more so. They're beautiful, their clothes are beautiful and they're funny as hell. The little girl you see in our pictures is named Kazoo.
through a tour company we had scheduled stuff for the following day but decided to skip the big Sunday market because it was a 6 hr round trip bus ride and none of us wanted anything to do with road travel for as long as we could put it off. Instead, the four of us spent our time searching out the few restaurants with fireplaces, playing cards, and finding the most effective way to use the strange Chinese space heaters that made all the lights in the hotel flicker. We also showed Ashley a Trottier family tradition. Demonstrating which one of us could be more stubborn and difficult. Ashley passed the very difficult test of seeing that saga work back to a loving reconciliation. Well done Johnson.
Northwestern Vietnam was unforgettable. Good and bad, but I would definitely go back. It challenged the four of us but I think we came away stronger both individually and as a group.
About a week later Nicole and I started heading home with a short stop in Tokyo. I'll save you from most of the details because this is not my blog, but a few things have to be mentioned.
1)Fly Japanese Airlines. Beautiful stewardesses that perform multiple mid flight costume changes, free booze or beer, decent food and the "bird's eye cam".
2)I got to stay in a Tokyo Four Seasons (Ha Ha!) thanks Nicole
3)A story for the Stubby fans out there (for you readers unfamiliar with Stubby, that is my left index finger that was trimmed down to 2/3 scale by a snowblower way back when). When you enter customs in Japan you are required to have your picture taken and you're digitally fingerprinted. As instructed, I placed my index fingers in the machine. The digital screen then showed pictures of normal index fingers but with a huge red X over the one on the left side and a loud alarm sounded. The customs woman looked up startled like this had never happened before. I proudly produced stubby for her inspection and eventually she decided, it was apparent she was very embarrassed about the whole incident, we should opt for a different finger. Worry not for Stubby, he's a proud finger.
I loved my short time in Asia. Thanks for having us Brian and Ash.
we have safely arrived in our fifth, and possibly final, country of this trip. another long day of travel brought us into surabaya, the armpit of indonesia. we arrived too late to consider moving on to a more desirable location, so we settled into a reasonable hotel, with no windows and a squat toilet, in an alley rich with rats and roaches (pardon my alliteration). both of us starving, we dumped our bags in the room and asked the front desk about a place to get some food, which turned into a rickshaw ride to the mall. it turns out the mall stays open until ten, but for some inexplicable reason, everything in it closes at about nine. we were first turned down at kfc, where they sent us to the fourth floor, home of the food court. fourth floor, nothing but closed restaurants, and yet, an open merry go round. back downstairs, past the closed a&w, to the pizza hut, where we were also turned away. when we asked an employee if there was anything nearby that was still open, she launched into detailed directions to a 24 hour mcdonalds. when we asked her to write it down for us, she eventually handed us a piece of paper on which she had written only the word "mcdonalds." completely exasperated and famished, we returned to our rickshaw driver, mimed our hunger to him, and he took us to a local restaurant that served two dishes: plain white rice, and fried chicken heads. we went for the rice.
but indonesia is a better place than surabaya would have you believe, and a long busride the following day brought us to gunung bromo, an active volcano near the eastern coast of java. we arrived in the afternoon, and had a few hours before sunset to explore the area at the base of the crater on our own. it's the rainy season in indonesia now, and a heavy duvee of clouds hung a hundred feet above us, walking over black volcanic earth and rocks, giving a very other-worldly feel to the place. one tour agency described it as the fine line between heaven and hell, while others have likened it to the surface of the moon. both are fair descriptions, and although the clouds obscured the views, they also created an eerie atmosphere that we both appreciated.
the next morning we woke up at 3 am (3 am!) to take a jeep to the top of a mountain, overlooking the crater. with a hundred other people we watched the sun come up over the clouds, before driving down to the base, and then hiking up the the edge of the crater. i think we were at about six thousand feet, and the altitude mixed with the sulphurous gases belching out of the volcano made for a challenging climb, but the views at the top proved amazing. over the hour we spent circumnavigating the crater, the clouds shifted and changed, creating a constantly changing landscape. it was incredible.
with our tour over at eight in the morning, we headed out of town, towards bali, where we are currently spending our days. our goal for bali is to learn to surf, which is proving to be a balance of frustration and rewards. on my first day i managed to get up three times, while ashley is finding it a bit more difficult. i only mention this, because ashley has repeatedly kicked my ass at rock climbing, and will undoubtedly eventually do the same with surfing, so for now im relishing my own success. the frustration we've both had, however, is compounded by the disgust at how dirty the beach is where we are learning. in all my years i have never seen a more disgusting beach. wading into the water means wading into literally thousands of plastic bags, wrappers, soda bottles, etc. you can't take one single step without brushing against a dozen pieces of trash. from what we understand, this is the dirtiest beach in bali, so it we have nicer beacheds to look forward to, but unfortunately, this is the only beach that has waves we are capable of surfing. i think we'll wake up early tomorrow for another shot on on surf boards, before we make our way to a cleaner stretch of sand.
in addition to being a world class surf destination, bali is known for its party scene, so ashley and i took to the streets last night to check out some clubs. most of the downtown clubs turned out to be underage australian drinking bonanzas, so we took a risk and headed to the next town to find a club that was supposed to have some big name dj, hoping to find some people that weren't half my age. the club was more expensive than the others, but it was a local crowd, and the dj turned out to be quite good, so we ended up having a blast. after dancing on stage for a while, we set out to explore the nooks and crannies of the club, and accidentally stumbled into a private karaoke room, where we were welcomed with open arms. despite the fact hat no one seemed to speak english, we shared a few drinks with them before realizing that a room full of older, ugly men and younger attractive women might be a bit fishy so we headed back to the dance floor. back on the floor, we saw the celebrity dj having a drink, having just finished his set, so we approached him and chatted him up. he poured us a few free drinks, and then invited us to join him and his entourage for a late-night snack. nine of us piled into an suv and made our way back towards our neck of the woods, where he treated us to some beers and spring rolls until 5 am. when the food was all gone, we said our goodbyes and ashley and i dragged ourselves home and fell into bed.
and now, like i said, i think we'll head out to the next town. i think we'll head south to ulu watu, where we can watch real surfers on real waves, possibly inspiring us to wade back into the garbage and give it another try.
but indonesia is a better place than surabaya would have you believe, and a long busride the following day brought us to gunung bromo, an active volcano near the eastern coast of java. we arrived in the afternoon, and had a few hours before sunset to explore the area at the base of the crater on our own. it's the rainy season in indonesia now, and a heavy duvee of clouds hung a hundred feet above us, walking over black volcanic earth and rocks, giving a very other-worldly feel to the place. one tour agency described it as the fine line between heaven and hell, while others have likened it to the surface of the moon. both are fair descriptions, and although the clouds obscured the views, they also created an eerie atmosphere that we both appreciated.
the next morning we woke up at 3 am (3 am!) to take a jeep to the top of a mountain, overlooking the crater. with a hundred other people we watched the sun come up over the clouds, before driving down to the base, and then hiking up the the edge of the crater. i think we were at about six thousand feet, and the altitude mixed with the sulphurous gases belching out of the volcano made for a challenging climb, but the views at the top proved amazing. over the hour we spent circumnavigating the crater, the clouds shifted and changed, creating a constantly changing landscape. it was incredible.
with our tour over at eight in the morning, we headed out of town, towards bali, where we are currently spending our days. our goal for bali is to learn to surf, which is proving to be a balance of frustration and rewards. on my first day i managed to get up three times, while ashley is finding it a bit more difficult. i only mention this, because ashley has repeatedly kicked my ass at rock climbing, and will undoubtedly eventually do the same with surfing, so for now im relishing my own success. the frustration we've both had, however, is compounded by the disgust at how dirty the beach is where we are learning. in all my years i have never seen a more disgusting beach. wading into the water means wading into literally thousands of plastic bags, wrappers, soda bottles, etc. you can't take one single step without brushing against a dozen pieces of trash. from what we understand, this is the dirtiest beach in bali, so it we have nicer beacheds to look forward to, but unfortunately, this is the only beach that has waves we are capable of surfing. i think we'll wake up early tomorrow for another shot on on surf boards, before we make our way to a cleaner stretch of sand.
in addition to being a world class surf destination, bali is known for its party scene, so ashley and i took to the streets last night to check out some clubs. most of the downtown clubs turned out to be underage australian drinking bonanzas, so we took a risk and headed to the next town to find a club that was supposed to have some big name dj, hoping to find some people that weren't half my age. the club was more expensive than the others, but it was a local crowd, and the dj turned out to be quite good, so we ended up having a blast. after dancing on stage for a while, we set out to explore the nooks and crannies of the club, and accidentally stumbled into a private karaoke room, where we were welcomed with open arms. despite the fact hat no one seemed to speak english, we shared a few drinks with them before realizing that a room full of older, ugly men and younger attractive women might be a bit fishy so we headed back to the dance floor. back on the floor, we saw the celebrity dj having a drink, having just finished his set, so we approached him and chatted him up. he poured us a few free drinks, and then invited us to join him and his entourage for a late-night snack. nine of us piled into an suv and made our way back towards our neck of the woods, where he treated us to some beers and spring rolls until 5 am. when the food was all gone, we said our goodbyes and ashley and i dragged ourselves home and fell into bed.
and now, like i said, i think we'll head out to the next town. i think we'll head south to ulu watu, where we can watch real surfers on real waves, possibly inspiring us to wade back into the garbage and give it another try.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Been a long time, i know, but busy busy busy...
we leave in the morning for indonesia, a fact that astonishes us both in how quickly the time is racing buy. for god's sake, it cant be christmas already. its still so warm.
i believe when we last left off, seth had left and we were awaiting the arrival of kevin and nicole... and there's sooo much to catch up on.
day 1: after a late night arrival, kevin, ashley and i set out to explore the madness of hanoi. the congestion of motorbikes is almost indescribable, certainly unparalleled in anything i've ever seen. kevin acclimates quickly after witnessing a scooter mashup.
day 2: while ashley ran errands, kevin and myself headed to unseen parts of the city. the original plan had us pedaling around on bikes, but after 24 hours of vietnamese traffic, kevin, in a very un-kevin moment, decided bikes might be too trecherous. instead we walked to an area on the map that advertised a circus, which turned out to just be a park. before entering the park we stumbled onto a gang of roustabouts staging a midday cockfighting match which ended when the chickens spilled out of the designated fight zone, and onto kevins feet. to enter the park we had to pay a woman 16,000 dong. after giving her a 20,000 note, she gave us our change in breathmints, and when we protested she began screaming at us. best trip to the circus ever.
day 3 (enter nicole): first day with the whole group, and nicole is put through the gauntlet of asia's city streets. tried to see the ho chi minh mausoleum, but found that it was closed. instead toured the ho chi minh museum and learned, literally, nothing. it's a visually stunning museum, with loads of beautiful exhibits, and next to no information, just like the house on the rock. that night we wrapped thing up by attending a water puppet show, a traditional north vietnamese passtime. nicole and ashley "absolutely loved" it. i enjoyed myself, but would hesitate to use the word love. it was a puppet show, in the water, in vietnamese. it was about as good as i expected, but you can read all about ashley's and nicole's thoughts in the next entry of this blog.
day 4: we book back to back trips out of town, the first to sapa, and the next to halong bay. before boarding the overnight train to sapa, we saw some sights, played some cards, and drank some beer. this was a pattern we would follow religiously throughout the rest of the trip.
day 5: sapa... i think we'll let kevin tackle this one, should he choose to write a blog entry. i will say this: it's a beautiful part of the world with spectacular culture that is far too cold for me to fully embrace on my five month vacation to the tropics. i have worn sandals every day for the past three months, and the need to put on socks in sapa killed a small part of me.
day 6 & 7: take it away kevin.
day 8: get back to hanoi at 5am to find a city still sleeping. with our bus to halong bay not leaving for 3 hours, and nary an open coffee shop to be found, we dumped ourselves lakeside in a city park and watched hanoi's geriatrics stretch their legs. once again, for full details, see the aforementioned entry by nicole and ashley.
the bus got us to the bay at noon, or so. we boarded a boat that took us to our actual boat, where we would be spending our first night. the boat itself was great, a traditional vietnamese junk, outfitted with all the necesstities of a pleasure cruise, it's gem being the rooftop sundeck. we started with a phenomenal lunch of fresh fish, crab, and prawns, then sunned ourselves for a spell before setting out for a one hour kayak tour though green waters. when we reboarded the boat, we took turns diving off its ledges into the water for a swim. then came dinner, and then came drinks. we stayed up on the deck for a good part of the night talking with the other passengers on board before everyone turned in, ashley and i deciding to sleep up top, under the stars. god knows how long we slept before ashley awoke in a freezing panic, trying with difficulty to drag me inside to our cabin. i was sleeping like a baby.
day 9: we start the day with a trip to "amazing cave." one might think that a name like "amazing cave" leaves only room for disappointment, but it actually lived up to its name. i could spend a moment here trying to describe what amazing cave was like, but instead, just think of a normal cave, and then imagine it being bigger and more amazing. there we are. after the cave we were dropped off at a private island, and this has to be said: as i was disembarking, or whatever the correct maritime word is, i thanked our captain, and patted him on the shoulder. he responded by patting me liberally on the ass. and after a few pats, he firmly cupped my left butt cheek, and positively manhandled my buns as i stepped off the boat. i was left shocked and, honestly, amused.
our private island was nice. kevin fished, we read, we kayaked. we tried to play beach volleyball, but when we smoothed over a mound of sand on the court, learned that the mound had been deliberately and strategically placed to prevent sewage from seeping up on the sand. with a geyser of shit-smelling waste fast growing on our court, we abandoned the game before it began.
dinner that night was the only meal of the halong bay tour that didn't knock my socks off. the main culprit came on the first course of the night: sea mantis. i had never heard of sea mantis before, but it looked like they had taken a normal praying mantis and ripped its hind legs off, thus making it a believable seafood. we each tried it, and i think kevin even finished his, but the dinner never really recovered.
day 10: as the rest of our boat mates packed up to return to hanoi, we took a boat over to cat ba island for a day and night of self planned activities. following the success of our previous moped adventures on cat ba with seth, we each rented our own motorbikes and tore across the island, making intermittent stops along the way. our first stop was a short but steep hike up a goat trail (with real live goats and everything), followed by lunch at the rock wall where we had climbed a week earlier. then we scootered over to cat ba national park and did a trek through jungle, seeing huge strangler figs, a couple of monkeys, and the biggest squirrel i've ever seen. when the sun went down, we rode back into town and had another delicious vietnamese meal before turning in.
day 11: the daydream of halong bay sadly came to a close after a final gorgeous boatride into the harbor. that night, on the advice of an aussie we met on the boat, we found a local watering hole where they'll serve you beer in a dirty glass for about 20 cents apiece. when the aussie showed up to join us, we tested the strictness of the country's drinking age by sending his thirteen year old daughter up for a round. the bartender handed her the beers without a thought.
day 12 (today): the three trottiers made our last rounds through hanoi while ashley took care of some more administrative duties. shopping, card playing, and 20 cent beers seemed as fitting a way to end our time in asia as anything. after one last, fantastic meal we saw kevin and nicole head to the airport, on their way to tokoyo. ashley and i, saddened by the loss, headed to a night market to commemorate our last night in vietnam. after strolling along a quarter mile of crappy knock-off designer clothes, and shoddy trinkets, we found a stall that sold paint-your-own-plates, which is exactly what it sounds like. we chose a romantic themed plate, and sitting on miniature plastic chairs with the locals, added color to the cartoon angels, flirting in the clouds.
we leave in the morning for indonesia, a fact that astonishes us both in how quickly the time is racing buy. for god's sake, it cant be christmas already. its still so warm.
i believe when we last left off, seth had left and we were awaiting the arrival of kevin and nicole... and there's sooo much to catch up on.
day 1: after a late night arrival, kevin, ashley and i set out to explore the madness of hanoi. the congestion of motorbikes is almost indescribable, certainly unparalleled in anything i've ever seen. kevin acclimates quickly after witnessing a scooter mashup.
day 2: while ashley ran errands, kevin and myself headed to unseen parts of the city. the original plan had us pedaling around on bikes, but after 24 hours of vietnamese traffic, kevin, in a very un-kevin moment, decided bikes might be too trecherous. instead we walked to an area on the map that advertised a circus, which turned out to just be a park. before entering the park we stumbled onto a gang of roustabouts staging a midday cockfighting match which ended when the chickens spilled out of the designated fight zone, and onto kevins feet. to enter the park we had to pay a woman 16,000 dong. after giving her a 20,000 note, she gave us our change in breathmints, and when we protested she began screaming at us. best trip to the circus ever.
day 3 (enter nicole): first day with the whole group, and nicole is put through the gauntlet of asia's city streets. tried to see the ho chi minh mausoleum, but found that it was closed. instead toured the ho chi minh museum and learned, literally, nothing. it's a visually stunning museum, with loads of beautiful exhibits, and next to no information, just like the house on the rock. that night we wrapped thing up by attending a water puppet show, a traditional north vietnamese passtime. nicole and ashley "absolutely loved" it. i enjoyed myself, but would hesitate to use the word love. it was a puppet show, in the water, in vietnamese. it was about as good as i expected, but you can read all about ashley's and nicole's thoughts in the next entry of this blog.
day 4: we book back to back trips out of town, the first to sapa, and the next to halong bay. before boarding the overnight train to sapa, we saw some sights, played some cards, and drank some beer. this was a pattern we would follow religiously throughout the rest of the trip.
day 5: sapa... i think we'll let kevin tackle this one, should he choose to write a blog entry. i will say this: it's a beautiful part of the world with spectacular culture that is far too cold for me to fully embrace on my five month vacation to the tropics. i have worn sandals every day for the past three months, and the need to put on socks in sapa killed a small part of me.
day 6 & 7: take it away kevin.
day 8: get back to hanoi at 5am to find a city still sleeping. with our bus to halong bay not leaving for 3 hours, and nary an open coffee shop to be found, we dumped ourselves lakeside in a city park and watched hanoi's geriatrics stretch their legs. once again, for full details, see the aforementioned entry by nicole and ashley.
the bus got us to the bay at noon, or so. we boarded a boat that took us to our actual boat, where we would be spending our first night. the boat itself was great, a traditional vietnamese junk, outfitted with all the necesstities of a pleasure cruise, it's gem being the rooftop sundeck. we started with a phenomenal lunch of fresh fish, crab, and prawns, then sunned ourselves for a spell before setting out for a one hour kayak tour though green waters. when we reboarded the boat, we took turns diving off its ledges into the water for a swim. then came dinner, and then came drinks. we stayed up on the deck for a good part of the night talking with the other passengers on board before everyone turned in, ashley and i deciding to sleep up top, under the stars. god knows how long we slept before ashley awoke in a freezing panic, trying with difficulty to drag me inside to our cabin. i was sleeping like a baby.
day 9: we start the day with a trip to "amazing cave." one might think that a name like "amazing cave" leaves only room for disappointment, but it actually lived up to its name. i could spend a moment here trying to describe what amazing cave was like, but instead, just think of a normal cave, and then imagine it being bigger and more amazing. there we are. after the cave we were dropped off at a private island, and this has to be said: as i was disembarking, or whatever the correct maritime word is, i thanked our captain, and patted him on the shoulder. he responded by patting me liberally on the ass. and after a few pats, he firmly cupped my left butt cheek, and positively manhandled my buns as i stepped off the boat. i was left shocked and, honestly, amused.
our private island was nice. kevin fished, we read, we kayaked. we tried to play beach volleyball, but when we smoothed over a mound of sand on the court, learned that the mound had been deliberately and strategically placed to prevent sewage from seeping up on the sand. with a geyser of shit-smelling waste fast growing on our court, we abandoned the game before it began.
dinner that night was the only meal of the halong bay tour that didn't knock my socks off. the main culprit came on the first course of the night: sea mantis. i had never heard of sea mantis before, but it looked like they had taken a normal praying mantis and ripped its hind legs off, thus making it a believable seafood. we each tried it, and i think kevin even finished his, but the dinner never really recovered.
day 10: as the rest of our boat mates packed up to return to hanoi, we took a boat over to cat ba island for a day and night of self planned activities. following the success of our previous moped adventures on cat ba with seth, we each rented our own motorbikes and tore across the island, making intermittent stops along the way. our first stop was a short but steep hike up a goat trail (with real live goats and everything), followed by lunch at the rock wall where we had climbed a week earlier. then we scootered over to cat ba national park and did a trek through jungle, seeing huge strangler figs, a couple of monkeys, and the biggest squirrel i've ever seen. when the sun went down, we rode back into town and had another delicious vietnamese meal before turning in.
day 11: the daydream of halong bay sadly came to a close after a final gorgeous boatride into the harbor. that night, on the advice of an aussie we met on the boat, we found a local watering hole where they'll serve you beer in a dirty glass for about 20 cents apiece. when the aussie showed up to join us, we tested the strictness of the country's drinking age by sending his thirteen year old daughter up for a round. the bartender handed her the beers without a thought.
day 12 (today): the three trottiers made our last rounds through hanoi while ashley took care of some more administrative duties. shopping, card playing, and 20 cent beers seemed as fitting a way to end our time in asia as anything. after one last, fantastic meal we saw kevin and nicole head to the airport, on their way to tokoyo. ashley and i, saddened by the loss, headed to a night market to commemorate our last night in vietnam. after strolling along a quarter mile of crappy knock-off designer clothes, and shoddy trinkets, we found a stall that sold paint-your-own-plates, which is exactly what it sounds like. we chose a romantic themed plate, and sitting on miniature plastic chairs with the locals, added color to the cartoon angels, flirting in the clouds.
Highlights from Hanoi
Hi gang. Nicole and Ashley here. Sorry it's taken us so long to post any of our adventures...we've been on the run from day one of the Trottier reunion. So here's our impressions of Hanoi...this town starts early. We know this because one morning we had from about 5:30am to 8am to kill (between out of town adventures). We spent these few hours at Hoan Kiem lake which is right in the center of town. If you think Americans are exercise freaks, think again. We have nothing on these people. From dawn onward, people gather at the lake to partake in anything ranging from tai chi to badminton to jazzercise to pom pom routines to sword fighting to weightlifting. But they also have a range of individual excercises that have captivated us, our favorite being what we have named "fart wafting." You stand facing the lake and continually swing your arms back and forth, as if to chase away last night's Indian food. This is not to be outdone by one performance now known as "The Fonz," or one we discovered today called "Praise the Lord" by a woman whose lipstick was so badly applied, she may earn a starring role on HBOs True Blood series. We opted for the 80's aerobics class conducted in the shadow of a Ho Chi Minh statue. After about a 30 minute workout, we still have absolutely no idea who was teaching the class, where the music was coming from, or who was calling out the directions. But we were sweating none the less. Sidenote, after about 25 minutes of Vietnamese pop songs, Nicole was impressed to realize we were working out to Boney M's "Rah Rah Rasputin" song that we learned in 10th grade history class while studying the Russian Tzars.
Another highlight for the girls was the traditional Vietnamese Water Puppetry show. Brian insisted on the 9pm show to ensure our "1st class tickets". These elite seats at the premium price of $3.50 not only guaranteed us the rights to take photos, but also included an actual cassette tape of the music. (Which 3 days later, we were devastated to discover we had forgotten to pick up). Now this may not seem a huge loss, but we had already started out plans to re-enact this tradition at the 2009 Trottier garden party. Picture this...hand crafted Vietnamese water puppets operated by newly skilled puppateers (that's us) all in Kay's kiddie pool. Brian has already claimed the role of the narrator, "Uncle Tueh," and since we forgot our cassette has already taken it upon himself to write a few songs which we are positive would offend even the nicest of Vietnamese. But seriously, the girls loved it, and Brian and Nicole are going home with actual puppets.
One thing you have to get used to here right away is traffic...it's insane and crossing the street can be a death-defying feat. The strategy here is basically to close your eyes and pray for the best, keeping in mind that getting hit by a motorbike will hurt less than by a bus, so it's best to run out in front of the bikes. We conquered this fear early on; however, there is one thing in Hanoi that still terrifies us. We are positive there is a serial killer on the loose whose signature is a single playing card...or sometimes half a deck. You cannot walk more than 20 feet here without seeing a playing card or two on the street and we just can't figure it out. (This is a serious violation coming from 4 people who have spent the past ten days in a very competitive euchre showdown). P.S. Nicole would like to state for the record that Ashley has become a serious contender in a euchre game. She is a serious gamer now. So much so, that she has earned the new nickname Ashley "Minohar" Johnson...Minohar being the person we know most dedicated to the game and to its development on the Indian subcontintent.
Here's another thing. We knew we were coming to a communist country. But nothing drove it home more than the fact that each morning we wake up to loud speaker announcements (much like the anonymous workout lady instructor) which after several inquiries we learned is how the city receives it's local newscast. And it happens again in the afternoon...we can't understand it, but we are, of course, convinced it's rife with propaganda. As a complete contrast, this town is freaking out about Christmas! They love it! We have spent lots of time wandering the old quarter market which is divided up into sections of goods. So "shoe street" sells shoes. "Dried fruit street" sells dried fruit. "Memorial plaque street" sells headstone plaques, including one with a picture of Britney Spears that proclaims her death in 2005. Anyway, in this market, we actually stumbled upon "Christmas Street" which is so big that Kevin is certain it's actually Christmas Town. The whole thing is littered with the tackiest of Christmas decorations...tinsel, chintzy santas, and christmas lanterns. Of course, in the background to Christmas Town are the women in conical hats selling all their wares...Pho, homemade donuts, pigs feet, a stack of bras, and boxes of worms. I bet you are all looking forward to unwrapping our gifts.
I guess that's about it for us. Stay tuned for Kevin and Brian's take on our trips to Sapa and Ha Long Bay.
Oh and thank you Kay for the lovely Christmas shell. It was absolutely perfect for Sapa. You will find out why when you read Kevin's entry!
Another highlight for the girls was the traditional Vietnamese Water Puppetry show. Brian insisted on the 9pm show to ensure our "1st class tickets". These elite seats at the premium price of $3.50 not only guaranteed us the rights to take photos, but also included an actual cassette tape of the music. (Which 3 days later, we were devastated to discover we had forgotten to pick up). Now this may not seem a huge loss, but we had already started out plans to re-enact this tradition at the 2009 Trottier garden party. Picture this...hand crafted Vietnamese water puppets operated by newly skilled puppateers (that's us) all in Kay's kiddie pool. Brian has already claimed the role of the narrator, "Uncle Tueh," and since we forgot our cassette has already taken it upon himself to write a few songs which we are positive would offend even the nicest of Vietnamese. But seriously, the girls loved it, and Brian and Nicole are going home with actual puppets.
One thing you have to get used to here right away is traffic...it's insane and crossing the street can be a death-defying feat. The strategy here is basically to close your eyes and pray for the best, keeping in mind that getting hit by a motorbike will hurt less than by a bus, so it's best to run out in front of the bikes. We conquered this fear early on; however, there is one thing in Hanoi that still terrifies us. We are positive there is a serial killer on the loose whose signature is a single playing card...or sometimes half a deck. You cannot walk more than 20 feet here without seeing a playing card or two on the street and we just can't figure it out. (This is a serious violation coming from 4 people who have spent the past ten days in a very competitive euchre showdown). P.S. Nicole would like to state for the record that Ashley has become a serious contender in a euchre game. She is a serious gamer now. So much so, that she has earned the new nickname Ashley "Minohar" Johnson...Minohar being the person we know most dedicated to the game and to its development on the Indian subcontintent.
Here's another thing. We knew we were coming to a communist country. But nothing drove it home more than the fact that each morning we wake up to loud speaker announcements (much like the anonymous workout lady instructor) which after several inquiries we learned is how the city receives it's local newscast. And it happens again in the afternoon...we can't understand it, but we are, of course, convinced it's rife with propaganda. As a complete contrast, this town is freaking out about Christmas! They love it! We have spent lots of time wandering the old quarter market which is divided up into sections of goods. So "shoe street" sells shoes. "Dried fruit street" sells dried fruit. "Memorial plaque street" sells headstone plaques, including one with a picture of Britney Spears that proclaims her death in 2005. Anyway, in this market, we actually stumbled upon "Christmas Street" which is so big that Kevin is certain it's actually Christmas Town. The whole thing is littered with the tackiest of Christmas decorations...tinsel, chintzy santas, and christmas lanterns. Of course, in the background to Christmas Town are the women in conical hats selling all their wares...Pho, homemade donuts, pigs feet, a stack of bras, and boxes of worms. I bet you are all looking forward to unwrapping our gifts.
I guess that's about it for us. Stay tuned for Kevin and Brian's take on our trips to Sapa and Ha Long Bay.
Oh and thank you Kay for the lovely Christmas shell. It was absolutely perfect for Sapa. You will find out why when you read Kevin's entry!
Monday, December 1, 2008
johnson and i got in to hanoi about five days ago on an overnight bus from hue, happy to escape the rain and into blue skies. on our first day here we met up with seth for the second time on this trip (the first, for those forgetful readers, being in thailand). for seth's first night in vietnam, we decided to go local for dinner, so we stepped off the beaten path, away from the throngs of tourists, and found ourselves eating in a small restaurant down a dark alley, the likes of which might be found in a jean-claude van damme movie. the meal itself was forgettable, aside from the chicken, which came complete with severed head and feet (i ate a foot but couldn't manage the head). as we stood up to leave, a young guy at the table next to ours asked where we were from, and blah blah blah, we ended up doing fifteen shots of hanoi vodka with them over the next hour and a half. in vietnam it's impolite to turn down anything that is offered, and we didn't want to be impolite. also, one of the guys kept pulling out a stun gun, and none of us wanted to be tasered.
after dinner we were invited to a coffee shop, where we rehydrated and in the spirit of accepting, ashley and seth both accepted bong hits of tobacco, a popular passtime here. i declined.
the next morning, we fought through our hangovers and woke up early to head out to cat ba island in halong bay. the climbing on and around cat ba is world famous, so ashley and i felt lucky to once again be rock climbing as beginners in such an international hotspot for the sport. in fact, on our first day there, we tagged along with one of the owners of the island's only guiding company as a photographer shot pictures for national geographic. i offered to take my shirt off and give him an amazing opportuntiy to take shots of me on the wall, but was politely turned down. my only hope now is to be in the distant backround of one of the other pictures he took. all three days we were on the island were spent rock climbing or taking boats or scooters out to climbing spots, the trips there being almost as rewarding as the destinations. on our first day of climbing, seth passed ashley and i on his scooter and with a shit eating grin, declared it the best day of his life. hyperbole or not, it was a very good day.
the three of us spent thanksgiving dinner with the photographer at a vietnamese restaurant, and in substitution of a turkey, ordered a feast of local food. i don't think we had any stellar meals on the island, but were very happy with our restaurant decision on our final night when after deciding on a seaside restaurant instead of a floating restaurant, we paid our bill, stepped outside, and saw that the floating restaurant was on fire.
three days of climbing and catching up absolutely flew by, and on sunday we made our way back to hanoi for seth's flight back to hong kong. before he left we did a little shopping, and squeezed in one last cocktail at the grand opening of a coffee shop, which we were drawn into by the promise of a free gift. as a final momento of seth's time in vietnam, seth walked out with a teddy bear christmas ornament.
and that brings us to today. ashley and i, more or less, twiddled our thumbs anxiously waiting for kevin to arrive. with any luck he should make it to our hotel at about 1 am tonight where he'll find us sitting in front of a mini fridge filled with beer.
after dinner we were invited to a coffee shop, where we rehydrated and in the spirit of accepting, ashley and seth both accepted bong hits of tobacco, a popular passtime here. i declined.
the next morning, we fought through our hangovers and woke up early to head out to cat ba island in halong bay. the climbing on and around cat ba is world famous, so ashley and i felt lucky to once again be rock climbing as beginners in such an international hotspot for the sport. in fact, on our first day there, we tagged along with one of the owners of the island's only guiding company as a photographer shot pictures for national geographic. i offered to take my shirt off and give him an amazing opportuntiy to take shots of me on the wall, but was politely turned down. my only hope now is to be in the distant backround of one of the other pictures he took. all three days we were on the island were spent rock climbing or taking boats or scooters out to climbing spots, the trips there being almost as rewarding as the destinations. on our first day of climbing, seth passed ashley and i on his scooter and with a shit eating grin, declared it the best day of his life. hyperbole or not, it was a very good day.
the three of us spent thanksgiving dinner with the photographer at a vietnamese restaurant, and in substitution of a turkey, ordered a feast of local food. i don't think we had any stellar meals on the island, but were very happy with our restaurant decision on our final night when after deciding on a seaside restaurant instead of a floating restaurant, we paid our bill, stepped outside, and saw that the floating restaurant was on fire.
three days of climbing and catching up absolutely flew by, and on sunday we made our way back to hanoi for seth's flight back to hong kong. before he left we did a little shopping, and squeezed in one last cocktail at the grand opening of a coffee shop, which we were drawn into by the promise of a free gift. as a final momento of seth's time in vietnam, seth walked out with a teddy bear christmas ornament.
and that brings us to today. ashley and i, more or less, twiddled our thumbs anxiously waiting for kevin to arrive. with any luck he should make it to our hotel at about 1 am tonight where he'll find us sitting in front of a mini fridge filled with beer.
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