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.