Ha Long: Day 1

On Friday morning I woke up at 6:00 am in order to pack a small backpack, check my email, and grab an egg sandwich. Our group then waited in front of our dorm for half an hour for the big bus to come and get us. We drove to the pottery village just outside Ha Noi, called Bac Ninh, where they make, paint, and sell pottery. We stayed there for an hour and it was pretty neat. We saw them making it and then painting it and then lots of people in our group bought some and sent it home. I however, took some pictures and then befriended a lady leading around a huge water buffalo. She let me pet him and then sit on him! It was awesome.

I was back on the bus from 9:15-10:30 and slept the entire way. We stopped at a huge tourist trap/bathroom stop and I had a Coke and hung around. Our bus driver gave me a green bean cake and I was hooked. They fall apart in your mouth and have an interesting taste as well. I was back on the bus from 11:00-1:00 and I listened to Pat Metheny, wrote in my class journal, and slept again before we finally made it to our first hotel in Ha Long City. I got room 802 with Jill and the view from our balcony was amazing (see picture above). I felt like I was on some tropical getaway vacation! I was studying, I mean... :)

We all had lunch at the hotel and tensions were high for some of the people in my group. I ignored it and ate my fried rice and Coke. Our table also tried to order seven pairs of chopsticks and they brought out a giant coconut. Some Vietnamese words sound exactly the same to us and totally different to them. At 1:45 pm I was glad lunch was over and hung out in my room until I decided to check on my cartilage piercing. Turns out it's infected and Jill helped me clean it for a while and find Becca because she has a few piercings herself. I got really homesick and fed up with my ear but DiDi cuddled with me before we went exploring with Jill and Brittany. We walked across the street to the beach and looked at the shells, animal life, and market before finding a pharmacy for DiDi and her nasty head cold.

I was back at the hotel by 3:30 and threw on my bathing suit, some sunscreen, and headed down the lobby. We took a short bus ride down the street to the pier and boarded our own two level boat. From 4-7:00 I took lots of pictures, explored the boat and met the staff, and watched everybody go swimming as the sun went down. I was still upset and a bit cold so I chose to stay on the boat with DiDi and take pictures of the amazing sunset instead.

We had dinner on the first level of the boat and it was positively amazing seafood. They served us white wine with our stuffed crab, spring rolls, bananas, shrimp, white rice, and greens. Halfway through dinner with Mike, Jackie, Tica, and Brittany, Brittany's pain medication wore off and her intense ear infection was too much for her to handle. She went upstairs to take more meds and wait in agony for them to kick in. I was worried and followed her upstairs to where she was laying and crying in the captain's room. I lay down with her, prayed, and tried to distract her from the pain. After about 20 minutes, the meds kicked in and she felt good enough to sit up and eat the rest of the dinner that Tica had brought to us.

We got off the boat back at the pier at 7:15 and I had a Coke on the very short bus ride back to our hotel. Our professor sat in the seat next to me and told me jokingly that I was "too nice" because he knew I was staying with Brittany and he hardly saw me eat anything. I assured him I was fine and I was glad that Brittany was too!

From 7:30-9:00 I had a crazy, funny sing-a-long with Brittany and DiDi in their hotel room before going out with walk around with DiDi. I got a ca phe sua da (coffee milk, ice) and sat outside after walking through most of the touristy night market. We then rented a tandem bike from 10-11:00 and passed Mike, Natalie, Cathy, Monica, and Bryan while riding it. Natalie went back to the hotel but we showed the other four where to rent the bikes and they rode with us for the hour. We drove around with me pedaling on the back and DiDi steering and pedaling on the front. I rode with no hands and ate cumquats while observing the streets and bridge at night.

At 11:00 we returned the bikes, paid for the hour, and walked the 30 feet back to the hotel. I went back to my room, washed up, wrote in my class journal, read some of my book, and was asleep by 11:45 pm.