kayaking, beaches, and limestone karsts

april 2-3: ha long bay

so we stayed the night on the aloha junk (such an ironic name for a vietnamese boat huh?). we stuffed ourselves with as much fresh seafood and hanoi beer possible having lovely conversations with our fellow travelers. there were two younger female travelers, traveling alone, on board who we befriended. one an irish doctor and the other a german/korean from germany.

side note- does anyone know this show called "american dad"? apparently they show this in ireland all the time, and that is how they think of us (cringe) we had an american family with us as well, they were stationed with the military in japan... apparently he was the typical "american dad". they also home schooled their children which the german and the irish were amazed at (fascination that of a side show at the carnival) i agree the children were a little socially in adequate and all they did was read books... on HA LONG BAY! but to each their own... right?

so the next day we woke up and had a very busy day of kayaking... yes FOUR hours of kayaking! i was thoroughly impressed with both families on board. one australian family with two boys maybe 7 and 9. and well the american family (who, yes, brought their own compass and survival gear) not only did the kids eat all the seafood they also kayaked the whole time!

we also shared the boat with some other tour goers. they were not in our group and only stayed one night with us. i mention them only to share a funny story that maybe a tad racial but dirk and i find hilarious! in this group are two asian males, traveling together (i don't know). AND yes the are suited up from head to toe in camera gear. (dirk and i love to watch asians on holiday, when i say asians, i mean the stereotypical asians) so we are all sitting down to lunch as the boat heads to ha long bay. we start seeing the rock karst outside the windows, well as soon as we saw the first one, the two asians jump out of their seats and to the door to get all the "good" pictures. mind you, we see thousands of these for the next 48 hours

also at one point during the trip i notice the boat turned around suddenly and the captain out standing on the front looking into the water (this may have been 5 hanoi beers in, not thinking that someone could be overboard) apparently during one of their many photo shoots they dropped a camera in the water. WHO does that? and WHO makes the boat turn around to look for it? like it is going to float?? luckily i am sure they had many many back up cameras...

onto the pictures...

kayaking, should be an elective of marriage preparation class. it took us awhile to get the hang of it and some skill from both sides. dirk was the captain, i was in front. (just this should scare anyone getting married) dirk steered us and was the one responsible for keeping us in sync.

strongly recommend kayaking before marriage, great way to learn how to work together! haha!

.
and no one got wet :)

el captain

deserted beach

conquered ha long bay april 2010!

turtle island

ca bat island - halong bay, vietnam

April 5th, 2010: Easter

after spending one night on ha long bay aboard the aloha junk, we arrived on cat ba island. it is the biggest island in ha long bay. while we were they we hiked up a hill? mountain?... either way it took us 45 minutes up and i felt like a mountain goat! plus it was raining and very slick. we also saw the hidden hospital built in a cave used in the vietnam war. it was refuge to the upper military leaders and a fully functioning hospital.

can't go on holiday without sampling the local beer, actually pretty good!

welcome drinks, artificial coloring much?

the hotel was awesome!

buddha onto of mountain number 2

cat ba island

weird seafood, never figured out what these were? ideas?

hospital cave

mountain goat-n-it

at the top, can't see much but WE did it! other two ladies that we climbed with

hydrofoil boats

world famous restaurant that served one dish but it was awesome!

hotel in hanoi

busy street of hanoi

tour through hanoi! cracked us up a little bit.

Bangkok, Thailand

march 26-29th: bangkok, thailand

eat, drink, and eat some more... the appropriate title for this trip

thai food is simply amazing! spring rolls, red curry, green curry, pineapple rice, sweet and sour chicken... love. it. all.

so dirk and i did a culinary tour of bangkok as well as took in some of the sights. i will have to say we learned many important life lessons while in the gregarious city of bangkok!

one thing we learned:

corona is the world's most popular beer! it is everywhere!

and yes, we found all the great neighborhood bars and stopped in each one for a beer and thai food

the weekend market was insane... too overwhelming..........................

even for the most experienced third world country shoppers!

we checked out this restaurant that one of my colleagues who lived in bangkok recommended. strange name but it has a theme in order to promote education on AIDS and has its own charity.

cabbages & condoms

people made out of condoms

the food and drinks were awesome!

got condoms? came with your bill

tiger woods?

learned that tiger is famous world wide... i wonder if he was here before or after his expose' debut?

the decor! made out of condoms...

on to the grand palace... but first, river boat ride

this place was ridiculously ornate and detailed in gold and jewels

doing something for luck? i was too hot and ready to go to humor the emerald buddha with luck.

oh and the emerald buddha isn't emerald... he is made out of jade

what you can't see in these pictures... we had to be covered from arms to knees... it was so steaming hot as well...

learned that bangkok has a large population of stray dogs with rabies, people use their children to beg on every street corner (trust me, I-10 beggers have nothing on these peoples techniques, would bring you to tears), we need to get out of singapore more often... bangkok seemed like the biggest city we have been to in over a year.

HA long Bay, Vietnam

we will be on a boat in the midst of this for three days! i am very very excited! will finish/start posting about our australia trip and thailand getaway when we return... in the mean time!

I AM ON A BOAT!!!