I was disappointed when I looked into the dining room and saw there was no breakfast buffet! I didn't have time anyway, but that buffet was the only thing motivating me to to wake up at 6 am. I sadly checked out of the hotel and paid the $55 for the 3 nights Robyn and I had stayed. "Why was there no breakfast?" I uttered, just as a large blue bag filled with goodies was handed to me. It was filled with containers of omelette's and fresh fruit. Baguettes and a half finished jar of jam, along with some sort of twinky like snack were additional extras that were the icing on the cake! I was overjoyed that they had taken the time to make me a to go breakfast. It made it just that much harder to want to leave Cat Ba.....
I hopped on the back of a motorbike and gave the driver 10,000 dong (about .50 cents US) to drive me to the port where I got on a white transport boat that took me to Castaway Island to pick up the group of tourists that had just finished up their Halong Bay tour.
A few familiar faces appeared~ Mark and Stu who work there but got 2 days off to head back to Hanoi and the famous castaway Jenny who had been on the island for days when I first had gone there, but went back to Hanoi and decided to go back to Castaway Island because she had a budding romance with Stu.
The rest of the passengers loaded the boat tired and hungover recalling the wild drunken moments of the night before. It definitely never changes on Castaway Island! Every day is a new tour group who go through the same situations the group before had.... drunken romances, feet cut from the coral, starving from the small meals... always the same!
Everyone transferred to another boat, "The Junk" chinese inspired style, and slowly moved along Halong Bay. We sat on the top deck and I met quite a few interesting people, of course none of them were Americans. I have found that traveling SE Asia, very few people I meet are from the USA. Most are European or Australian. I was attempting to study my Korean and many people were curious to what I was doing, so I explained that I taught English in S Korea and told about my life over there. I listened to the stories of an Irish boy who worked as a security guard on the set of a movie because he couldn't get work civil engineering, and a British girl told about how awesome her experience diving in the Great Barrier Reef was.
Even though I have only been traveling for 10 days, I am really learning so much about myself and the world around me. I am starting to feel a calm sense of independence that I think I had lacked before.
After we arrived at the dock, we boarded the worlds most uncomfortable buses and headed to Hanoi. We got back to the Hanoi Backpackers hostel and I met Robyn and her friend that she had traveled through Cambodia with.
I luckily was able to then go purchase my bus ticket to Laos for the night bus which I will take on December 12th, Saturday at 5pm. I got the last ticket there was and felt super lucky b/c it only leaves on Saturdays and Tuesdays and my friend from Korea will be there so I will meet up with him. So, for $35 US I got the ticket from Hanoi to Vientiane, but it should be a long ride....24 hours!!!!!!!!!!!
Then I had my favorite part of the day- a fantastic jog around the beautiful lake Hoan Kiem which is in the center of the Old District. It is truly amazing at night because it has a temple with a bridge and a wonderful statue that are lit up. Along the way, I got distracted and succumbed to my urge to buy heels and a cute dress! I tried the whole "backpacker" thing, but I need to dress up and wear heels to feel normal. Walking around in sweats and flip flops for too many days will drive me to insanity, so now I am the owner of a fabulous black dress that is easy to pack and can be dressed up or down w/ accessories.
After my run, I went back and got ready and had soon drinks with Robyn, Jenny, Mark, Stu and Andy. We had disgustingly strong Hanoi Vodka and juice cocktails before we headed out to a bar called Hair of the Dog. It was quite funny b/c everything appears to close at 11 but really it is just a joke b/c Vietnam has a curfew. The bars to the bar rose and in we went. It was a normal evening except for a drunk Russian man in a Santa suit got too wasted from his bottle of tequila he was drinking and threw his bottle and made a scene!
But we all made it out ok and went home safely! Good night Hanoi!
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