"Wonderment"
Hanoi, Vietnam

All the trash cans in Vietnam say "Happiness to Everybody" and "Wonderment," while the chopstick holders say "Work is Glory." Life (well lived) is glory.

"A thousand star hotel" is what our guide (who called himself "Number 7") called our stay in the little boats in Halang Bay the night before last. By the time most of us on the boat hit the sack about 9pm, we were exhausted from the sheer beauty of the place. Rock formations like those in Yangshuo in China (except these came straight out of the calm blue deep, caves with ceilings like merengue, azure waters we dove into from the ceiling of the boat, and a German (Frankie the frankfurter", he called himself) who threw beer cans into the waters of this UNESCO World Heritage site...

Ok, so it wasn't all beautiful, but most of it was worth the $10/day I paid for the whole package. The only disappointment was some of the food, and this will probably make it my last packaged tour. For breakfast on the boat, we expected fresh fruit and a nice spread. Instead we got a piece of bread and a banana, and some hard margarine. We protested, even pointed to the passengers in the other boats enjoying omelettes, but to no avail. The pattern continued with lunch after our 12 kilometer hike, when we got instant noodles and the guide got vegetable stir-fry. "They must think we're stupid," said the Londoner with the Vietnamese wife. But there was nothing we could do.

In all, if I had it over to do again, I would have bargained more. A couple from the Czhech Republic paid $25 apiece for the same package. Oh well. Get scammed and learn. Still, everything was on time. We spent lots of time on boats and had pleasant hotel rooms, except for all the dust and explosions of development. They were everywhere cutting paths through Cat Ba Island's national park, making roads, paving this, I'd hate to have been born in a developing country--even as a dog. Except as a dog on one of the house boats we saw on Cat Ba Bay. The houses were quite ingenious and the fisherpeople there were living the life. Their dwellings were just wooden planks over blue oil barrels and they slept in small shacks. They shat directly into the ocean. And the dogs patrolled those patios like dogs guarding the front yard of any shack anywhere in the world.

But best of all, it was the people. A Dutch neural psychologist, an active-duty Army man from Cali (who hid the fact from everyone but me); a German--"plastic bag boy"--named that because he carried a plastic bag through the forest for 12km; a couple of Koreans; a Welsh, British, and American English teacher working in China; the normal New Zealanders and Israelis; and too many others to remember. I need to replace the journal that was stolen in Kunming. I'm an amateur journalist without a journal!

Next, I'm off to Hue, the former capital of the country during the dynasty right before the French arrived. It's supposed to be quite historic. And thanks to webmaster Lorenzo, I've made contact with a Vietnamese film director who lives in Ho Chi Min City who was working on a movie in the city. We'll see what develops. ;)

Best to you all,
~josh(away)