Cat Ba Night: The Fire

Huyen and I ended up staying at the hotel of the man who rented us our motorbike. As we strolled into the hotel after the beach, he asked us if we would like to have an extremely fresh seafood dinner. He told Huyen there was a good floating restaurant that he recommended. We thanked him for his suggestion but said we just wanted to walk around and find a place to eat for ourselves.

After strolling along the main strip we decided to eat in one of the hundred seafood restaurants. We feasted on crabs and sea mantises (not sure of the plural spelling). Yes, sea mantis. What is a sea mantis? Well, I'm assuming it's a distant cousin of the preying mantis. I had never seen one before so I took a picture to share with everyone:


They sort of look like giant shrimp but actually taste a lot like lobster. The beauty of them is that they're really easy to eat. If you're wondering why they are in a plastic bag in the picture it's because the restaurant owner had just scooped them out of a tank, along with our crabs, to prepare our dinner.

On our way back to the hotel I saw smoke in the distance. We walked towards the water and joined a large crowd watching a giant fire on the water. Turns out a floating restaurant -- perhaps the one that was suggested to us -- had caught on fire.


Luckily nobody was hurt in the fire. The scariest moment was when a dog appeared on the dock and started to bark wildly. After a few minutes the dog, scared out of its mind, jumped into the water and started to swim. Immediately some fishermen sped over to the dog and pulled it into their boats. It was the happiest ending possible considering the situation.

Cat Ba Day 1: The Beach

Huyen and I went to Cat Ba to have a romantic weekend before my upcoming trip with my sister. Huyen told me that, "The beach in winter is supposed to be romantic." Well, she was right. It was definitely the off season in Cat Ba which meant there were only a few people on the island. When we arrived at the beach there were about twelve people lounging on the whole beach.

The water was extremely clean but a little too cold to go for a swim. Instead we took a nice walk along the beach, collected sea shells and just lounged around until the sun went down.

(PICTURE: The beauty of a ten second timer on a camera)

My Plans

(PICTURE: My favorite people south of Hanoi!)

In three and a half hours I'll be boarding a Jetstar flight to Ho Chi Minh City. I'll be spending the next three days with Hien, my best friend in Vietnam, and Linh, my Vietnamese teacher.

On Saturday the 6th, I'm scheduled to fly Air Asia to Bangkok where I'm supposed to be meeting my sister at 7:15PM. At 9:00 PM we're scheduled to fly on a Bangkok Airlines flight to the island of Ko Samui.

Now, if you've been following the news, Thailand isn't exactly stable. The siege at the airport is supposed to end today but who knows what that means for flights this Saturday. My sister says that Cathay Pacific has canceled all flights to Bangkok until December 5th. That's cutting it pretty close for us to make back-up plans.

I have pre-written a whole bunch of blog entries to be posted during my travels since some readers get a tad miffed at me when I don't post anything. When I have time/internet access I'll be updating the blog about my travels in Ho Chi Minh and with Hannah.

Send good thoughts Hannah's and my way for our flights on Saturday.

See you in a few hours Hien and Linh!

Cat Ba Day 1: The Mountain Peak

Huyen and I arrived on Cat Ba and immediately rented a motorbike for the weekend. The man who rented us his motorbike also wanted us to come stay at his hotel. We scouted the room (100,000 VND for the room; 150,000 VND for the bike) but decided we wanted to ride around the island for a little while before deciding where we wanted to stay.

After checking out the main beaches we headed towards Cat Ba National Park. Upon entering the park we were told there were two hiking options. A short 15 minute hike or a longer 30 minute hike to the mountain peak. The "trail" -- a concrete set of stairs -- headed straight up the mountain. After walking for about ten minutes Huyen was out of breath and said that perhaps we should just do the fifteen minute hike. I was fine with this decision since it had just occured to me that I had left the motorbike keys in the bike (I had paid a drink vendor 5,000 VND to watch the bike with the promise of buying a Coke upon returning). However, after catching our breath for a minute Huyen insisted on going to the top of the mountain. Always up for an adventure (and rationalizing that if the bike was going to be stolen it would have been stolen already) we headed further up the mountain.

The trail wasn't that difficult except when we'd have to climb on old rusted ladders at extremely steep angles. The ladders would have lawsuit written all over them in America, but here they are standard operating procedure. Worries about Tetnis aside, we continued the trek. The trail eventaully led us to the top of the mountain where we were surprised to see a tall tower. If I had to guess, I'd say the tower was at least thirty years old. It was extremely rusted and looked like it could fall over with a strong wind....but we came that far so we headed up the steps.

I've got to say, I'm extremely proud of Huyen for climbing the mountain and the tower. Huyen is slightly scared of heights but didn't let that stop her love of adventure. We climbed to the top of the tower and got an amazing three hundred and sixty degree view of Cat Ba...while standing on old wood planks...with gaps in them...that probably weren't use to my weight.



Luckily the tower didn't break or fall over while we were on it. Also luckily my bike wasn't stolen when we returnd to the drink vendor. I bought a Coke and an ice cream from him.

7th Months

Happy 7 Month Anniversary, Huyen!

Thanksgiving Day Blues

I've been asked a couple of times what I did for Thanksgiving. The highlight of the day was when Huyen rang my doorbell at 10:45 AM holding a giant mango and an even bigger smile. I asked here why she was at my house so early on a work day and she said, "To wish you a happy Thanksgiving day."

Huyen and I ate the mango together and in this way it was the closest I've ever come to the original Thanksgiving -- sharing local crops with the natives.

Besides that though the day was uneventful and frankly depressing. I had to work until 9:30 PM and then had my big Thanksgiving meal by myself since Huyen had dinner with Ryan's parents who were visiting. I went to my favorite new chicken spot (been there 5 times in 8 days) and ordered the largest plate of chicken they had and pretended it was turkey:

After I got home Huyen and I went for coffee and shot some pool. I think it goes without saying that besides my family, the thing I'm most thankful for this year is Huyen.

That said, I was definitely homesick on Thursday. There's really no replacement for sitting in my dining room in Livingston with my family. Perhaps next year Huyen can join us for Thanksgiving!

Not MIA

About a week or so ago I didn't post my daily blog. Well, sure enough I got a frantic email from my mother with the subject line: "Where are you?"

This was the first part of the email:

no blog yesterday or today... is everything ok?

Just so you don't worry, Mom, I'm going on a weekend trip with Huyen to Cat Ba Island. We'll be back on Sunday night. Love you!

(Yes, this is a cheaters way to post a blog...and yes, I emailed my mom too!)

Have a great weekend and lets hope that LT and Michael Turner have great games so I can make my fantasy football playoffs!