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Boat trip! This morning we headed north to Ha Long Bay for an overnight trip in the bay on a junk. The drive went quick because of the scenery. I love driving through a new country and staring at all the new sights of the countryside, local farmers, rice paddies, and a dead cow on the back of a motorcycle. Almost anything on the back of a moto can be amusing here.

We arrived at Halong Bay around noon. After boarding, we got settled in our rooms. I have my own room! :) Lunch was interesting. I had a lot of tofu and rice. After lunch, I sat up top and read, sunned for about ten minutes and then decided it was too hot. Halong Bay is incredible! It reminds me of some of the cliffs near Ko Phi Phi in Thailand, but the bay is full of them! There are so many little islands and cliffs and peaks and the water is gorgeous too. I keep expecting a pirate ship to come slowly sailing around the corner!

When we got pretty far out into the bay, we stopped at the Surprise Caves to walk through, before getting back on the boat. Apparently the caves are called the surprise caves because they didn’t know they were there, and then “surprise” they found them… hmmm… After the caves, we went back out into the bay and stopped to swim. I asked one of the crew if I could jump off the top of the junk. He said “uhhh… ask your trip leader.” She wasn’t in eye sight, so I just went up and jumped. Hahaha, because I’m a bad ass, lol. (Actually, I’d heard from other travelers that jumping off the boat is one of the really fun things about visiting the bay.) Man up, boys! ;) Anyway, the water was really salty, but it was really nice to spend some time in the water. After swimming, we sat on the deck and drank Vietnamese beers until dinner. So far my favorite is Tiger, followed by Biere Larue. Dinner was more variations of tofu and rice. So far, I’m not too fond of my food choices here in Vietnam. After dinner, we went back to the deck to drink more beers and tell jokes. Brian, from one of the older Kiwi couples, tells the most hilarious jokes, and his accent kills me. Anyway, it was a really fun night, I haven’t laughed this much for a few weeks.

After a good night’s sleep, I can appreciate the entrepreneurial humor of the Vietnamese I met yesterday. To them, all westerners are rich and have money to waste.

Since I’m staying in the Old District, I did a lot of walking this morning. The streets are so busy here. Motorcycles and bicycles and pedestrians are everywhere, with a car thrown in every now and then. To cross the street, you just start walking and the bikes and motos dodge you. It looked a little scary at first, but after watching locals, I followed how they did it and it somehow just works! After breakfast at a cafe in the Old District, I got a massage and a manicure at a local salon. I seem to be more of an oddity here than in Thailand. People from neighboring shops came to stand in the doorway and stare at me having my nails done. After being here for less than I day, I can’t help but notice that the Vietnamese smile all the time. Why are they all so happy! :)

My Vietnam tour starts today, so I took a taxi over to my new hotel by the train station. The group meeting wasn’t until the evening, so I walked over to a yoga place mentioned in the Lonely Planet, but it’s closed down. That’s 2 for 2 of places that aren’t in business, Lonely Planet! Since I was across the street from the Temple of Literature, I walked over to check it out. It wasn’t that interesting, so I took a taxi out to the Museum of Ethnology. The museum was really cool. They have an huge outdoor exhibit behind the main museum building that has different examples of huts and traditional housing. And the French Bakery that I tried to go to this morning was relocated out here, so I won’t say if that was my true reason for coming here. ;) I had a lemon tart and iced coffee, before heading back to the hotel for the group meeting.

When I first walked in, there were two older couples sitting there. I hope my initial horror was too visible. Thankfully, a couple in their 30s, and 2 guys in their 20s joined us shortly. We went to dinner at a local restaurant. The group seems alright, but there’s kind of an awkward “get to know you” atmosphere. Thankfully, after a few days the 20 Questions should be over.

Since I had a really early flight to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), I ended up sleeping in the Singapore airport last night. Which means I spent the night curled up in an uncomfortable chair at the coffee shop, trying to sleep. After my flight arrived in HCMC, I walked to the domestic terminal, and waited for my flight to Hanoi. Welcome back to the real SE Asia! I arrived in Hanoi around 2pm and caught a taxi to my hotel. The taxi drivers here in Hanoi are dodgy! I’d read that they like to scam people, so I had the name, address, and phone number of my hotel on a piece of paper. I gave it to the driver and he called them (clearly he called another number), and then said they wanted to talk to me. The person on the phone said they didn’t have my booking and that there weren’t any rooms available and tried to book me at another hotel. So I told them that I’d already paid for my hotel (lie) and that I was meeting friends there (lie), and then refused to talk to them anymore. The driver called them again and then even stopped at a place that wasn’t my hotel and they came out to try to convince me to stay there instead! I was pretty pissed off at this point, since I’d spent the night in the airport and then been traveling all day. While he was driving in circles, I was busy locating us on my Lonely Planet map and asked him why we’d already driven past the same area twice. Once he realized that I was a cranky tourist with a sense of direction, he shut up and drove straight to my hotel.

Checking in to my hotel was another ordeal. They really want to make every possible cent off you in Hanoi. They asked how much I wanted to pay, and so I was like “What? Well how much is the room?” So they proceeded to describe to me all the different prices and rooms I could pay for, with the lowest one of course being almost twice as much as what I booked it online. I ended up having to check my email there and show them my booking.

After an afternoon playing mind games with the residents of Hanoi, I grabbed lunch at a cafe near my hotel and then went to sleep.

I ended up spending a week in Singapore waiting for my Vietnam visa. The first day I was going to drop my passport off at the embassy, it was a public holiday, but I ended up getting my visa in time. Singapore was a fun city, but since they’re known for their shopping and eating (both of which are expensive hobbies in this city), it wasn’t the easiest city to be stranded in.

Here are a few things I did to occupy the long days in an expensive city (while not doing any of the many things you shouldn’t do in Singapore):

• There are malls on almost every block in Singapore… with air conditioning! Since my hostel did not have aircon, I spent a bit of time mall walking.
• Movie tickets in Singapore are cheap, only $7 SGD, which is about $5. So I saw three movies during the week. Including the new Indiana Jones on the day it came out, (which technically was the day before it came out in the US because of the time difference!). Oh, and interestingly, they have assigned seats here, so when you buy your ticket you look at the seat screen and pick what seat you want to sit in!
• Sentosa Island was such a tourist trap, but I wanted to go to the beach! I took the gondola over from Vivocity, went luging down to the beach, paid $14 for a mojito and $15 for a “sunbather” (beach chair), and then felt obligated to stay for several hours to get my money’s worth!
• Shopping on Orchard Rd. OK, I didn’t buy anything, I just browsed.
• Exploring the city. Even though it was sweltering hot out, I found myself wandering all over this town. After a week, I really had the MRT, bus and map down.

See you in ‘NAM!

This morning, I used the pay phone to call another hostel, checked out, and high-tailed it for the Muslim Quarter. I took the MRT to Bugis station and then walked in the wrong direction for 20 minutes. I almost walked all the way to the city center! So I bused back to were I started, walked for 5 minutes in the other direction, circled the neighborhood twice and finally arrived. The Muslim Quarter is much better than being out east. It’s much more central to sights, and feels way safer. Humorously, I’m staying on Arab Street between Baghdad Rd and Muscat St, right behind the Sultan Mosque. It’s a really neat neighborhood, and you can hear the calls to pray during the day.

This morning after breakfast, I really drug my feet packing up my bag and checking out. It’s been so great staying in nicer hotels, with a room to myself. Tonight, it’s back to hosteling. I went to the Asian Civilization Museum with a few of the California girls who are still here. We had drinks and a light lunch on the Quay, before heading to Little India. After relaxing for a while back at the hotel, we took the MRT back to Clarke Quay for dinner. It was really nice having them to hang out with. After dinner, we took a taxi back to the hotel. I grabbed my pack, said goodbye, and continued on to my hostel… out to the ghetto. The taxi driver didn’t help calm my nerves about the safety of the neighborhood. The hostel had really good ratings, but I’m not liking the location, and the people staying here seem to be more in an international housing situation, than fellow travelers. I am so leaving in the morning.

After several relaxing days in Melaka, it was off to Singapore. Goodbye Malaysia and cheap prices! Hello Singapore, land of exorbitant prices! After we arrived, we took the MRT (Singapore metro) out to the Singapore Zoo. Since I’ll be here for a week, I bought a metro EZ-card, like I did in Tokyo, so I don’t have to buy single trip tickets every time. Anyway, the zoo was really cool, and the night safari was amazing! I had never been to a night zoo before. It’s a really great concept. We took a train and then walked around the night zoo, looking at all the animals. They all seemed so close, especially the lion!

After the zoo, we headed back into town. A few of us went to Raffles for Singapore Slings and then walked around the Clark Quay area. Singapore is fun, but you can spend too much, way too easily here. This isn’t going to be an easy week, budget-wise.

We took the three hour bus ride down to Melaka, yesterday. We went to a local Malay restaurant at lunch and ordered family style, so I finally got to taste all the Malay food I’ve been wanting to try. After lunch, we walked to the Chinatown area, and then I took off, for some exploring. I did some browsing in Chinatown, walked to the St. Paul’s church on the hill, overlooking the sea, and then down to the Porta de Santiago. I really like this size of town. It’s very walkable.

This morning, I did a river tour and then a tri-shaw ride, which I ended up peddling part of the way (and no, he wouldn’t give a discount). We had them drop us off at an Indian restaurant that has a ten item vegetarian lunch for only 6 ringetts (that’s $2)! Amazing! We walked back to the hotel, using the sun as our compass, and then headed over to the Chinese reflexology and Thai massage. I got a Chinese reflexology feet and back massage. Refreshing! And they gave us ginger tea to drink. After dinner at The Geographer, I browsed the night market, trying different street food sweets. Melaka has been a really fun city and really affordable.

This morning we went to the Petronas Twin Towers in KL. What a view of the city! Below the towers, is a gigantic mall, so we did a little bit of shopping, before heading out to the Kraft town. I ended up buying a dress at Zara. After walking all afternoon, we stopped in another mall to eat at the basement food court. Have I mentioned how cool the basements are in the malls in Asia? After dinner, we took a taxi back over to Chinatown to do some shopping at the night market. I bought a few gifts and two sundresses. I’m officially shopped out! No more!

Today we left for Kuala Lumpur (KL). Wow, what a change, going from serene, scenic mountain village to claustrophobic, humid, traffic clogged city. KL is huge! It’s a such a different mix of wealth and poverty, so much different than Bangkok. After checking in to our hotel, I went to lunch and then we caught the bus to the Batu Caves. The Batu Caves is a Hindu shrine. You walk up 272 steps to get inside the cave and there are several temples and hundreds of monkeys inside.

This evening, we went to look at the Radio Tower. The restaurant requires two week advance reservations, so we just had drinks and pizza below the tower.