Half Man Half Noodle Wears Tailor Made Clothes and Partakes in Motorbike Madness While Singing Catchy Asian Pop and Sleeping on Bus Floor Aisles

Although I didn't know it at the time, our crazy bus ride from the Lao border was a good indication of the ride that Vietnam had us in for. Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam, was our first stop and considering it is a big city I was surprised at how much I liked it. The streets are quite the show as there are hardly any cars - 95% of the traffic is comprised of motorbikes which not only weave in and out of each other with incredible ease, but carry ridiculous loads that you cannot help but wonder how they don't just tip over (some of the more interesting ones that we have seen - a tall wooden post strapped onto the back with branches off of it from which dangled plastic bags full of water and live goldfish, a motorbike with a stack of 8 full size bicycles on it, another with 3 full grown dead pigs strapped on the front, back and middle, and any number of passengers from 2 to 8. It is really quite amazing.) There is actually a book called "Bikes of Burden" which is a compilation of pictures of the exceedingly ridiculous loads - definitely worth a flip through if you can get your hands on it! A lot of the buildings in the Old Quarter look they could be of elegant colonial style, yet they are so randomly placed and surrounded by tangled power lines that the potential for elegance is somehow lost. However where elegance may be lost, intrigue is definitely gained! Our first night in Hanoi was Shaina's birthday and we happened upon a gem - a hole in the wall bar called Half Man Half Noodle (how could we not go into a bar by this name?!). By the end of our time in Vietnam we have spent 4 of our 4 nights in Hanoi at this bar. The staff know us and our drink preferences, and we all got free t-shirts - I never would have guessed we could become locals at a bar during our travels!

Next stop - Sapa, which is in NW Vietnam. At this point we had said goodbye to Stina and Roger, the fantastic Swedish couple we had been with since our border extravaganza in Laos, but were still travelling with Idan and Uri, the hilarious Israelis. Sapa is in the hills and the surrounding area is full of many of the minority tribal groups in Vietnam. Shaina and I got our fill of hiking in and set off on a "self-guided" tour of the area (much more to our liking than the many planned typical group "hikes" offered). This resulted in us hiking through lush green forest alongside a crystal clear emerald green river, through a valley full of rice fields following a small path that wound it's way beside thatched houses busy with squaking chickens and grunting pigs, and bushwacking (or "rice-paddy hacking", if you will) through disgruntled water buffalo, ignorant cows and territorial dogs, making our way from smaller dirt path to even smaller dirt path and eventually finding our way back to Sapa. A perfect Shaina-and-Jenn-need-a-hiking-adventure-day. Before we left Sapa we said a sad goodbye to Idan and Uri - it had been a fantastic 8 days of travelling with them, however we were all still on the move, but in this time in different directions. We then spent one night in Bac Ha, another northern town who only sees tourists for their Sunday market (so of course we went during the week), and did some more hiking, which rewarded us with fantastic views of the incredible undulating and artistic lines of the rice fields.

Next stop - Ninh Binh. This was the start of our motorbike madness (actually the moto-taxi ride we took the day before through the streets of Hanoi, passing every car, bus and motorbike in sight and weaving back and forth in and out of everything, and racing off the traffic lights, not unlike the start of a Formula Car race, and leaving me wavering back and forth between feelings of death and exhilaration was likely the start of it, however....) We rented motorbikes for two days in a row and had the time of our lives. It didn't matter that some of the sights we visited were less than inspiring, the freedom of being on the bike made it all worth it! My first 20 minutes EVER of driving a bike involved Shaina on the back and the two of us together navigating ourselves through "Highway 1" - the main road through town. I quickly learned that as long as you hug the right side of the road, yield to all things bigger than you, and honk at everything you pass, it is a breeze .....

Continuing south, we stopped for a one day tour of the Demilitarized Zone - the area separating North Vietnam from South Vietnam during the war. Our guide worked during the war as a liason between the Americans and the Southern Vietnamese - he was a huge source of knowledge and provided us with the insight that we had been looking for. Once again, we headed off on motorbikes (although this time with drivers) and explored some of the reminders of the war, many of which were off the main roads, off of a small path off of a dirt road - impossible to have found on our own. Among them we saw Charlie 1, a bunker still standing, a huge cemetary containing the graves of fallen soldiers , and the Vinh Moc tunnels. These are similar to the famous Cu Chi tunnels near Ho Chi Minh City, in that they were used to shelter people and move supplies, however, unlike Cu Chi the area is not nearly as popular with tourists, so they have been completely unaltered from their original form. I was walking hunched over the entire time, with the walls crowding in on either side of me, and found it so hard to comprehend that people actually lived in these tunnels, and 17 babies were even born in them. The determination and perseverance of these people is truly incredible.

It was a good thing that we had not planned to spend too much time on the beach, as we were in for a spell of rainy, dreary weather - a result of Typhoon Durian that hit the southern coast. After only spending two nights and one rainy day in Hue we continued on to Hoi An - the custom-made clothing capital of Vietnam where we were instantly immersed in the culture of couture. Although Shaina and I had both previously decided that we would not get anything made, within a few minutes of arriving we had already succumbed to the great tailors and ridiculously cheap clothing, which they spin off in only a few hours using any design you can dream up or find in a magazine. We both went a little crazy - good thing the duffle bag business is also booming in Hoi An, as we definitley needed one by the time we were done with the tailor shops! I am not really sure when the next time will be that I can say "I would like that suit", look through rolls of fabric, "In that color with that liner", be measured to a T, "to fit me just like this" - I must admit I felt a bit like a celebrity! The other highlight of our time here was a completely unexpected reunion with Stina, Roger, and Idan - it was so great to see their familiar faces again!!!

With our duffle bag packed to the max, we boarded a 18 hour bus ride bound for Hanoi. This time I followed the lead of the locals and bought a woven mat, spread it out in the aisle of the bus and proceeded to sleep on the bus floor. I have to say it was really not that bad....beats folding up into a pretzl and trying to sleep on the seat!

Our final stop in Vietnam was Halong Bay. I will not go into the details of the scams that surround this popular tourist stop, however in order to avoid it we decided to go on our own, instead of joining one of the numerous tour groups that leave from Hanoi. Needless to say this decision gave us a ride in itself, however turned out to be the right one as it seemed that every person we met was not satisfied with their tour for one reason or the other. We took a boat tour of the bay which is simply stunning. The gray misty skies cast a very surreal effect on the peculiar limestone rock formations which rise randomly out of the water. I felt like I was in a black and white film, as the rocks were in various shades of gray, yielding the appearance of large vertical shadows rising from the water. We spent one night on Cat Ba Island, and although the weather was not quite beach-worthy, we still had some fun splashing around in the water and on the sand (despite the fact we were wearing fleece jackets and pants!!).

At this point we had sadly reached the last night of our trip together. We spent it in Hanoi, at none other than Half Man Half Noodle, reminiscing about the countless hilarious times, adventures, and memories. The next day we took a flight together to Bangkok, where we said a tearful goodbye as Shaina headed south to Phuket and I continued on for my treacherous journey home - 5 flights in 5 days. It has been a fantastic 3 months and I could not have asked for a better travel buddy. Thanks Shaina!

I am now in Delhi in the middle of my Long Way Home (6 flights in 5 days), and will post some more pics and some final thoughts when I (finally!) get home .... after overdosing on airplane food, memorizing the airplane safety demonstrations and becoming a complete zombie from lack of sleep and recycled stale air, I will be back in cowtown on Dec.17!!

Food for thought - an exerpt from a book by the Dalai Lama that I thought was just so fitting given the time we spent at the Demilitarized Zone, and Vietnam's history of war:

"We see murder as dreadful, but there is no association of war with criminality. On the contrary, it is seen as an opportunity for people to prove their competence and courage. We speak of the heros it produces, almost as if the greater the number killed, the more heroic the individual. And we talk about this or that weapon as a marvelous piece of technology, forgetting that when used it will actually maim and murder living people. Your friend, my friend, our mothers, our fathers, our sisters and brothers, you and me."