Am I dreaming or can all of this be real?

Vietnam..........motorbike anyone???????

"Good Morning Vietnam..........." still rings throughout the country and Vietnam has made the tragic war it's main tourist draw. The intense beauty of Vietnam is harshly contrasted by the everyday realitys of the past and its hard to imagine so many devastating things happening to this country and it's people. Everywhere around me I would see the affects from a war that wracked the country and it made me nervous to tell people that I was from the US, yet when I did they would say "Oh we love the US". I guess it is as they say "We have forgiven. But we will never forget."

We crossed over into Vietnam in the middle of the night from China and after the order and structure of China the disorganized chaos that was the boarder check into Vietnam gave us a glimpse as to what it would be like for the next two weeks. As soon as we walked out of the train station in Hanoi we were bombarded with what would become the most common saying in Vietnam "Motorbike? You need a motorbike? It's much to far to walk." I don't think that I have ever seen this many people trying to get you to ride their bike and you have to find it funny so that it does not drive you crazy.

Our first day in Hanoi was spent just checking out the city and going to see the famous and greatly entertaining Water Puppet Show. Although being very touristy it was quite clever, they had the puppets on long poles and moved them around in a pool of water. This was original done in Rice paddies and all the colors were wonderfully bright. They had live folk music and singers, so it made for a fun little night out. The next morning Russ and I decided to try our hand at renting a motorbike and visit some of the sights around town. Looking back this was a slightly bad idea seeing as it had been year since Russ had driven a bike and my experience was a few random rides now and then over the years. After a few near misses (of hitting poles, sidewalks etc.) we were cruising around town. I would only drive it outside town (I know I'm a baby) but Russ did a great job in the crazy traffic and we had such a blast.

The next day we headed out to Cat Ba Island, which I had heard a few good things about but was unsure if it would be over run by tourists or not. It turned out to be one of my favorite places on the trip so far and I have made a vow to go back some day. We stayed at this great Aussie run hotel that was almost over the water it was so close, with big rooms that were nice and cheap. By a lucky turn of events we met two American guys that are just about to start a climbing business in Cat Ba. It sounded like an adventure seeing as you can most likely count the number of people who have climbed the area on one hand. They have about five bolted routes on one of the hundreds of islands and the only way to get there is by boat. They were leaving for Hanoi the next morning but gave us a great price to go out on their boat with a guide to get around the islands, a kayak and gear. At 6am the next morning we were weaving our way through island after island of towering limestone cliffs set in sapphire like dark blue water. The climbing was maybe 35 minutes from shore and we had to kayak into the beach. It was not the best climbing I have ever done but there was something insanely cool about looking out over the shimmering water and knowing that you are one of the first to see that view. Of course I was also dripping sweat because of the 80 plus heat and covered in black dust from the unclean route (FYI climbing where no one else has or new routes most likely means there will be a few bumps in your path).

The guys had also told us about a good bouldering area that they had found, so the next day we rented a motorbike and went searching. Although we were following directions they had given us we ended up driving from one side to the other and searched high and low for hours, yet we still could not find it. After driving the same road for the fifth time we asks a few people (always getting a direction from them even if it was not right) and found out that the directions were wrong......go figure. Finally in the late afternoon light we drove over the crest of a hill and saw a valley that poured down the hillside to the base of a beautiful limestone wall. A few small farm houses and green fields with cows grazing dotted the valley and as we drove through the local children seemed to spring from every shadow. We parked at the base to the cliff and climbed for a while with an audience of about 8-9 kids and a few cows. When we were leaving the older boys invited us to join them for a bit of soccer with their beat up mostly flat soccer ball. I will never forget standing in the shadow of that giant black and white cliff kicking the ball around with these beautiful, kind children, who had the most stunning smiles you have ever seem and feeling like this place was at the end of the world and you could just disappear with the setting sun.

It is moments like that when all the bad in the world just seems to fade always and I realize how lucky I am. Sometimes I wonder why it is that I am traveling and I start to think "shouldn't I be more responsible or maybe I would be better off doing something different." But those few days on Cat Ba were incredible and I can't wait to see what jumps out from around the next bend or what next adventure will be.

I have so much more to write about in Vietnam and Cambodia where I am right now. But sadly there is a line for the computer so I should get going. I have been having a few problems with my camera so I am not posting pictures right now but keep an eye out as I will be adding some soon. (hopefully)

Peace, Kala