Watch out, its told end to beginning! Surf, Sunset, Sunset...Vietnam, and the rest is history
19 July 2010
13 July 2010
HUGE WAVES! Monkey standoff (part 2) and the 7 Deadly Plagues of Max
So we left off flat... Not anymore! Imagine a 2 story house, now make that a wave breaking on an offshore reef about a half mile out. Now place yourself on top, and ride down it with the wind quite literally whistling through your ears. That was our Sunday.
We surfed the biggest waves either of us had ever surfed (and we have video proof of max eating it really bad on one wave) Youtube video to follow shortly. The swell arrived and with it some of the most perfect right hander in Ekas history. After days of no swell, you can only imagine our delight, one that Max was feeling better, and two that there were waves finally! Usually a low tide break, we paddled out to inside Ekas at high tide. We saw only one guy out, and he was nothing but a speck on the horizon. I thought he was too far out (usually you catch the wave pretty close to shore) but as we paddled I saw why. A set wave of 3X Overhead (imagine me X3) broke and he got on it perfectly! We were really excited. As we got out we saw why nobody else was out. There was a current pushing you directly into the path of the oncoming swell. Therefore if you stopped paddling you would be crushed. But thankfully Max caught one, then I caught one so we were feeling good. We then talked to the other guy out there, this Californian from Huntington beach who was wrecking it. We took some queues, and got ready for the next set. Max took off trying to catch the wave, but for once my cautious nature paid off and I was in perfect position for the next wave. As I rode down the huge barreling wave, I could just see max getting crushed underneath it (he had missed his wave...) I ended up about 200 meters in from where I started, and after about 3-4 more waves on the head, Max was right next to me. So we paddled back out, but the current had gotten even stronger, and we had to paddle even harder just to stay put. The last thing I saw was the other Californian dropping in on a 24 foot monster, which then crashed on my head. I then caught the tail section of the next one and rode it in. I was exhausted after about 2 hours of constant paddling for only 3 waves. When I made it in we spoke with Jules, and apparently on Max's last wave he took off, realized it was going to close out, and doe off the wave, not quite making it. But we got a good video. We then took naps and paddled back out in the evening, this time to a perfectly breaking left (about 1,5X overhead but it seemed small) that only breaks about 6 times a year. We were getting 1.5 minute long rides, and loving every second of it. When we got out it was dark, and we scored some free food and then slept, solidly for about 10 hours.
A little more about Max's 7 afflictions. The day before the swell hit, we surfed two breaks, in the morning we surfed perfect head high + southern reef, and in the afternoon surfed inside Ekas. As there were no waves Max went with the 15 year old Australian almost pros. He had to paddle about 1 mile over, and when he got there surfed a barreling wave, but there happened to be TONS of sea lice. Sea lice normally don't cause problems, (they don't leave marks) but are merely uncomfortable. In this case it was "like swimming in acid". So I asked why he didn't get out and Max replied "because I didn't want to be shown up by a 15 yr old." Needless (at this point) to say, Max was covered head to toe in little welts that were incredibly itchy. So as we sat watching the upcoming swell Max looked over at me and said, "this is like the 7 deadly plagues, first Jellyfish! then Reef, followed by Insect (Mosquitoes, Max was covered in bites while I had basically none) then Stomach Virus, and then Sea Lice. Wonder whats next? Then Max got crushed by the biggest waves of his life, and afterward oh number 6, Giant Waves... SO I said well I hope number 7 is that you had to hang out with me for 3 weeks, and Max said he hoped not (he didn't want me to be one of his deadly plagues, but I know he actually did)
The next day we escaped from Lombok by driving 3 hours, taking the Ferry for 6 hours (should have taken 4 but the captain couldn't get the direction figured out, and then the deckhands could literally NOT get the boat tied to the dock) and then driving for 2 more hours to Ubud. Oh yeah and we didn't eat anything the whole time so we were absolutely starving. We managed to find a place to stay though. For only 10$ each we had a gorgeous room, with a balcony facing the rice paddies. Breakfast included. We then had a beer, an amazing salad, nasi goreng (fried rice) gado gado (vegetables with peanut sauce) and black rice pudding, all for 10$. We slept like babies, and then had one of the busiest days ever, (which I am just wrapping up now).
Monkey standoff, part 2. We woke to fresh coffee and tea, and amazing eggs with a fruit plate. We walked through rice paddies to the Monkey forest, site of my standoff last year. This time we came armed with bananas, and a good hiding place (Max's shirt). We gave a few out, and got pictures of Monkeys crawling all over us (I had 4 on me at one point). Everything good so far. But then I gave one monkey a banana, but he wasn't satisfied, and tried to bite me (I guess he knew I had more bananas, so I threw them to Max, after which the monkey just started biting towards me, I didn't know what to do (again) so I tried to be bigger then him and scare him, this just pissed him off, so I tried to back slowly away (the preferred method to deal with Monkeys (but this just made him more bold) so I kinda half ran, jumped away and got the heck out of there, Nick plus Monkeys=no good.
We then shopped for a bit, (2 hours in Ubud bargaining from 250,000 (about 25$) to 50,000. Then had lunch for 1.6 dollars, and got on the road, straight through all the traffic of Denpasar, to the beach called Impossibles, a reef break near Uluwatu. We jumped in the water, and promptly were able to connect a ride for the whole reef, (not so impossible) got lost on the way back to old Betsy, drove back into Kuta Bali, dropped off Betsy (we almost ran out of gas, almost caused an accident by driving the wrong way down multiple streets), got a room, got dinner, tried to change my flight, ducked into the clubs here, and then typed this out.
Whew. How much can one do in 16 hours??
Sleep now, surf tomorrow, eat, repeat.
Be back on Thursday!!
See y'all soon!
Nick
SO now we should have some more swell tomorrow, surfing Kuta's legendary beach break!
We surfed the biggest waves either of us had ever surfed (and we have video proof of max eating it really bad on one wave) Youtube video to follow shortly. The swell arrived and with it some of the most perfect right hander in Ekas history. After days of no swell, you can only imagine our delight, one that Max was feeling better, and two that there were waves finally! Usually a low tide break, we paddled out to inside Ekas at high tide. We saw only one guy out, and he was nothing but a speck on the horizon. I thought he was too far out (usually you catch the wave pretty close to shore) but as we paddled I saw why. A set wave of 3X Overhead (imagine me X3) broke and he got on it perfectly! We were really excited. As we got out we saw why nobody else was out. There was a current pushing you directly into the path of the oncoming swell. Therefore if you stopped paddling you would be crushed. But thankfully Max caught one, then I caught one so we were feeling good. We then talked to the other guy out there, this Californian from Huntington beach who was wrecking it. We took some queues, and got ready for the next set. Max took off trying to catch the wave, but for once my cautious nature paid off and I was in perfect position for the next wave. As I rode down the huge barreling wave, I could just see max getting crushed underneath it (he had missed his wave...) I ended up about 200 meters in from where I started, and after about 3-4 more waves on the head, Max was right next to me. So we paddled back out, but the current had gotten even stronger, and we had to paddle even harder just to stay put. The last thing I saw was the other Californian dropping in on a 24 foot monster, which then crashed on my head. I then caught the tail section of the next one and rode it in. I was exhausted after about 2 hours of constant paddling for only 3 waves. When I made it in we spoke with Jules, and apparently on Max's last wave he took off, realized it was going to close out, and doe off the wave, not quite making it. But we got a good video. We then took naps and paddled back out in the evening, this time to a perfectly breaking left (about 1,5X overhead but it seemed small) that only breaks about 6 times a year. We were getting 1.5 minute long rides, and loving every second of it. When we got out it was dark, and we scored some free food and then slept, solidly for about 10 hours.
A little more about Max's 7 afflictions. The day before the swell hit, we surfed two breaks, in the morning we surfed perfect head high + southern reef, and in the afternoon surfed inside Ekas. As there were no waves Max went with the 15 year old Australian almost pros. He had to paddle about 1 mile over, and when he got there surfed a barreling wave, but there happened to be TONS of sea lice. Sea lice normally don't cause problems, (they don't leave marks) but are merely uncomfortable. In this case it was "like swimming in acid". So I asked why he didn't get out and Max replied "because I didn't want to be shown up by a 15 yr old." Needless (at this point) to say, Max was covered head to toe in little welts that were incredibly itchy. So as we sat watching the upcoming swell Max looked over at me and said, "this is like the 7 deadly plagues, first Jellyfish! then Reef, followed by Insect (Mosquitoes, Max was covered in bites while I had basically none) then Stomach Virus, and then Sea Lice. Wonder whats next? Then Max got crushed by the biggest waves of his life, and afterward oh number 6, Giant Waves... SO I said well I hope number 7 is that you had to hang out with me for 3 weeks, and Max said he hoped not (he didn't want me to be one of his deadly plagues, but I know he actually did)
The next day we escaped from Lombok by driving 3 hours, taking the Ferry for 6 hours (should have taken 4 but the captain couldn't get the direction figured out, and then the deckhands could literally NOT get the boat tied to the dock) and then driving for 2 more hours to Ubud. Oh yeah and we didn't eat anything the whole time so we were absolutely starving. We managed to find a place to stay though. For only 10$ each we had a gorgeous room, with a balcony facing the rice paddies. Breakfast included. We then had a beer, an amazing salad, nasi goreng (fried rice) gado gado (vegetables with peanut sauce) and black rice pudding, all for 10$. We slept like babies, and then had one of the busiest days ever, (which I am just wrapping up now).
Monkey standoff, part 2. We woke to fresh coffee and tea, and amazing eggs with a fruit plate. We walked through rice paddies to the Monkey forest, site of my standoff last year. This time we came armed with bananas, and a good hiding place (Max's shirt). We gave a few out, and got pictures of Monkeys crawling all over us (I had 4 on me at one point). Everything good so far. But then I gave one monkey a banana, but he wasn't satisfied, and tried to bite me (I guess he knew I had more bananas, so I threw them to Max, after which the monkey just started biting towards me, I didn't know what to do (again) so I tried to be bigger then him and scare him, this just pissed him off, so I tried to back slowly away (the preferred method to deal with Monkeys (but this just made him more bold) so I kinda half ran, jumped away and got the heck out of there, Nick plus Monkeys=no good.
We then shopped for a bit, (2 hours in Ubud bargaining from 250,000 (about 25$) to 50,000. Then had lunch for 1.6 dollars, and got on the road, straight through all the traffic of Denpasar, to the beach called Impossibles, a reef break near Uluwatu. We jumped in the water, and promptly were able to connect a ride for the whole reef, (not so impossible) got lost on the way back to old Betsy, drove back into Kuta Bali, dropped off Betsy (we almost ran out of gas, almost caused an accident by driving the wrong way down multiple streets), got a room, got dinner, tried to change my flight, ducked into the clubs here, and then typed this out.
Whew. How much can one do in 16 hours??
Sleep now, surf tomorrow, eat, repeat.
Be back on Thursday!!
See y'all soon!
Nick
SO now we should have some more swell tomorrow, surfing Kuta's legendary beach break!
08 July 2010
Driving, Monkeys and the Perfect Wave
Max: "That monkey will be back... with a vengeance" Me: "kind of like your diahrea" Max "yeah kinda like that"
This was after I sent max to stand near the monkey eating in the tree behind our house at Ocean Heaven so I could get a good picture. When Max got close the Monkey reared back and sent him running for cover. I love lombok "or so the bracelet I had made by a little girl named Billabong says.
We made the trip from Kuta Bali to Kuta Lombok in the afternoon of the 3rd of July. We chose our vehicle not for looks or comfort, but for price, and the assurances of the man renting it that it would indeed, contrary to appearances, survive the journey across Bali and Lombok in search or the perfect wave (or waves). For only 120,000 rupiah, or about $13 we could drive a 1980 Diahatsu 2 door gorgeous black automobile with enough ground clearance and power to make our way to spots unknown. Right as we made our way in Betsy (named later for obvious reasons) out of Kuta Bal, on the left side of the road, shifting with my left hand, we were pulled over, of course. The policeman demanded why we were not wearing seatbelts, and as we showed the man that there were no seatbelts he said this was no excuse. Then he asked for my international driving license. (I later learned that my UCSF student ID will pass) but he said we would have to settle the issue in court, or pay 200,000 rupiah. We tried to bargin the bribe down, but could only get as low as 100,000 and paid accordingly. What an ignominious start to a 14 day journey in Betsy. Then the road disapeared. Or rather our side disapeared. So now rather than traveling on a 4 lane road it was reduced to a 2 lane road, as they were doing work on the other side. But no signs really announced this, and one could actually see traffic still on the "closed" side, so it was amazing that we didnt have a front end collision with anybody during this time. Somehow through the shifting, driving through dirt, and exhaust smoke, we made it to the ferry, paid off the cops, and tried to pay for the crossing. Mind you a bike is only $5 to cross so we were destroyed when we were told we would have to pay $60 for old Betsy! We should have flown and rented on the other side! This did not put us at ease but we got on the boat (again by paying for the officers to buy some tobacco later) and on our way to Lombok. Driving in Lombok is confused by the fact that there are no street signs, and nobody speaks English. We got some rudimentary indonesian language help (enough to say how do we get to...) and with the help of a map, eventually arrived in Kuta Lombok.
We soon realized that surfing was not easy or cheap here. The first day we surfed with Matt from England (travelling with his girlfriend Becca), at an absurdly shallow break named Mawi (yes pronounced like Maui). On entering we had to pay 10,000 rupiah to get to the break, and then 10,000 more to park. And then Max sliced his foot open on the reef while entering the water. Not that the wave didnt have potential, but there was no swell in the water. In the afternoon we surfed Grupuk, much more successfully as it turned out. The wave is about a 10 minute boat ride (again you must pay 30,000 rupiah to get out) but at least there was swell (surfed about a head high wave) and we decided to return. We surfed here a few more times, until one morning te boatman offered to take us to a "secret" spot on the other side of the bay. We went and had the best surf of the trip! Big glassy waves were breaking away bothe left and right off a deep reef. We caught so many waves as it was only the 3 of us out, and all had the best time. We returned at night, and caught a few, not as clean or as nice as the morning session. Of course when we returned the next morning, there were 20 guys in the water but again had a great surf. This time Matt was barreled and Max and I both got into tubes, but sadly not out. Fun times but it was time to move on to Ekas, which we did.
A little about Kuta. We had a good time here, but the whole town is set up to take advantage of travellers. We were literally followed around by Billabong and RipCurl, two local girls who tried to sell us everything and anything they could. I ended up having them make me a bracelet which reads "Nick loves Lombok" in red white and blue (I got it on the 4th of July), and ended up bargining with an 8 year old girl for about the difference in price of about 10 cents. Yes I gave her the total price in the end... There were several restaurants which were amazingly priced. We paid about 37,000 rupiah ($4) for amazing meals of Mahi Mahi and local caught barracuda, all made by a former 5 star hotel chef. Incredible. And the town of Grupak was quite nice, a real fishing village, with many friendly fishermen who loved to take us surfing, as they either fished or joined us out in the water. All in all a good time, but time to leave when we did.
Now we are staying at Ocean Heaven, a new part of Heaven on the Planet. We are staying in our own villa, within eye sight of the amazing break in Ekas, lots of bugs sharing our room, (and at least one mouse) and many Monkeys within eyesight. (Max woke up with one staring at him through the window) There are absolutely no waves, but for once we are happy about it bc both Max and I are quite sick. Max and I both have some sort of cold (probably just as a result of running our immune systems down) and Max has a horrible case of Bali Belly (he has only moved about 100 yards today and has been to the bathroom about 50 times). So we wait, read and pray for waves. I will surf tomorrow morning early, and tomorrow evening the swell of the year should arrive (or is predicted to) and we will surf.
Gotta love life, hope things are good wherever you are.
Nick
This was after I sent max to stand near the monkey eating in the tree behind our house at Ocean Heaven so I could get a good picture. When Max got close the Monkey reared back and sent him running for cover. I love lombok "or so the bracelet I had made by a little girl named Billabong says.
We made the trip from Kuta Bali to Kuta Lombok in the afternoon of the 3rd of July. We chose our vehicle not for looks or comfort, but for price, and the assurances of the man renting it that it would indeed, contrary to appearances, survive the journey across Bali and Lombok in search or the perfect wave (or waves). For only 120,000 rupiah, or about $13 we could drive a 1980 Diahatsu 2 door gorgeous black automobile with enough ground clearance and power to make our way to spots unknown. Right as we made our way in Betsy (named later for obvious reasons) out of Kuta Bal, on the left side of the road, shifting with my left hand, we were pulled over, of course. The policeman demanded why we were not wearing seatbelts, and as we showed the man that there were no seatbelts he said this was no excuse. Then he asked for my international driving license. (I later learned that my UCSF student ID will pass) but he said we would have to settle the issue in court, or pay 200,000 rupiah. We tried to bargin the bribe down, but could only get as low as 100,000 and paid accordingly. What an ignominious start to a 14 day journey in Betsy. Then the road disapeared. Or rather our side disapeared. So now rather than traveling on a 4 lane road it was reduced to a 2 lane road, as they were doing work on the other side. But no signs really announced this, and one could actually see traffic still on the "closed" side, so it was amazing that we didnt have a front end collision with anybody during this time. Somehow through the shifting, driving through dirt, and exhaust smoke, we made it to the ferry, paid off the cops, and tried to pay for the crossing. Mind you a bike is only $5 to cross so we were destroyed when we were told we would have to pay $60 for old Betsy! We should have flown and rented on the other side! This did not put us at ease but we got on the boat (again by paying for the officers to buy some tobacco later) and on our way to Lombok. Driving in Lombok is confused by the fact that there are no street signs, and nobody speaks English. We got some rudimentary indonesian language help (enough to say how do we get to...) and with the help of a map, eventually arrived in Kuta Lombok.
We soon realized that surfing was not easy or cheap here. The first day we surfed with Matt from England (travelling with his girlfriend Becca), at an absurdly shallow break named Mawi (yes pronounced like Maui). On entering we had to pay 10,000 rupiah to get to the break, and then 10,000 more to park. And then Max sliced his foot open on the reef while entering the water. Not that the wave didnt have potential, but there was no swell in the water. In the afternoon we surfed Grupuk, much more successfully as it turned out. The wave is about a 10 minute boat ride (again you must pay 30,000 rupiah to get out) but at least there was swell (surfed about a head high wave) and we decided to return. We surfed here a few more times, until one morning te boatman offered to take us to a "secret" spot on the other side of the bay. We went and had the best surf of the trip! Big glassy waves were breaking away bothe left and right off a deep reef. We caught so many waves as it was only the 3 of us out, and all had the best time. We returned at night, and caught a few, not as clean or as nice as the morning session. Of course when we returned the next morning, there were 20 guys in the water but again had a great surf. This time Matt was barreled and Max and I both got into tubes, but sadly not out. Fun times but it was time to move on to Ekas, which we did.
A little about Kuta. We had a good time here, but the whole town is set up to take advantage of travellers. We were literally followed around by Billabong and RipCurl, two local girls who tried to sell us everything and anything they could. I ended up having them make me a bracelet which reads "Nick loves Lombok" in red white and blue (I got it on the 4th of July), and ended up bargining with an 8 year old girl for about the difference in price of about 10 cents. Yes I gave her the total price in the end... There were several restaurants which were amazingly priced. We paid about 37,000 rupiah ($4) for amazing meals of Mahi Mahi and local caught barracuda, all made by a former 5 star hotel chef. Incredible. And the town of Grupak was quite nice, a real fishing village, with many friendly fishermen who loved to take us surfing, as they either fished or joined us out in the water. All in all a good time, but time to leave when we did.
Now we are staying at Ocean Heaven, a new part of Heaven on the Planet. We are staying in our own villa, within eye sight of the amazing break in Ekas, lots of bugs sharing our room, (and at least one mouse) and many Monkeys within eyesight. (Max woke up with one staring at him through the window) There are absolutely no waves, but for once we are happy about it bc both Max and I are quite sick. Max and I both have some sort of cold (probably just as a result of running our immune systems down) and Max has a horrible case of Bali Belly (he has only moved about 100 yards today and has been to the bathroom about 50 times). So we wait, read and pray for waves. I will surf tomorrow morning early, and tomorrow evening the swell of the year should arrive (or is predicted to) and we will surf.
Gotta love life, hope things are good wherever you are.
Nick
02 July 2010
Hanoi Hilton, jellyfish and former US Presidents???
I looked up at the Indian Man and asked "you're from India, then it must be good Indian food" He confirmed, then looked to Max and said "you're friend, he looks like Al Gore". Max qithout missing a beat, "Damn you get Al Gore and Kennedy, and all I get is fucking Nicolas Cage". Not sure where he was coming from, but he made some terrible Indian food. We soon saw why, a Vietnamese girl was the actual cook.
We had just arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly/currently Siagon) and had made our way acros the metropolis of 7 million people in about 15 mins while nearly killing (or at least maiming) several scooter drivers on the way. It is actually insane how they drive in Vietnam. There really are no rules, or at least official ones. When 2 streets intersect, there is no need for a stop sign or traffic light, you just go, literally. We saw 2 accidents between scooters while we were there, and were almost hit ourseles while drinking beer on a street corner in Hanoi. Apparently 408 people died last year in traffic accidents, and so far this year 387 have died in Hanoi, about half the size of Saigon. Its only for how slow they go that more werent.
Back to Hanoi. Arriving from SF, I literally almost passed out on the street. It was in the middle of a heat wave and I was doing some serious sweating (4 shirts the first day alone). We alked around for a biut, or sort of limped around while drinking beer and adjusting. Apparently the smaller the chair the cheaper the beer (or at least this was what Conni a nice Dutch guy said). And we found a place on a street corner that had you sitting about 2 inches off the street, so he beers were 20 cents a glass! While fun we escaped the next day.
Halong bay was amazing, only a bit out of the city, and we were on a Junk headed across the bay of several hundred (or thousand ) islands. The islands are just bits of limestone sticking out of the water with dense jungle on top filled with mostly cicadas. We swam and kayaked around them and under them in caves and generaly enjoyed ourselves. We then actually got to stay on one of the islands, and wakeboarded and swam in luminescent water under a full moon, hard life.
Then it was back to Hanoi, and an overigth bus to Hue, about halfway down Vietnam. My bad feelings were confirmed when our taxi could not find the bus stop. The fun continued with two drivers whose family were probably killed during the war, and thus had an intense dislike of Max and I. Everytime we put our feet outside of the "bed" made for a vietnamese midget with his feet cut off, the guys actually slapped them, and by the end max actually took to putting his knees where they would whack the guys as they passed. Good thing we took valium and sleeping pills, so by the time we stopped we were so groggy we almost passed out in our food. We then stopped to say whats up to the remaining families of the drivers and then took a rest stop halfway through the night for about 2 hours. So all in all the trip that should have been 14 hours took 19 hours of pain. Never again.
Hue was gorgeous, we rente4d bikes and checked out the whole city including the former palace, and surrounding royal graveyards and rice paddies. It was nice to have a day to relax. We then rented bikes to travel the 140 km to Hoi Ann, along the coast. We found a desolate beach and ate fresh cuttle fish, swam in the crystal clear water, and then biked over the dividing mountain range of Vietnam before heading into Danang and then Hoi Ann. While heading through Danang, we witnessed our second crash and then ate some fresh fish and swam on the infamous China Beach. Hoi Ann is basically just a shopping town, so we shopped. I got an amazing suit of charcoal cashmere, and a custom pair of leather shoes, all made within 24 hours. We organized our flight to Saigon and got out of dodge.
So here we are, just got in to Bali. We bought surf boards, got a car rental figured out, (15$ /day for a new SUV) , and will surf tomorrow fro the first time, and then head to Lombok. We are headign to Kuta Lombok. Imagine white sand beaches, crystal clear water, and world class surf breaks, and then multiply by 15 or so. I hope to get lots of reading done, climb a volcano or so, and basically refresh ourselves.
More soon.
We had just arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly/currently Siagon) and had made our way acros the metropolis of 7 million people in about 15 mins while nearly killing (or at least maiming) several scooter drivers on the way. It is actually insane how they drive in Vietnam. There really are no rules, or at least official ones. When 2 streets intersect, there is no need for a stop sign or traffic light, you just go, literally. We saw 2 accidents between scooters while we were there, and were almost hit ourseles while drinking beer on a street corner in Hanoi. Apparently 408 people died last year in traffic accidents, and so far this year 387 have died in Hanoi, about half the size of Saigon. Its only for how slow they go that more werent.
Back to Hanoi. Arriving from SF, I literally almost passed out on the street. It was in the middle of a heat wave and I was doing some serious sweating (4 shirts the first day alone). We alked around for a biut, or sort of limped around while drinking beer and adjusting. Apparently the smaller the chair the cheaper the beer (or at least this was what Conni a nice Dutch guy said). And we found a place on a street corner that had you sitting about 2 inches off the street, so he beers were 20 cents a glass! While fun we escaped the next day.
Halong bay was amazing, only a bit out of the city, and we were on a Junk headed across the bay of several hundred (or thousand ) islands. The islands are just bits of limestone sticking out of the water with dense jungle on top filled with mostly cicadas. We swam and kayaked around them and under them in caves and generaly enjoyed ourselves. We then actually got to stay on one of the islands, and wakeboarded and swam in luminescent water under a full moon, hard life.
Then it was back to Hanoi, and an overigth bus to Hue, about halfway down Vietnam. My bad feelings were confirmed when our taxi could not find the bus stop. The fun continued with two drivers whose family were probably killed during the war, and thus had an intense dislike of Max and I. Everytime we put our feet outside of the "bed" made for a vietnamese midget with his feet cut off, the guys actually slapped them, and by the end max actually took to putting his knees where they would whack the guys as they passed. Good thing we took valium and sleeping pills, so by the time we stopped we were so groggy we almost passed out in our food. We then stopped to say whats up to the remaining families of the drivers and then took a rest stop halfway through the night for about 2 hours. So all in all the trip that should have been 14 hours took 19 hours of pain. Never again.
Hue was gorgeous, we rente4d bikes and checked out the whole city including the former palace, and surrounding royal graveyards and rice paddies. It was nice to have a day to relax. We then rented bikes to travel the 140 km to Hoi Ann, along the coast. We found a desolate beach and ate fresh cuttle fish, swam in the crystal clear water, and then biked over the dividing mountain range of Vietnam before heading into Danang and then Hoi Ann. While heading through Danang, we witnessed our second crash and then ate some fresh fish and swam on the infamous China Beach. Hoi Ann is basically just a shopping town, so we shopped. I got an amazing suit of charcoal cashmere, and a custom pair of leather shoes, all made within 24 hours. We organized our flight to Saigon and got out of dodge.
So here we are, just got in to Bali. We bought surf boards, got a car rental figured out, (15$ /day for a new SUV) , and will surf tomorrow fro the first time, and then head to Lombok. We are headign to Kuta Lombok. Imagine white sand beaches, crystal clear water, and world class surf breaks, and then multiply by 15 or so. I hope to get lots of reading done, climb a volcano or so, and basically refresh ourselves.
More soon.
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