"One night in Bangkok..." (Or three...)

Well, we've been all over since the last post. From Hue, we flew to Hanoi (the city where my friend Mike used to live and where I visited him). We had an, um, interesting first few hours! We got into major fights with our hostel, ended up moving after hauling our bags up 5 flights of stairs, and landed at a cosy little guesthouse at a much better price. Whew. We saw the city for a few days (not including Uncle Ho's body, which unfortunately was "resting" for the day) and then we headed to Ha Long Bay.

I have to say I didn't love Hanoi this time around. I had a great time last time I was there, I think because it really helps to be like a local-- speak the language, etc. I mean, I think this is typically true, but especially in Hanoi. Ha Long Bay was meant to be a break from all of the city life. And it was.

The bay was really beautiful... calm waters with huge jagged rocks jutting out. Amazing. We spent one night on a boat with a crew of Brits, Danes, and Aussies, and we had a blast! It was great to hang out with other travelers. We spent another night on Cat Ba Island, which is about 20 km south of Ha Long city in the bay. It was kind of your average Island town, but very touristy and crowded.

Finally, Monday we headed off the island for a long journey to Bankgok. Bus to boat to another bus to a taxi to a plane to another taxi. And then we landed in the tourist wilds of Khoa San Road in Bangkok. This is the typical tourist trap that you see in movies about Bangkok, with hawkers everywhere trying to sell you t-shirts and boat trips, and "exotic shows." Very interesting!

Our first day in Bangkok landed us in the most textbook tourist scam artists-- the tuk-tuk drivers. Long story short, we fell for it (only for a minute!) and ended up looking at what the driver called the "marble temple," which strangely wasn't made of marble. We realized our folly and jumped ship.

Bangkok is really interesting. My observations:
- There are a million 7-11s here. Seriously. They are like Starbucks back home, with at times two across the street from one another!
- The Thai people are generally very warm, and willing to help you. However, at times these warm people are actually very good scam artists in cahoots with the likes of the tuk-tuk drives. Beware.
- Thai draft beer is way more expensive than Vietnamese beer!
- Street Thai food is yummy and only 75 cents a plate, usually!
- May Khadee's is the best vegetarian Thai food I have ever had-- SO good!

Tomorrow we head to Cambodia. I won't describe the proposed journey here, but suffice it to say it'll make the Cat Ba to Bangkok journey seem like a 1st class flight!

Some pictures of Ha Long Bay and the Ho Chi Minh city area...