My Week with Lily

It's been more than a week since my last post so a lot has happened. After I was feeling sick on Thursday I was actually too sick to go to school on my last day, Friday. Instead I stayed home and rested for my trip with Lily but after having a fever off and on I went to the hospital to get a check up. Long story short I had to go back on Saturday (my birthday) and I had a kidney infection. I got medication which I took everyday of our trip (and will take until I leave), and I'm no longer sick.

Though I wasn't feeling great on Friday, I still went to see Lily after going to the French hospital in the city. We had a nice reunion and took an evening walk in the city around Hoan Kiem lake. After we sorted out clothes and things I went back to the Ecopark for the night and then back to the hospital in the morning. After my initial diagnosis, Lily and I were concerned, so she came to the hospital and stayed with me until I got my medication and was able to leave. We relaxed at the hotel for the rest of the day and got ready to leave for our trip the next morning (Sunday the 20th). We went out to dinner for my birthday but it wasn't super great because I was still

feeling sick.. All in all my birthday was pretty rough but the next day was much better.

Sunday, December 20th - Mai Chau
After meeting our guide, Dong, in the hotel in Hanoi, we set off on our week long trip. Our first stay was in Mai Chau but we stopped at a few places along the way, including a rest stop where we found a very cute cat, its protective dog friend, and some crazy Vietnamese scorpion wine - with a real scorpion inside the bottle! Since Mai Chau is in the valley between mountains, we also stopped at this mountain market in the pass where locals sold lots of different food products and vegetables. There was even a random cow - I assumed it belonged to one of the vendors since it had a bell around its neck - but I just wandered around the stop while we were there and posed nicely for pictures. We had a few stops since it was a long drive but eventually made it to the awesome stilt house village in Mai Chau! When we arrived there was another group of some very hippie-looking Canadians who were eating lunch and singing. They left shortly after and then Lily and I had lunch. The food at the stilt house was delicious and was a good introduction to Vietnamese food

for Lily. In the afternoon we took a bike ride through the fields and walked until it got dark. We had a pretty relaxing day and ate another fantastic meal before going up in the stilt house for bed. Lily had downloaded some movies for us to watch but each night she fell asleep around 9:30. Consequently, I finished many movies with her snoring next to me. For some reason though, the Vietnamese really like their loud music on Sunday nights and so I watched the movie with some rather obnoxious background noise.. It went pretty late too so I had a little trouble sleeping but we got to sleep in so it wasn't too bad.

Monday, December 21st - Cuc Phuong
Following the stilt house "homestay", we headed off to Cuc Phuong National Park. The drive wasn't too long and we made it there by late morning. We had an early lunch at the restaurant which was unfortunately, not up to par with the stilt house food. There were two cute dogs though, and we fed them lots of our extra pork and beef :) After lunch we drove to the middle of the park and set off on our hike around the three peaks of the park. The middle of the hike takes you to the "1000-year-old tree" which was huge. It looked like it was actually two trees that were attached at the very bottom and the left

side looked dead (from lightning apparently), but it was cool to see nonetheless. Lily chose for us to take the hard route back which was, true to its name, difficult. We had a lot of uphill hiking and a lot of stairs but made it back to the trail head and headed back to the road. The driver seemed determined to speed through the bumpy, curvy, one-lane road of the forest which was beginning to make Lily and I queasy, so we got out and walked to the "Cave of Prehistoric Man". Apparently, people lived there nearly 7500 years ago and there were some cool hollowed out spaces in the cave. We walked the rest of the way back to the "guesthouse" for dinner and fed more beef to the dogs. We honestly could have skipped sleeping at Cuc Phuong; the room was stark and cold and the pillows had clearly not been washed.. Lily and I gladly slept in our sleeping bag liners and made makeshift pillows with clothes. After a trip to the Primate Rescue Center in the morning where we saw some cool langars and gibbons, we headed off to Ninh Binh for a boat ride, lunch, and hiking.

Tuesday, December 22nd - Ninh Binh
Tuesday morning was a bit of a drive to Ninh Binh but was split by a visit to the Hoa Lu temple from the Le Dynasty. The temple itself was much like others I've seen but the main gate at the entrance to the complex was impressive. The entry gate stood at the end of a bridge over a river filled with water farms. The gate had three arches for incoming and outgoing visitors and even had lanes wide

enough for small cars to drive through. In the end, I think the gate and the river were the most memorable parts of the temple. After our stop there we went to a hotel in Ninh Binh for lunch. Ninh Binh's specialty meat is goat, so we had some delicious goat fresh rolls with pineapple, cucumber, goat, mint, and dipping sauce. After lunch we walked to the Tam Coc boat ride, which left down the street. All in all it was about 90 minutes long and there were some awesome sites. Our boat driver wasn't great but we had a nice time going through the caves and passing fellow visitors. When we got off the boat we went for a walk to another temple. It was supposed to be a pretty short walk but Lily and I ended up turning at the wrong point and walked all the way around this big lake before reaching the temple - which was closed anyway. We mostly saw ducks swimming in the water but there were also some geese, dogs, and chickens on the local farms along the path. The scenery was beautiful and Lily and I took a lot of

photos. We made it back to the hotel around 5:15 then headed off to our homestay for then night. This was the best homestay we had and though the food wasn't as great as Mai Chau, the owner of the house was super friendly and welcoming. He hosted another couple (from Germany), and a Swiss family in his house and we all ate dinner together on the ground floor. We went to bed early that night because we had to leave early in the morning the next day for our drive to Hai Phong.

Wednesday, December 23rd - Cat Ba & Lan Ha Bay
4:45 was the time my alarm rang on Wednesday morning, and we were up by 5. After a breakfast of noodles, we bid our "host family" goodbye and drove away to Hai Phong. It was a very long drive so Lily and I both napped along the way. We mad it to the port just in time and hastily got tickets for the hydrofoil to Cat Ba Island. The hydrofoil felt quite rickety and unstable, and even had to stop at the

beginning after some issues, but we made it to Cat Ba in one piece and stopped at "Cat Ba Memory Cafe" before our drive to the other port. To get to Lan Ha Bay (a smaller section just outside of Halong Bay), you have to go to the port of the east side of Cat Ba Island. As we had a reservation for a boat stay in Lan Ha Bay, we had a short drive to the port before we got on our private boat for the day and night. Other than Lily, Dong (our guide), and I, there was the captain on the boat, and the cook. The cook made us a delicious lunch - although we had way too much food - and we sailed away through the bay. The views were spectacular though I know my camera didn't do them justice. We sailed past the floating village where the fishermen live and stopped for some afternoon swimming after lunch. The water was pretty cold for me but it was fun to jump in off the top of the boat and Lily had a fun time swimming around too. We stopped for that little excursion but continued on later for a kayaking trip. Us, along with probably 50 other tourists, kayaked around the huge rocks in the bay and through cool caves. One rock was home to some langar monkeys, and they put on quite a show by jumping off high trees, swinging from branches, and bounding up rocks. We were kayaking so we didn't have our cameras with us but the monkeys were pretty cool to see. We made it back to our boat around 5:30 and showered off all the sticky, salty water. We had another massive meal - this time with a seafood feast, and enjoyed prawns, squid, clams, vegetables, rice, and a whole cooked fish. I had a fun time butchering the fish and removing the skeleton. After dinner we went up to the top of the boat to see the views. The captain stopped in a little alcove and we went back to our cabin for the night. Dong was off visiting his cousins who live in the floating village so we basically had the boat to ourselves.

Thursday, December 24th - Cat Ba & Monkey Island
For breakfast Lily and I enjoyed Vietnamese pancakes with mango and banana. We ate pretty quickly then set off to see one of the floating fish farms. The one we visited had different quadrants of its floating structure with different fish. We could only see one species in one of the quadrants, and the visible fish was clearly impaired. It was pretty loopy and was swimming upside down and the farmers determined that the fish would not be for human consumption. I was disappointed to not see more fish but it was cool to visit the farm and afterwards we headed back to Cat Ba for a trip to the national park. This national park took us on another hike with even more stairs. We hiked to the top of Ngu Lam mountain. There was a beautiful view from the top but I was happy to hike it once and be done with it. Once we finished we went back to the eastern port in Cat Ba and boarded the private Monkey Island boat. It transferred us straight to Monkey Island where we settled in to our little cabin room. Our cabin was unfortunately not level, but the beds were comfortable and the

shower was warm, so it wasn't too bad. It was very sunny and warm in the afternoon so Lily and I sat out on the beach with some of the other visitors. Dinner was served buffet style and Lily and I filled up before going back to our cabin for our evening movie. It was Christmas Eve and we watched Holiday Inn.

Friday, December 25th - Cat Ba -> Home
Though Friday was Christmas morning it still felt like a normal vacation day. We had breakfast at the Monkey Island resort, then hung out until it was time to go back to Cat Ba to catch the hydrofoil to Hai Phong. Lily skyped her boyfriend, Nick, and I got to talk to him too. He lives in Canada and they got about 6 inches of snow! There are no white Christmases in Vietnam but it was nice to see the beautiful snow in BC. After lunch at Cat Ba Memory Cafe we caught the rickety hydrofoil back to Hai Phong. Then it was another long car ride back to the Ecopark in the evening. We finally made it back (after the driver got a little lost), around 5:30 and met the new kitten! Anna had really wanted a cat so Dung got one for her and she's so cute! Lily and I spent most of the evening playing with the cat and after dinner I gave out all the Christmas presents; everyone really enjoyed their gifts.

On Saturday, Lily and I went to the city so she could do some Christmas shopping. The weather was quite miserable and rainy but we muddled through and found everything she wanted to get. The tricky part will be getting everything through customs.. After we got back to the Ecopark we packed all of our stuff and distributed the goods. What I didn't know is that Korean Air allows for two free checked bags! This is very lucky for me because even with Lily's carry-on and checked bag and my duffel and checked bag, I have extra stuff. A lot of classmates gave me gifts and The Anh's family got me a lot of things so I really need the extra space. We finished packing while watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and played with the cat some more before bed. On Sunday, Lily had to leave for the airport around 1:30 so we just stayed in the Ecopark and made sure everything was packed. For lunch, Dung's mom made pho which Lily really enjoyed and after lunch we took a walk around the Ecopark so Lily could see my school and the rest of the complex. Then the driver picked us up and we went to the airport. I dropped her off and she made it on her flight to Taipei. I messaged her later and said goodbye just as she was boarding her flight in Taipei to Vancouver, so she's currently en route home.

Tomorrow is Monday, and it's my last full day in Vietnam. I'm going to visit my school one last time and say bye to my friends, then I'll pack everything up completely. Since Dung's parents went to the city

today and I didn't get a chance to say bye, she said we could go tomorrow evening. Her mom was one of my favorite people here in Vietnam so I definitely want to say a real goodbye.

Anyway, I waited so long to start this that it's very late now. I hope everyone had a good holiday, whether that was Hanukkah, Christmas, or something else, and have a great New Year! I'm planning on posting one last time after I touch down in Seattle but this is pretty much it.

Whether you've read these since July or are just starting now, thanks for reading these blogs. I hope they've been interesting and fun and I look forward to keeping them as a record of my time here in Vietnam.