Travel Log Day 115 to 119 into Halong Bay towards Sa Pa!

Blessings!! Its been a long crazy journey this past months and i am glad i am sharing this experience with whoever is watching.. its been a fun and amazing ride.. specially traveling with so many people sometimes its so hard to adjust to what others want to do but we all managed to somehow made it to fit all of us needs in order to keep balance in the group.. We had captain papa ( dana ) on the team always helping on strategic planning and budget we had rafa on paparazi and keeping us all laughing asuka and machiko keeping the flow at all times high and teaching us japanese at all times ( mostly ) Barrat on lock lock down making sure we kept all good flow and me entertaining and logistics and surreal street entertainment..

By the time we arrived in Hanoi we were fried by the crazy hassling and the non stop tricking and cheating of the vietnamese people specially taxis i got into so many arguments with them because they would charge us extremely ridiculous prices like 10km almost 40US dls come on! so when we got there asuka and barrat had to leave to the airport to fly back home to Singapore so we had a noodle soup all of us and they departed back home.. Our team then consisted as of dana and machiko and rafa and myself.. We rushed back to the backpackers area of Hanoi and found a nice hotel we were not sure what to do if we wanted to leave to watch Halong Bay or to rest we all were so tired but we just wanted to get it over with and go and see this magical beauty our planet left for us to admire.. So we rushed things and we decided fuck it come on lets go see it I left without charging my phone so i couldn't take any shot of Halong Bay so the pictures i have are the only ones from Rafa's camera

When we arrived to the bay which was 3 hours away from hanoi we were super tired but we were excited to see it we were on a tourist tour since this is the only way to see halong bay since is almost impossible to rent a giant boat yourself or it also cost about 150US dls to rent one..

We kayak all around the bay it was really nice but unfortunately was filled with trash and debris from all other boats and bad tourists.. We were also very tired and we were like mm ok..

We Then went inside another big big cave which was very similar to the paradise cave we saw few days before.. it was very impressive was also another unesco world heritage site..

We returned back to hanoi was a very long ride.. we were dropped off in the central tourist station and the streets were filled with thousands of moto bikes and people in the streets because of the chinese celebration of new moon which is a very big big holiday mostly all over south east asia.. As we were walking we got covered by thousands of people trying to walk the streets when all of a sudden they were so many we couldn't even move and then they started they pickpocket us to death right at this moment this guy we met at the boat from malaysia was like HEY GUYYYYYSSS watch your pocketsss!!! and all of a sudden he disappear as if he was eaten alive by them and as soon as we cleared the area i checked my wallet and my two pockets were opened it was horrible all my stuff was inside all my credit cards money banks everything so you can imagine i was tired and all of a sudden get robbed is the last thing you want at that moment o yeah hungry as well!! Anyways you know the rest calling making sure nobody used my bank cards trying to call but connection sucks on skype to call my american banks bla bla bla western stuff was big reality checked.. i locked myself in the hotel and slept the night next day i felt even more weird with the people and i was thinking to just leave vietnam completely and go straight to china and dont go to Sa Pa which in the beginning was one of the main reasons i wanted to come here to be with the minority people and enjoy life with them.. So after waking up the next day fresh i let go of those bad expectations and i went ahead and booked a train ticket to Sa Pa which was the best thing to do. the train ride was soo smooth our cabin was for 4 people so fit us all perfect i slept like a baby but rafa and dana had cold in night ejejejje We arrived in the morning took a mini van to Sa Pa which is about 1 Hour away from the train station the ride was epic super nice cloudy but made it look even more mystical it was a fun ride we then arrived to Sa Pa and we were asked to stayed in a hotel where they drop of us was perfect view and perfect price as well..

As soon as we arrived i met up with this woman she is part of the Hmong People a tribal minority group living in Vietnam, China, Laos, Thailand, they are soo sweet!! she invited me to her village we rented dana and me a moto bike and went to see her family and had lunch and check out how they live, she was very respectful and courteous the mountain people all over the world are such magical beings their genes are pure and are still intact with the old teachings and old traditions of the ancient world.. i was soo happy to be there and see the magical people..

it was a very funny scene riding the scooter dana me and her people were like what!

We were invited to her village, her brother and her cooked us lunch while the mom wanted to sell my traditional clothing belonging to her son it was a very cute moment me trying to squeeze myself into those tiny vietnamese size..

This are some snaps outside of their home chilling with the family

We then returned back to Sa Pa and had lunch dinner and chill rest mode into the next segment of our day... Goodnight!! Next = Adventuring around Sa Pa..

Travel log Day 98 to 115 Nha Trang to Hoi An + Hue + Dong Hoi to Hannoi!!

Blessings We stayed in the coastal beach town of Nha Trang for few days relaxing and buffering a few days of chill out before continuing our journey into the northern parts of Vietnam!

We pretty much just chilled going into the beach and drink coconut while watching the locals bathing in the waters and here and there trying to tell them not to pollute the beach, must people come in with this stereophone or however is spelled and they use it as a floating device and they leave it after they finish swimming, nowhere in the world have i swim and find the must bizzarre objects like a used condom trapped in one of my fingers, a giant hallogen lighbulb rolling around the beachfront, unlimited amounts of trash and debris, i know the western world pollutes more than any other third world country but they cleverly do it and we never even see it or imagine it, on the contrary here is all over your face, but luckly they have a crew of cleaning people coming every few hours and making the beach look nice again..

We kept having great dinners and hanging out with many locals and checking out their shops and exploring the city around.. We then departed towards the town of Hoi An in Center Vietnam we departed around 7:00PM and arrived 8:00AM Dana, Machiko, Barrat, Azuka decided to stay a few hours longer in the town since its a world heritage site because of its antiquity and its colonial type of architecture me and rafa were too tired so we continued on the same bus towards the town of Hue..

We chilled got a nice hotel for super nice deal with a nice pool and we waited for our group to arrive in the evening, we then met up had great local dinner and went on to explore the city the next day, the town has a lot of tombs that belonged to the imperial times and lots of not so old history so me and rafa took it easy and lay low and chill in the pool and do online work while our friends went to explore also a big of the city..

unconditional love part 1

unconditional love part 2

The highlights of Hue has to be the blind massage, on wikitravel we saw advertised this place that is a bling institue and they give massage for a very low price. We then decided to go and check it out the whole time i was skeptic of this place as being one more of those tourists traps but when we got there it was all locals and no one spoke a drop of english, so with our kinetik powers and lots of sign language we negotiated a 1 hour massage and let me tell you it had to be on my top 5 massages i ever got in my whole life, my massage guy was this super nice kid he was fully blind while danas guy was semiblind and barrats was also semiblind i got the one that was on the outer limits and was able to sense me very deeply i felt as if he knew exactly where it was painful and i needed the must workout.. We checked out a few places like the pagoda and hanging out with the locals..

Holding fake cash they sell in the street market! We left the blind institute and had dinner and met up with our whole group, we also met up with this couple we met few times on the same bus coming all the way from ho chi min this couple from israel, they had their motobike stolen in nha trang and they made them pay for it which he believes was all a scam since the police was involved and he fought them and stuff so he ended up paying 300US dls to be released, vietnam country is amazing beautiful scenery amazing food but i have to say that the people that deal with the tourist industry are all big scammers they always got some weird trick up their sleve and its hurting tourism dramatically the israeli couple bought their flight back to thailand and cut their trip short for a month since they couldn't handle the hustle and the scams all over the country.. We felt the same thing but we were more mellow but to this point we also feel tired of always dealing with the same type of people.

There are scams for almost anything you imagine from witnessing a fight and having somebody take your picture while you try to stop it to then blackmail you and be asked to pay money if not they tell the police you started it and having the photographer and the people fighting working all together to trick you, there are sooo many scams is amazing so every time you have to be really careful on everything you do and what you say since it can be used against you! We then departed towards the great National Park of Phong Nha-Ke Bang in Quảng Bình Province, in the north of the Central Coast region of Vietnam.This national park was listed in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites in 2003 for its geological values as defined in its criteria viii. In April 2009, the world's largest cave Son Doong Cave, was discovered by a team of British cave explorers of British Caving Association. On our way to the town of Dong Hoi we stopped in the Vietnam, Demilitarized zone, the place where they vietnam war must action took place, the site was shocking the tunnels are as deep as 30 feet Vinh Moc (Vịnh Mốc) is a tunnel complex in Quang Tri, Vietnam. During the Vietnam War it was strategically located on the border of North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

The tunnels were built to shelter people from the intense bombing of Son Trung and Son Ha communes in Vinh Linh county of Quang Tri Province in the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone. The villagers initially dug the tunnels to move their village 10 metres underground but the American forces designed bombs that burrowed down 10 metres. Eventually against these odds, the villagers moved the village to a depth of 30 metres. It was constructed in several stages beginning in 1966 and used until early 1972. The complex grew to include wells, kitchens, rooms for each family and spaces for healthcare. Around 60 families lived in the tunnels; as many as 17 children were born inside the tunnels.

it was very surreal to be inside this tunnels and i cant even imagine being there while bombs were dropping. non of the villagers died during the whole war and they lived and grew up inside the tunnels!

it was sooo hot inside!!

the tunnels lead to the beachfront while the people monitor the air for american planes

and then this

beautiful flower growing in such a horrible place

We continued our journey towards Dong Hoi

We arrived in Dong Hoi and it had to be one of the must bizarre towns it had a very weird vibe no body spoke english and it was raining we got super wet was a hustle to find a room and anything to eat was kind of nightmarish..

this is the only picture i have of this town.. Anyways we continued our jorney towards Phong Nha-Ke Bang and wow!!!! this is what we found!!!

Thiên Đường Cave (Paradise Cave) is a cave in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, UNESCO's World Heritage Site, 60 km northwest of Đồng Hới city. Thiên Đường Cave is located on an elevation of 200 meters above the sea level,

this cave has been one of the must amazing places i have ever seen is so mystical it was like going back on time 100.000.000 years ago it felt the old air

we had a blast inside exploring the cave and the illumination of the cave inside made it even more amazing, the name of the cave is called paradise cave and the name says it all! out of all the caves we explored in vietnam and all over the world this has to be the must precious one of all!

and this..

i took this panoramic photo of the cave so you can see the magic of this place

this are some other shots without using my iphone camera

We then departed the cave towards the second biggest cave in vietnam

but when we got there was close :( right when the gates were closing at 5pm we tried to bribe the boat to take us into the cave but we were unable to access the mainframe.. anyways we had a great time at the worlds biggest and greatest caves and we continued our journey into Hanoi

Bonus extra shots by Barrat with this camera

and here training my dali shots

Bonus shots of Rafa with his camera

and this!!