things –
Vietnamese night market vs Taiwan night market :: Taiwan for the win.
Ate dinner in an alley sitting at children’s size plastic tables and chairs. The people around me were all locals. Not a foreigner in sight. Ice for my warm beer and opted for a veggie bbq plate where I cook my food in front of me and assemble my own spring rolls. The food was good and I couldn’t help but laugh at the continued re adjustment of how a quality establishment is defined.
My time in Ha long was good. The views where stunning but I didn’t realize I signed up for a tourist trap tour and had the company of a bunch of old German men and and a young German couple that were complaining the whole time and only speaking German to each other. The tour took us to places where we should buy things and I’m tired of seeing things that are cultivated towards tourists.
Maybe that’s as good as it gets here? I want to dig a bit deeper. I’m going to a smaller town on Tuesday next week and then down to hoi an (crossing my fingers for good weather) and will continue my way south from there. Everyone at the hostel I meet is just doing the happy hour/ booze beach party / pub crawl. I didn’t come all the way here to get shit faced. I am so irritated today. I woke up to horrible news in Paris and I’m concerned for those I haven’t heard from yet. I’m on my next bus group to “hike” Sapa and half of the bus is old Chinese tourists and I’m thinking I was mislead in my tour description again.
I haven’t slept well since arriving (oh hostel life!) and I may just splurge on a hotel in Hoi an or nha trang.
I am so glad I packed as light as I did and I’m also really glad I shipped my jeans/sweater/scarf home from Taiwan. I do not need them here.
I am so showing my age! Oh how I have adjusted my version of travel and priorities! I may rent a moto once I get outside of Hanoi. No more of this tourist shit. Ugh. I miss my real camera. I miss my lipstick. I miss my 15 lbs lighter body. I’m really done complaining now. I just needed to remove those things from my mind.
