This isn't goodbye, Vietnam. It's see you later

Carolyn and I were going to head to Laos after our time in Hue, but we loved Vietnam so much we decided to cut out Laos and head up north to Hanoi and Halong Bay as our last stops in Vietnam. When we first arrived in Hanoi, friends of Lindsey's parents picked us up and took us to their restaurant to eat. Lucky for me, one of the ladies actually spoke mandarin because she teaches it (lucky until I realized that I barely spoke mandarin - it was as if she knew two languages that I couldn't really understand).

Once we got to their restaurant, they served us some Hanoi style Vietnamese food, which was much different than the food in the south. The "highlight" of the meal was turtle...I wasn't sure what the meat was until I saw a little claw soaked in sauce tugging at my heart strings. It wasn't bad. A little chewy, but like everything in the world, it tasted kind of like dark meat chicken. Apparently in Vietnam, there's a heavy debate about which area has better food - north (Hanoi) or south (Saigon). In my opinion, there's no debate - Saigon style Vietnamese food is much better than the food in the south, but maybe not as cute.

One dish I actually did like - deep fried corn with a coconut milk batter. 

It's like when Shredder comes back to life in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2...only reversed.

That night, we stayed in Hanoi before heading to Halong Bay. We didn't get to see too much of Hanoi, but we did get to walk around the night markets. We looked for some good street food to eat, but all we found were bland versions of food we had eaten in other cities.

The next morning, we took a bus bright and early to Halong Bay for a two day cruise. Delphine, being the hardcore backpacker that she is, met us on the bus immediately after a different 15-hour bus ride from Hoi An. We chose the cheapest boat we could find and were really happy we did because everyone on the boat was just like us - young(ish) backpackers (i think i was the oldest guy on the boat) with very little money to spend. The boat was advertised as a little ghetto, but in reality it was very ghetto. We were promised hot water and fans in our rooms, but had neither - I was too cold in the shower and too hot in the room, so I guess it balanced out.

Our appropriately named junk boat.

I had heard different things about Halong Bay - mostly that it was gorgeous, but dirty, so I didn't have super high expectations. But setting out on our tour, the sights were really amazing, and although the water wasn't crystal clear, it also wasn't that dirty. Our first stop on the cruise was to an awesome cave that was made less awesome by colored lights and techno music, no joke.

"Caves are great. Techno clubs are great. Techno caves must be great!"

After the cave, we continued through the bay, sunbathing on the top of the boat and soaking in the beautiful views of the thousands of islands. The downtime gave all of us backpackers a chance to chat and get to know each other, which made me feel old and less awesome.

Carolyn and I were the only Americans on the boat, with others coming from Finland, Germany, France, the UK and Belgium to name a few countries. After our introductions, we got into chatting about all of the countries everyone has already visited and still plan on visiting. After (proudly) saying that I was traveling for three months across Asia and Europe, almost everyone else proceeded to mention that they were on month 12 of an 18 month adventure - most of them traveling right after graduating from university. (At least I ate turtle, so take that!) We talked about everything from future careers to boy bands to the shadiest places we stayed (Toby, a German, mentioned that he replied to an ad on couchsurfer.com, which turned out to be an old man that enjoyed seeing nude, young men. He didn't stay there).

All the cool backpackers that made me feel old.

Me and the Fins.

"I'm off a boat!"

One of my favorite memories on the boat trip was the black market choco pies I bought. The cruise boats want you to buy things off their boat, not from outside vendors, but when it got dark out, we heard some hushed whispers from small boats passing by asking if we wanted some snacks. We snuck down pass the boat operators (who were gambling, obviously), and walked to the side of the boat to finagle some snacks. The choco pies were delicious...because they were forbidden.

In the morning (after some of us slept outside on top of the ship because our rooms were so hot), we got up around 5am to watch the beautiful sunrise - definitely an amazing sight. We finished the cruise with some kayaking before heading back to Hanoi on a three-hour packed bus ride with no AC. I was moist.

Gorgeous sunrise view.

Kayaking with Delphine.

It was a bittersweet experience because I met a lot of cool people and saw some amazing views, but was constantly reminded that it was my last stop in Vietnam, which I quickly grew to love over my ten days there. Needless to say, I won't be eating this good (and this cheap) for a very long time. I hope other countries at least have choco pies.