After the incredible Trang An boat ride, Toe dropped us at our lodging for the next two days, Mr Loa’s Homestay. A small complex with a series of attached villas overlooking a rice paddy. Beautiful. The family was lovely and welcoming.
For a small place, they had a huge menu and since we were starving we ordered up some stir fried noodles with chicken. They turned out to be some of the best we had all trip!
Later, we walked to the small town rife with restaurants and bars. Eventually settling on one that ended up being a den for mosquitos. Since contracting yellow fever and the like weren’t high on my list, we continued on. I googled beer bars near me and up came chookies! Score! We followed google off the main drag, down a somewhat deserted street, questioning our intelligence, when in the distance appeared Chookies, like a mirage! A backpackers haven, this place was awesome, with hammocks, Adirondack chairs and a pizza oven. We ate great pizza, drink good beer and stayed a while. What a find!
The next Day Toe arrived with the english speaking guide in tow. Our plan was to see the area sites with someone knowledgeable. First stop was Hang Mua, which promised an amazing view after only 500 steps. I was mulling it over. I did the steps at the dry cave in Halong Bay, and my knees were not fans of me the next day. The guide told us that you didn’t have to go up, but buy a ticket because the surrounding park-like area was worth it. So we did that. We reached the entrance to the mountain ascent, one look at the steps and I said “no way.” I told Dayne to go ahead, and he said “at least go to the first landing to see some of the view.” I said I would and bid him farewell as he scurried up like a mountain goat.
I decided to go to the first landing. Taking it slowly, I carried on to the second. I was following a hilarious Korean family who were at least in their 60’s, if not 70. If they could do it so could I. I went to the next landing. The views were getting better and better. I was about halfway up when I got a text from Dayne at the top. The picture he sent tugged at my heart. The view was nothing I would ever see again. That was it! I was dragging this big @ss up that mountain if it killed me. It almost did! As I got nearer the summit, the steps grew higher, one of the korean women was crawling from one to the next, as she hoisted herself up! Each step seemed 2 feet high. Vietnamese are tiny people, but their stairs are freaking tall! I stopped to rest, I heard a celebration happening above me with shrieks of delight. The Korean family had reached the summit! With one last push I made it! At the top was the reward. A 360 postcard view of the jutting rock formations, spectacular. No seriously. Spectacular.
After spending some time just admiring the unique beauty of Vietnam, I gingerly made my way down, proud to have made it to the top. We met the guide at the car and were off to a beautiful complex of temples. We toured the complex which was huge, and got the delight of a ton more steep steps at every turn. No wonder Vietnamese are so darn skinny!
Our guide proposed lunch and proceeded to take us to a strange area, where we ended up at a back alley restaurant that charged 180,000 dong for a “set lunch.” The surrounding area was wildly cluttered with random chickens and ducks in cages and was strange even by Vietnam standards. We called BS on that and skipped lunch at the empty restaurant, that was clearly in cahoots with the tour company. I could see the owner looking at the guide angrily as we got back in the car. It pissed me off, as this guide was highly recommended all over tripadvisor and this lunch ripoff set menu scheme just seemed super shady. We called it a day after that and returned to Mr. Loas where they cooked us up some fantastic Chicken Fried Rice. We hung out at the homestay, relaxing, whining about our aches and pains and napping outside.
Later, we headed back into town. I found another cool place where we were seated looking out onto the street and did a few hours of people watching and beer drinking. We were both tired from the day, so we decided to find a take out place where we got two bahn mi sandwiches and headed home to eat in our room.
One a.m. my stomach started making weird noises. Accompanied by the worst heartburn you can imagine. We had – until this night – dodged all food and water borne pathogens. But I broke my own rule of only eating things piping hot.
I quickly took the charcoal pills we had gotten on the advice of a stranger we met in a brewery. They only succeeded in turning my vomit black. Which was so lovely. The bahn mi executed its exit strategy via multiple orifices throughout the duration of the night.
When dawn arrived I was feverish and empty. But we had to pack. Our driver was scheduled for 11am. I forced myself up and did a little gathering and packing. Then returned to bed for a half hour. I proceeded to pack this way over the next two hours, wondering how I would endure this travel day. We checked out, Mr. Loas daughter (who is a lovely, sweet women) was highly concerned for my well-being. She offered many things, water, medicine, and finally settled on some plastic bags for the car ride.
As we traveled to the airport, I felt weak, but not as sick. The worst was over, I hoped. Fortunately the flight was a short two hours. I made it, ready to check in to the hotel and go to bed. Which is exactly what we did. But not before Dayne almost got into a fist fight with the cab driver! More on that next time!
Drink and Go Places 