Our Trip Within a Trip!

Hello friends,

Sorry we haven't been blogging but we went to Hanoi and Halong Bay this past weekend. It was a 4 day trip where we had to take a plane and drive several hours out to see caves/mountains.

We first got into Hanoi on Thursday night. My mom's cousin, Bac Ha, picked us up and took us to her house. What's cool about Bac Ha is that her whole immediate family works for the circus!!! Her husband was the principal of the circus school! How freaking cool is that? So all of my second cousins are acrobats, jugglers, and tightrope walkers. I told you guys that I had a circus arm for something! I guess I'm supposed to be the contortionist in the family =D

While in Hanoi, we were able to experience the outdoor Vietnam marketplace. It looks so crazy cool cause there are just tents and tables everywhere selling food, toys, household things, etc. I was amazed by all the fresh and bright fruit but then I saw something that made all other marketplace products seem boring and plain. What was it that I saw? IT WAS THIS...


Don't really know what you're looking at? That's a freaking dog burnt to a crisp!!! I screamed in public and all the market people laughed at me.

So then we went and grabbed a hotel for the night. It was HORRENDOUS! We got there and it looked like a hotel that would be in scary movies. The hotel lobby was dark and run down. The rooms had plants growing on the walls, paint peeling off the walls, bugs on the windows, non-working water in the restrooms, holes in the floors, and the bedding was itchy. We were all freaking out so we devised a brilliant plan to get out of the hotel so that we could stay at a nicer place. Please don't judge us when you read this! Well, my mom and I knew that these people weren't that familiar with Tim's breed (Caucasian) so decided to use this to our advantage. I grabbed staining blush and made dots all over Tim's legs to look like he was breaking out. It looked so freaking real that it was scary! We then told the owners that we wouldn't be able to stay because Tim was breaking out. Luckily, they believed us and we bolted out of that place so fast that Olympic runners would feel threatened! Here's a picture of the room. It looks normal here...but it really is a gross place.


The next morning, we started our 3.5 hour drive to Halong Bay. Although it was a long and scary drive (the driving in Vietnam is crazy, remember?) it was totally worth it in the end because Halong Bay was GORGEOUS! I'll be posting several more pictures on facebook later but here are 2 pictures for now just to get your senses going =)


This is the inside of the cave that we visited. There were beautiful lights everywhere. And here is a picture of the outside of the other caves that we saw while we were on a boat tour.


The people at Halong are so persistent that it's creepy. When we drove into the town it was so crazy! We were looking for a hotel so we stopped briefly on a street that had several lodging areas. All of a sudden, swarms of people ran up to our car tapping on it as if we were in some zombie movie. (Linda, to give you a better idea...it was like when all the neon short wearing girls ran up to Tim's car). They all wanted us to stay at their hotels. After learning from the previous day not to stay at just any hotel...my uncle and I made the owners show us the inside of the rooms before agreeing to lodge at their place for the night. We saw three hotels and they were all disgusting. Finally, after a whole hour of searching, we found a four star hotel that was LEGIT!


Now, it's nothing like how a four star American hotel would be...but it was GREAT for Vietnam quality =) The picture above is me in the lobby extremely happy that we wouldn't be staying at hotel where I'd have to sleep with one eye open for fear of a killer coming.

So, that's basically it for our mini vacation...but on to random rants! Anywhere that Tim and I go, family members/workers will tell me that Tim is such a handsome specimen. They then proceed to tell me that my ears/nose/shape of my face promises many fortunes and heaps of money. At least I'll be rich so that I can get all the plastic surgery to get on the same attractive level as Tim in the future! Oh yeah! Let me tell you about the girls here! They have no shame in staring Tim down like he is some hot commodity! I just laugh and always dare Tim to wave at them and smile but he never does it. He's too shy!

Man, I let my balls drop when I'm in Vietnam. People will grab me to try and make me buy things on the street. People will scream at me to get my attention. And overall, people just look at me funny because I look foreign (and because my clothes are probably borderline hoochie mama for their taste). But through all of this...I have perfected my mad-dogging stare AND I will scream back in English, "WTF are you staring at?" I have also caught the Julian Maldonado bug that I will scream, "Hookers" "Hoes" to people that stare me down.

I'm also starting to bargain a lot more at the marketplaces. I'm beginning to grow a little sassy attitude while doing it too! So when I re-enter the states...please don't be annoyed with me when I try and cut deals with you. Just calmly tell me, "A deal is a deal...final offer!" Ha! Ha! I only kid...I doubt I'll be trying to hustle you guys =)

My mom is driving me CRAZY! Don't let this cute creature fool you...she is a horrible traveling companion!
Why is she so horrible? Well, she refuses to sit in the middle of the backseat even though she is the tiniest person there. She wakes us up at 4:30 in the morning everyday with her loud cleaning/preparations for the day. And somehow I always end up carrying all her luggage on top of mine. LOL. My mom is a nut but she has definitely let herself a little loose this trip. She hasn't been stressed out about work and she has been joking a lot more. Not only that...but she's actually eating proper amounts of food each day! And...

homegirl decided to get some crunk in her system and drink some alcohol! Yes, she gets super red after a small sip! By the way, I'm drinking tea in this picture and I don't care if you believe me or not!

OH YEAH! Tim and I are finally pooping like normal people =)