A Junky trip.

Well, I've just spent the better part of the past 3 days on a Chinese (Vietnamese) Junk. A Junk is one of those old Pirate looking ships that have the funky orange, yellow or red sails. It was pretty cool, slept below deck in a little cabin, had a shower on a moving boat, that was interesting as he was navigationg around the islands. I went into a huge cave, went swimming, did a 6 hour kayak tour through caves, visited a fish farm, we even managed to punch a hole into the dining room of another ship when we were sailing, right through the wooden wall and the glass. "Arrrhhh, Matie! Off the gang plank wit' ya!" We also did a 3 hour up and two hour down hike through the jungle to the top of one of the islands, it looked like the tops of the other 2 islands we had gone to the top of during our trip (The cave top, and the observatory at the beach) but this one involved hacking through the brush for hours, what a waste of my efforts. My forearms were killing me last night, like growing pains times eight billion, right where you'd hit a volleyball on the hairless side of my forearms, really strange. Got some sun and some burn this morning, was sitting on the bow of the boat, on the anchor hoist and didn't use sunblock... not too bad though, just my knees. One night was spent on an island, I was to share a hotel room with an Israeli guy (or pay $5 for my own), but there was no doorknob for the bathroom, just a hole. Do I really need an audience while I do my thing or take a shower? Do I really need to litsen to his "Tuba Symphony" while he's on the porcelin stage? I think not. I sorted it out and got us a new room, all parties were more pleased.

Tonight, I'm sleeping on a train, on the way to Sapa. Sapa is a tiny village, once untouched by civilization, until this one guy told one friend... and he told a friend... he told a friend, who built a hotel... who told a friend, who hired a bus... who told a tour guide. Anyways, I'm going to a tourist trap! However, the 3 day tour involves about 20-30kms WALKING a day. So, what's a smart tourist to do?

Well, I bought a trian ticket and a bus ticket to get me there, then I'm going to rent a motorbike and mow down all the stupid little trekkers! They'll see nothing but my tailpipe as I leave them in my dust. I'm not going to pay money to sweat it out in the hot sun, following some silly tour guide who doesn't speak English and expects a tip, only to view the villages in a crowd of trekking sheep! Sheep, I tell you, I hate tours! Carve life out for yourself, it just tastes better.

My plan, in short:

Wednesday: Overnight train to Sapa tonight
Thursday: Mow down the silly people as they walk between the rice paddys.(ies?)
Friday: Clean off the tourist maps and body parts from the bike and take a train back to Hanoi in the evening. Pick up my passport at my tour booking place.
Saturday: explore Hanoi
Sunday: Think about heading to Laos.
Get back to Saigon before the 25th to go to Taiwan.