Kris and I have been renting motorbikes in almost every city we’ve been to and exploring on our own.  Often times when we are given the motorbikes the gas tank is DRY.  It costs about $2.50 to fill up a tank and it lasts a long time, so we’ve gotten into the habit of putting small amounts of gas in and returning the tank as dry as when we got it.  A full tank of gas goes a LONG way so we never  ever fill it all the way.  While on Cat Ba Island, as per usual we rented a bike and we didn’t think the island was very big so we put in 10,000 dong worth of gas (that is about 50 cents or so).  Turns out the island is a hell of a lot bigger then we thought and sure enough we ran out of gas.  The island is pretty much deserted off the main strip and we were about 17kms away.  After walking for about 2kms, a stranger stopped and took us to a house that we would’ve otherwise walked by where we were able to buy a water bottle of gas which ended up costing $3.  This is not the first time we’ve run out of gas, it happened twice in Hoi An, on the same day and yet we still didn’t learn our lesson.  From now on, I think we’ll stop being such cheap asses and start putting in a full dollar.

Kris pushing our motorbike on a deserted stretch of road.

I’m not really a city girl. But I’ve known that all along about myself. Serene wrote about how she felt at home in Saigon since she’s used to the hustle and bustle of the metropolis back in the US, but it’s never sat well with me. I come from a town where you can get most places by bicycle and where it’s easy enough to get out of the city to places where you are completely alone, so understandably, living in Saigon has been a bit of a shock for me.

Today, I awoke to the sounds of birds chirping. I can’t remember the last time that happened. In the past few months I’ve been opening my eyes to the sounds of traffic, horns, construction, street vendors, etc. I hadn’t realized what an abrupt awakening that was until this morning.

Right now we’re in Sapa, which is just about as far north in Vietnam as you can get, very close to the Chinese border. Prior to that, we were on Cat Ba Island, located in the stunningly beautiful Halong Bay. In addition to a lack of people and noise, it is pretty difficult to find a reliable internet connection (or one at all).  So my apologies for the halt in posts – I’d like to blame it all on the lack of internet but we’ve also been having a blast hiking, kayaking and exploring the area. It’s really refreshing to put the technology away and fully enjoy the natural world around you, even if it’s forced upon you. Regrettably, we will be leaving this pocket of paradise to return to the city tomorrow (this time, it’s Hanoi). While I will be happy to have access to the World Wide Web again, I would give it all up for the beauty and solitude that we have found in the far reaches of Northern Vietnam. Back to the city it is.

Overlooking Butterfly Valley in Cat Ba National Park, in Halong Bay.