Aug 30- The Day in the Life of a Dog who Blogs on the Beach

I love my life. I just sit on the beach and watch the peaceful turquoise South China Sea all day. My favorite pastime is chasing birds and trying to catch fish. I live a happy life here in Nha Trang, I’m surrounded by beauty and I get to meet people from all around the world. Lately a lot of tourists have been visiting my untouched beach, and today I came across an Indian family from America while I was drinking water out of my favorite pot. I overheard them talking about their day, they went snorkeling in Mun Island and they seemed to have loved it. The young Indian lady said the coral was like a jungle under the ocean, and apparently there are 250 different types of coral in the islands surrounding Nha Trang. She was going on and on about the beautiful fish she saw, and it sounded splendid. I wish I could snorkel.

The young lady seemed to be fascinated with me, especially when I started coughing. I was a little surprised when she chased me down the beach, but maybe she was trying to play with me. She seemed so happy, and I kind of felt bad for her when she slipped while getting onto the boat to leave the island. I think she hurt something. Ooh, there’s a bird!

Yes, so I slipped and sprained my knee while getting on the boat. And now I’m sitting in my hotel room sufficiently intoxicated with an ice pack on my knee after popping a couple Advil. It hurts like hell, but I just hope it gets better before Angkor Wat. I also learned tonight that I got my drinking abilities from my dad. He was drinking with me to help ease the pain, and that man can throw down!

Aug 28, 29- Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An

Hue used to be Vietnam's capital, and is extremely rich in history. We spent yesterday sightseeing various pagodas and tombs of the 13 emperors that ruled during feudalism in Vietnam. My favorite site was the tomb of Khai Dinh, which was a mixture of Vietnamese and French architecture and decor. We also took a boat trip down Perfume River, and could see a distinct difference between both sides of the river. One side was full of hotels and tourist attractions, while the other side was visibly much poorer with the extremely poor living in boats on the river.

I love the markets of Vietnam, which have everything imaginable for sale. One of the shop owners loved my sunglasses (actually my mom's from 1974), and wouldn't let me leave without taking a picture of her.

We left this morning for Da Nang, which is a beautiful town surrounding China Beach. We drove up a mountain where the views of untouched beaches and small towns were spectacular. It reminded me a little of Positano. This is one of my favorite cities in Vietnam so far, maybe even the world. The first site we visited was the Cham Museum, which is dedicated to the Cham Dynasty that ruled central Vietnam during the 2nd-10th century. The main religion of this dynasty was actually Hinduism, portrayed by the numerous Hindu gods and goddesses we saw at the museum. The mix between Hindu and Vietnamese culture is amazing, with a statue of Shiva right next to that of a Vietnamese dragon, across from Lady Buddha. Vietnam took over the Cham Dynasty, but there are still a few Cham people living in south Vietnam, and they resemble Indonesians.

After lunch me and Nihal climbed Marble mountain, which was more than a 300 step steep hike. I was tired and drenched after 150 steps, but somehow Nihal and our tour guide Phu tricked me into believing there was a cave somewhere, and another 150 steps later we were at the top of the mountain! But it was worth it, the view from the top was unbelievable. One side was China Beach, and the other side was the city surrounded by mountains. Simply amazing. I've already lost so much weight on this trip that the only thing keeping my shorts up is the fact that I'm always sweating and they are able to stick to me and stay put.

Following Marble Mountain we drove another 30 km to Hoi An, which is known for its ancient city. The ancient city lies alongside the river, and no cars are allowed inside. It kind of reminds me of Venice/Amsterdam meets Asia. Everything is so peaceful, with traditional folk music playing in the background, cute little cafes, shops lining the street, and people just strolling through the streets. It's very touristy, but I thought it was beautiful.

I'm going to stretch and go to sleep, I have a feeling I won't be able to walk tomorrow :/

Aug 27- Floating Villages

We woke up early again today to take a boat around Halong Bay. I heard that if there was one thing you have to do in Vietnam it's to go to Halong Bay, and I couldn't agree more. Basically the bay is made up of hundreds of small limestone islands, and big and small boats are able to sail around them or through some of the bigger caves. We took the boat to Heavenly Palace, which is one of the biggest caves in the bay. We hiked over a hundred steps and it was well over 100 degrees, so by the time we reached the cave we were all sweating profusely. I was sweating in places one should never ever sweat, but it was well worth it. It's amazing how something so beautiful could be created from simply water and sand.

After visiting the caves we took the boat to the floating villages, which are exactly that, floating villages. Here are people living on their boats, fishing for a living. Everything they need is on the water, a floating school, grocery store, etc. We stopped at one village to rent a smaller boat, which was basically a big plank of wood, to row into one of the lagoons. We went through a small waterway that led into a huge open lagoon surrounded by limestone. The water was extremely still, and the sight was absolutely breathtaking. I don't think words can even explain how amazing this was. I wish we could have gone swimming in the bay, but it wasn't the cleanest. At one point my brother asked the tour guide if it was a sea turtle he saw in the bay. Cuong said, "that is what you call, plastic bag?"

I wish we could've stayed another day, but we had to drive back to Hanoi to catch our flight to Hue, which used to be the capital of Vietnam. But I'm determined to make it back to Halong Bay some day.

Aug 26- Hanoi and Halong Bay

I really like Vietnamese people because they don't seem phased at all by tourists. Even though tourism is just now blowing up in Vietnam, everyone just goes about their daily business and won't even take a second glance at you. It's so different than India, where even though I'm Indian people automatically know that I don't live in India, and will stare me down like I have the plague. Vietnamese people, on the other hand, are very polite and modest. I also thought they would hate Americans after the war, but I didn't encounter any hint of disdain towards us. Maybe because we're brown?

We woke up early this morning to walk around the Hoan Kiem lake. We had to get there before 7am if we wanted to see the locals doing their morning exercises before work. It was such an amazing sight, everyone from teenages to senior citizens was at the lake exericising. There were older women practicing Tai Chi in unison, younger women doing yoga, men stretching and jogging, etc. Vietnam is very health conscious, and I don't think I saw one obese person anywhere.

After breakfast we went to Ho Chi Minh's burial site. Ho Chi Minh was basically the Gandhi of Vietnam, and Saigon was actually renamed to Ho Chi Minh City after him. He led the Vietnam independence movement, and even lived in Brooklyn for a couple years. Holla! After that we went to the War Museum which was okay. I think the main one is in Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon), which is supposed to be really sad too. The last thing we saw in Hanoi was the Temple of Literature, which was a university dedicated to Confucius. We then went on a 4 hr drive to Halong Bay.

After reaching Halong Bay we decided to get Vietnamese massages near the hotel. I thought the massage was questionable, but my parents and brother seemed to like it. Maybe I just don't like massages, I'm way too ticklish and I don't like unknown people rubbing my butt. And this woman was all up in it. At one point she was stepping on it too!

Confucius say, good night!

Aug 25- Off to Vietnam

We left for Vietnam today, and were on our way after a little misunderstanding at the airport. Little meaning our reservation was never confirmed! We had to buy completely new tickets at the airport because our online booking never went through. Nihal shouldn't be trusted to do anything.

After a short 2 hr flight we reached Hanoi, and were greeted by our tour guide Cuong. My dad kept referring to him as ET because he talked exactly like him and repeated everything we said. Really nice guy though. And I thought Hong Kong was hot, Vietnam is HOT. I was in a constant state of a hot, humid, sticky mess. August is NOT the right time to travel Asia.

We stayed at the Quoc Hoa hotel right in the middle of the bustling city. Just a little background of Vietnam. Vietnam has roughly 86 million people, and 80 million of those people own scooters. Hanoi is Vietnam's capital and largest city. So basically scooters run Hanoi. And there are no traffic lights or rules. So you basically have to cross the street like the game Frogger, one step at a time. Because there are literally THOUSANDS of scooters coming right at you, with no intention of slowing down. Ever.

I really like Hanoi because you'll find something different on every street. One street is silk street, where only silk items are sold in these outdoor bazaar style shops. Another street is handicraft street. I think my favorite is toy street, with every toy imaginable for sale. We had dinner at this amazing outdoor buffet style restaurant, and it only came out to $20 total for 3 people. It seems ridiculously cheap, but the average person in Vietnam only makes $8/day. The food was extremely fresh, and I think it was the best crab I've ever tasted. After dinner Cuong told us we had to see international corner. So we walked to this corner, which is four way cross-section, and apparently where all the internationals hang out. There were literally hundreds of internationals and expats just sitting on the corners of this cross-section drinking beer. And no one even looked happy. It seemed like they were all dragged there by their tour guides and were told that's where they had to hang out. It was the strangest thing I've ever seen.

Aug 24th- Reaching Hong Kong

After sleeping during most of our Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong (and eating some scrumptious fish) me and Nihal reached Hong Kong at 5am. The second we stepped outside we were hit by humidity so thick we were instantly sweating. And this was only 5am! We took a cab back to Kowloon Hotel where my parents already were, and took another 5 hour nap. When we woke up we were starving and went out searching for dim sum.

Today was the last day of Paryushan, a Jain holiday where we ask for forgiveness and give forgiveness in order to make terms with everything and everyone around us and have no bad feelings contained within us or for us. In observance of the last day we decided not to eat any meat, which is near impossible in Hong Kong. Almost everything is either cooked with meat or in meat sauce. But we managed to find something, which was still delicious. I could honestly just eat miso soup forever and be a very happy person.

After lunch I went to see the apartment that me and Mirella were hoping to rent, which turned out to be perfect. It's in Causeway Bay, which is like the Soho of NYC. The apartment itself is also similar to a NY apartment since it's tiny, but it's cute and literally right in the middle of everything. No mice which is great, but it's located right above a fish market. We're going to need a lot of incense.

After the apartment was settled we took a tram to the Peak, which is the highest point in Hong Kong. The view was simply amazing. And the nightlife is exactly like NY, but on speed. Aside from the cheesy pop music playing in every club, I think I'm going to like this town. They're not strict about illegally downloading music in Hong Kong, are they?