'Nam

Back in my previous life, my wild youth, I decided to spend a summer in SE Asia.  It was paradise.  Made Hawaii look like Kansas.  Anyway, it was an amazing summer spent half dressed, hair in pigtails, hitchiking my way around southern Thailand.  I was free and it was an amazing last summer 'as a kid.'

my commune

The summer was drawing to an end and one of my boys told me about this place in northern Vietnam called Halong Bay.  'Tex, you should go, you'd dig it.' 'Is it safe?,' I asked.  'Naah, not really. But you can handle it.' Off I went.

I hopped a $5 flight from Phuket to Bangkok ($10 for first class...nah), and then bought a real bonafied ticket on Air France from Bangkok to Hanoi (i know, right?).. since when do the french fly have direct flights like that.  Anyway, I landed in Hanoi and handed the cab driver at the airport a printed out copy of my pre-booked hotel.  seee.....i was thinking ahead.  well, he took me to his friends house instead.  oh joy.  i got out and ran and found another hotel.  About an hour later, I decided I had better find some food. I headed out on the streets, looking for a minimart or something but was met with a very dark, very cold city.  Men were grabbing me, women were spitting on me, and all I could see were bars.  I later learned that a single gringa is considered a prostitute there. joy.   Instead of drowning my fears in the hard stuff, I think I managed to find a candy bar or something.  I went back to my hotel and was greeted with weird fruit. i ate it.

weird fruit

Enough of that, I then realized I needed to find a way to Halong Bay (a couple hours away, on the coast).  I wandered into this travel agency at about 11pm...you can imagine. I paid $27 and signed up for a 3 day tour, hotel and food included, of Halong Bay.  I would be picked up in front of my hotel by a bus at 7am the next morning and dropped back off 72 hours later for me to catch my flight back.  win.

The next morning, I woke up to some strange fruit and this view out my window.  I felt like I had gone back in time.

Hanoi at 5 am

I went down and sat with my backpack (filled with no clothes.. only swimsuit-ish material..not sure what I was thinking) and awaited my new adventure.  A kid on a moped drove up and motioned for me to get on the back.  'Tour?'  'Yeah' he said.  What would any sane woman do (with one arm in a sling, mind you, from a recent attempt at driving a motor cycle), I hopped on the back and off we went.  About 10 minutes later we stopped, he told me to get off, and drove away.  hmmm.  had i been scammed? i saw a van and walked up, seeing young and clueless gringos with backpacks similar to mine.  some tiny man said, 'i now your tour guide. get in.'  sure, why not.

Three hours later we arrived at the coast and my mouth dropped.  These amazing, vertical, rock structures were sticking out of the ocean as far as the eye could see.  I was led to some strange restaurant and fed more rice and then on to a junk boat.  I headed up to the roof and spent the next five hours laying on top, in absolute awe as we sailed amongst quite deservedly, 'one of the seven wonders of the World.'  I remember radiohead was playing in my ipod.

We were taken off the boat, put onto little boats and sailed in and out of caves and crevices, very James Bond.

Every so often we would see little house boats. No really.. actual looking houses floating!! fascinating site, I tell you.  What is even more fascinating is that these home are no where near land.. as in these families' entire lives are spent on the water.  They fish, then eat, sail over to the school, which is also a houseboat, and live entirely land free.  I stared in awe at these children and the life they must live - oh the things they are protected from, oh the things they are deprived of... kind of.  what a way to live.

We sailed to this big island called Cat Ba and they offered me the choice of spending the night on the boat (with the rats that I had spotted all day), or they would pay for me to have a room in a hotel on the island. sounded glamorous. i took it.  well that turned out to be a dirty piece of foam (no sheets) in a room that took me about 30 minutes before I could handle the smell and shut the door.  the water was brown.  i felt like shera but awoke to this.

and this

and this

for a moment i thought they drugged me and took me to ireland.

I enjoyed my time on the island immensely.  Some guy said he would take me on a hike up to the top of those beautiful mountains and I agreed.  why I am not dead in a vietnemiese jungle I don't know.

how i found the guy.

on top of my mountain. still no clothes.

I met some brits, ate something more than rice and here's the best part...found a beach all to myself.  I walked and walked to the far end, but there it was, up against some cliffs, gorgeous and beautiful and DESERTED.  In this time of my life, I was being pulled in a million directions, always needed for some paper or some assignment and the thought of spending a day on a beach where absolutely no one in the World could find me sounded like heaven.  It was.  I still remember that day.  I remember the sound of the ocean. I remember the sunset.  It was a dream.

view from my beach

That night I decided to splurge and found a really nice hotel that would give me a room for $35.  it was a palace!  I emailed mom and told her where I was, was still alive, and not to worry.  She called about 10 minutes later.

'dressed' for my flight home

From that wonderful day, turning out to be my last day in Asia, my last day as a kid, I took a junk boat back to the shore, a van back to the city, a cab back to airport in Hanoi (whose driver, again, first tried to take me to his house instead), a plane back to bangkok to pick up my luggage that was in storage, a flight (standby!!!) to London, then on to Chicago, then to St. Louis, and finally home to Dallas where I arrived bronzed, beefy, happy, injured, and ready to be an adult.

Asia, you are missed.

I look back on these escapades of mine (there are many) and wonder a few things:
1 - why did I have the need to go so far away
2 - what was I trying to hide from  
3 - how on earth am I not dead
4 - how lucky I was to have my flight benefits and absolutely no fear
5 - i really did put my mother through quite a bit of worry
6 - no wonder I'm sick!

Tonight I am thinking about that wonderful place, that wonderful summer, that little boy on the houseboat whose face I will never forget, that nasty piece of foam, that amazing deserted island and realize that I really did live a life's worth in my first 25 years of life.  no wonder my body has decided to retire.

ps, i have no idea who this chick is or how i ended up dressed like this