While the majority of “The Party Boat” was recovering from the previous night, I snuck Andrew up to the roof to do some double pull-backs and a shim sham shimmy. Hey TapKun, (my wonderful tap studio in Seoul, South Korea) this is the first of many tap dances around the world just for you! We kyaked in the rain, we learned how to make spring rolls, hustled it back to Hanoi, and Andrew and I had our first kerfuffle in the midst of the hour we had in Hanoi between one bus from Halong Bay, and another bus heading to Sapa.
Other backpackers (I kinda detest this title I have assumed I should add. I mean, just because I have a backpack- one that I’m not satisfied with, I should add- but will save it for another blog post entirely- doesn’t mean that I’m a backpacker.) Anyway. Other backpackers were a little annoyed at the timing of different Halong Bay activities. Kayaking being one of them. There simply wasn’t enough time they all complained. And Andrew and I found ourselves in the same kayak. (Ha. Get it? Same boat? Same Kayak!) I loved our guide, Coung, and would like to believe that our kayaking was cut short because we were, after all, getting rained upon. It still made for some pretty pictures though, raindrops in the Bay and all, don’t you think?
I find it impossible not to add that I was the only one bold enough to take my camera kayaking. I know, I do pretty stupid things with my camera, and I don’t treat my lenses nearly as well as I should, but hey, at least I was able to take all of these fun pictures of everyone kayaking AND exploring this random cave in the middle of the Bay, right?
After they brief kayaking excursion, we were granted an hour to clean up before our “cooking class” where Coung taught us how to make spring rolls. We all took turns making a couple of spring rolls, and then we sat. while it rained. and we waited for lunch. Which I should have skipped, because I’m pretty sure the chicken is what upset my stomach starting on the bus ride back to Hanoi.
Once we got back to Hanoi, we had about an hour to re-pack our overnight bag, get something to eat, and get ready for our overnight bus to Sapa. Which would have gone smoothly, had I not started feeling badly, and had Andrew and I communicated in a more effective manner. Only, we didn’t communicate effectively at all. I said “crackers.” He heard “water” and went in search of dinner while I waited at the tour agency with an angry Vietnamese man huffing at me, hand gesturing to me, asking without English where my travel partner was. I sighed back, paced, and tried not to think about bathroom related activities and/or the fact that our bus was supposed to leave 20 minutes ago, unbeknownst to Andrew- and he was no where to be found.
By the time he did show up, we were a solid 30 minutes late, and what I would find out to be an over-priced sandwich poorer all because Andrew thought I was hungry, when in fact, I had quite the upset stomach, was yelled at in Vietnamese, and thought we were going to miss our bus to Sapa.
We kerfuffle-ed.
And then in his opinion, we “agreed to disagree” while I rolled my eyes and said “I said CRACKERS! I already had WATER!” as I held up my full Nalgene bottle like he should have known better.
And then we shared the sandwich, because my hunger overpowered my anxiety over my upset stomach and a 12 hour bus ride without a bathroom, and Andrew refused to eat without me eating something as well. (See Mom, I told you Andrew was taking care of me.)
