Cat Ba antics, continued

Cat Ba town, where Ngoc and I have been staying for the past two nights, is this mysterious place where time seems to melt away unnoticed. Ngoc would disagree with me, but I could pass weeks here and not be able to tell you how long I'd been here nor what day of the week it was (I'm not sure I can even tell you right now? Tuesday? Monday?)

Ngoc and I spent the day after our tour from Ha Long City generally relaxing and "exploring", which is a loosely used term that includes frequent retreats back to our hotel room during the afternoon to suck in some much needed air conditioning. In between watching die hard 1 and 3 in the hotel room, we managed to get out on a tandem bike, take some pictures, and shop around unsuccessfully for a hotel room to replace the $45 a night tourist trap where we've been staying. Not so interesting.

Today, however, things took a total turn for the better, as we hooked up w/ Slopony Adventures and took some rented climbing gear out onto Ha Long Bay. We had a grand time with a couple new friends visiting from Poland, and managed to climb from 8:30 straight through the afternoon, accumulating something like 15 climbs between the four of us. Among all the day's epics, I'd have to count among the best climbing shirtless, soaked in sweat, and absolutely BAKING in 1,500% humidity weather and direct sunlight up a 5.10D, which I somehow managed to get to the top of on lead. Ngoc also scored her first 2 lead climbs outdoors, like, EVER. Big kudos to her. In between climbs were lots of dunks in the water, scavenging for cool sea shells, meeting random Boalt Hall law school graduates from the Bay Area, and slicing our feet on rotten coral. Go us! Interesting side note, while I'm talking about activities in Ha Long Bay. Most every trip involves a boat ride of some sort, and a half dozen Vietnamese boatmen to boot. These guys love rubbing my leg hair! Nothing over the top, just a good smile and a rub or two on my shin whenever I'm exiting or boarding a boat that involves a hefty step up onto or off of the deck. Hard to imagine that blonde, curly leg hair is so strange to them, but hey, I actually don't mind!

The verdict is pretty much that Cat Ba rocks at this point, even though not-so-upstanding women roam the oceanside after dark and we are still plagued by the same swarm of motorbike taxis as in Hanoi. Tomorrow we are going to get our hands on a crash pad and head down to Cat Co 2, or "Beach Number 2" (creative, these Vietnamese...) for some late afternoon/early evening bouldering. W00t.

Hope you all are enjoying fast times and having a few good laughs at our expense. More to follow soon!