Maybe in Hong Kong

Arriving in Hong Kong was neat because we realized it wouldn't be as dirty as Vietnam just from how the buildings looked. Our hotel was pretty nice and there was fourth a room so Hillary, Jen, Kathleen and I got to hang out more. The first night a group of us headed across the river on a small ferry to see a few buildings on the other side of the city. We ended up wandering for a while before heading back across to see the famous lightshow on the buildings and then on to dinner at a really good Thai restaurant in the top of a mall. The food was really good. I got a yellow curry which is one of my favorite dishes. We got back to the hotel pretty early in time to head back out for some drinks with everyone since Kathleen had promised since the beginning of the trip when we asked her to join us she had always said "Maybe in Hong Kong". We had a good time and didn't return too late to the hotel. The next day we had a bus tour with Bill our tour guide around to see all of the best sites in Hong Kong.

We started by seeing a small shopping center with an overlook over the whole side of the island with the skyline. It was really pretty and gave us time to get coffee and sketch before heading down to see some temples on the touring side of the island. We touched the ocean some and got to rub Fortune Buddhas belly before heading on to ride small boats through the marina which is now becoming the home of the fishermen since the price of apartments has gotten so expensive.

We were released early in the day to walk around more in the gardens of the island and eat lunch at a mall with a ton of food options that were all really good. We continued looking around all day seeing different sites and then headed back for a quick dinner. The majority of our group ate at a fast food restaurant across the street from the hotel but it wasn't until after they ordered that we realized they had nothing vegetarian there.

Hillary and I went across the street to a restaurant connected to the hotel. We thought it was a tourist place but as we went downstairs we realized no one in the place spoke English. Since there was no free table the hostesses set up a small table next to their stand which we thought was awkward but were thankful to have people watching to help us through the meal. We ended up getting a bunch of small squishy dough balls that were filled with a black liquid on the inside. They were really good and filled us up most importantly.

After dinner I went out to the shopping market a few blocks away with Dan, Hana, and Libby to look for some earrings. I got a small pair of earrings and also got a fake IPod while I was at it. For what it is, it was a great deal! That night we came back and did laundry. Kathleen fell asleep while we were waiting on it to dry and when I woke her up to tell I was going to get it she freaked out on me screaming "What's going on!?" I was so surprised I started laughing quietly to myself since Jen was asleep in a top bunk, but Kathleen kept saying things like "What are we dong?!?!" I was laughing hysterically at this point when Jen shot up off of her bed and stared at me. I didn't know what to do with the both of them staring at me so I just whispered go back to sleep. Jen just smiled at me slightly and laid her head back down and Kathleen just rolled over. It was crazy, but I love them! Only makes me wonder how next year is going to be as roommates.

The last day we had until noon before leaving. A large group of us decided to wake up early and ship some things which was a large process but at the end was a good idea. We then ate a delicious lunch buffet at the hotel before heading to the mainland of China.

Water Buffalos and Rice Patties

We arrived in Hanoi late at night and headed straight to dinner. The restaurant was a nice outdoor and indoor mix restaurant with a small string quartet playing while we ate. The food was delicious and my favorite part was the morning glorys that were steamed. Little did I know it was going to be the beginning of a long time of rice and veggies.

We went to the hotel after dinner and were greeted by two little bell hops at the door. Immediately one of them grabbed my bags asking my room number and pulled a group of us into the elevator. We rode up and he got off on each of our floors telling us to wait on him at our doors. My room was last and he ran in put my bags down, grabbed a remote to the air conditioner turned it on, and lastly turned on the tv. He smiled and since I didn't have any money on me Hillary and I waited until later to tip our friend which we found out his name was Phulan.

The next day we headed out to see a small village of Cu chi where there is an outdoor museum about the Vietnam War. It was crazy to see all of the battle sites that were preserved as well as the tunnels the Vietnamese had dug to live in during the day. I even crawled through a one hundred foot long piece of the tunnel... which was super scary since it was an even smaller space than the underground city in Cappadocia.

After leaving the museum we headed back into the city to visit the architectural firm of a Ball State Landscape Architecture Alumn. On the way to the office the bus stood out on the streets because it was one of a few cars in a sea of mopeds and motorcycles. Six million of the residents of Hanoi drive motorcycles and mopeds which is over half of the population of the city.

The architecture firm was neat to see but due to the fact that it was just after the Chinese New Year not many people were around working on projects. We left the office to head back to the hotel where we were going to be let go for dinner.

The next day we headed for North Vietnam to Hanoi. We arrived early and were greeted by our guide Pi and some old landscape architecture alumni from Ball State. They took us straight into touring the oldest university in the city. The temples were really pretty but it was starting to rain so we went to grab some food in a noodles restaurant nearby. We then drove to see a bridge nearby with a small garden known in Hanois history. Loading the bus, we drove for fifteen minutes where we made one of the quickest visits to a good landscape architecture college.

We then ran out in time to reach the famous Water Puppet show in the downtown. The show was different than anything I'd ever seen but was really cute to experience. We had a little trouble staying awake during the show just from having a full day but we enjoyed it a lot.

After the show we stopped at a coffee shop to buy some time before our dinner reservations at a local restaurant. The restaurant was really cute and had really good food. We then left for the hotel while it began to rain and that's where it all went downhill. The bus pulled up a street away from the hotel and instead of putting bags in our hands the bus driver began to throw the bags onto the ground in piles of what we realized later were wet chicken poop. Running into the hotel we were given our room assignments and walked up to find our rooms. The rooms seemed a little dirty but we didn't know how bad it was until looking a little.

We found bed bugs in our shared bed and had to carry our chicken poop covered bags down to another room where our bathtub drained by coming out of the bottom of our tub onto the bathroom floor and into a drain behind the toilet. It was DISGUSTING! We slept that night on the rock hard bed without covers, showering in our neighbors rooms to find a small lizard climbing on our walls in the morning. Everyone hated the hotel... It made us feel like we couldn't clean off any dirt.

Our next day we took a four hour drive to Ha Long Bay which is a site kept natural by Unesco. It is a bay where these landforms come out of the water in really dramatic slopes which was super pretty. We enjoyed the day riding a boat through to bay to a small cave we walked through and then back to shore. After our four hour drive back we enjoyed dinner at a restaurant where we sat on the floor on pillows and had to endure one more night in the worst hotel so far. We left the next day ready to find our next bed... Hopefully a cleaner one.