The Proposal

Now this is a story that I've been wanting to post for a while now and I want to have written it down so that I don't forget all the fun details when Eliza and I are old and gray.  I've been writing this over the past few months off and on and today while I wait for my flight back home to Vancouver I thought it fitting to finish this story of Eliza and I's proposal because it was an integral part of my adventure in Asia.  So here we go!

Lets start by rewinding the time back to July 2010. I had been in Taiwan for about a month an a half and I was really hurting from being away from Eliza. Luckily I was getting used to the long distance and it wasn't nearly as hard as it was the first few weeks, though I was still missing Eliza a lot.

Johan had just met a new girl Rebecca and they had started dating. During this time the topic of girls and dating came up very frequently. My thoughts towards marriage had been distant from my mind for a while until the last bit before I was leaving for Taiwan when Eliza and I had seriously started discussing it as a possibility. However all this talk about dating and our futures and marriage kept surfacing with Johan and I think this repeated discussing about it and why marriage was the right move helped me make the final decision: telling my parents!

I wanted my parents to be a part of this discussion so one morning I called them up on Skype to tell them that I wanted to marry Eliza. I was a bit nervous to tell them but I was relieved after telling them and hearing how happy they were for me. Telling my parents really made it feel "real" and more than just something that I was tossing around my mind. It also let me ask them questions about their ideas on it and things to consider to double check that I had thought of everything before making this big step!

After all the discussions and incubation of the idea I knew it was the right decision and I made the next big step. The ring! Actually I guess it was the ring and WHEN i was going to propose. I recall that Johan and I were discussing where I could do it and the idea of asking Eliza in Japan came up. How cool!! I really liked the sound of proposing in Japan because of our shared Japanese heritage and also so that my parents could be there with us to share in the memory. I also wanted to propose while Eliza was visiting me in Asia so that she knew that I was 100% serious about us, despite me flying away and the uncertainties about my future career choices. I wanted at least something concrete to show her that I really loved her and want her to be my life co-pilot :)

So now that the place was decided I knew I would need a ring. Every time I went to the mall or up to Taipei I would browse the rings to see what kind of prices I was looking at and how much money would get me what kind of ring. Peggy (Johan's sister) knows a lot about rings too so we discussed my different options and prices and online stores to check. We also knew that buying a ring in Taiwan would be cheaper than Canada so that was another advantage to ring shopping in Taiwan.

There were so many rings and so many different prices and little stores I didn't really know where to start looking. Fortunately Gugu (Ali's mom) had a long time friend who was a jeweler and is where she got all of her jewelry over the last 20 years. She arranged a meeting and they drove me to the little Jewelry store in the heart of Taoyuan city. Ali, Niki, and Ali's Dad also joined us. We looked through the glass display case and picked out a handful of rings that we thought looked interesting. I was able to look at the prices and I had Niki's finger to try the rings on to see what looked good. I think we weren't there very long before we saw a design we really liked. The jeweler was able to give me 50% off of the price tag so I was extremely happy.

We left the store with two rings and diamonds in mind and over the next week I mulled it over and after sending some photos of the ring to my parents and discussing, I knew which one I wanted!

In the meantime, I had secretly called Eliza's book club friend Shannon to do some sneaky spy work for me. I needed Eliza's ring size so I tasked her with the mission of finding out Eliza's ring size! At this point I hadn't told anyone I was thinking about marriage except for my parents and Johan's family so it was kind of exciting telling one of her friends, and Shannon got really excited when I told her the news. She was ecstatic and told me she would get to work ASAP and would have a result back by the time I got back from my mini trip to Hong Kong.

When I arrived back from Hong Kong a week later we went back to the Jeweler to choose the ring and the diamond. The ring/diamond combo I wanted they didn't have, so the jeweler made the ring custom for me based on my requests. I didn't have to pay anything until I picked up the ring too which was convenient.

Once I picked the ring I got in touch with Shannon and she said she casually had Eliza try on some rings borrowed from their mutual friend Lisa, and then had the ring brought to the jeweler in Canada to find out the size. She told me the ring size and I relayed it to Niki, who then told Gugu, who then told the jeweler and we had the ring made.

This whole time I didn't say a word to Eliza but a few times she would tease me over Skype pointing at her ring finger teasing and complaining that there was nothing on it. It was so hard not to spill the beans but I knew the surprise would be well worth it :D

A few days passed and then I found out the ring was done and Gugu's friend was going to deliver it to our house in Cingpu! In the afternoon we got a buzz from the front desk and we went to the front to meet Gugu's friend who had brought a little bag with the ring box in it. We opened it up and I was so happy with it! I knew Eliza would like it and I was really excited to give it to her :D

A week later my parents came to Taiwan. I toured them around and sooner than later a week had passed and we were off to Japan! I was paranoid about losing the ring in Japan during our travels so I put it in a little bag and stuffed it into my money belt that I wore everywhere.

Prior to leaving for Japan I had been researching places to propose in Japan. Since I'd never been there I was a bit nervous about the actual proposal because I wanted somewhere romantic and where we had space to ourselves, yet I'd never been anywhere we were going so you can imagine that would stress a guy out a little bit! Additionally I hadn't called Eliza's dad yet to ask for his permission!

Eliza arrived on the first of October and based on my internet research I had a few places in mind for proposing: Kyoto Kiyomizudera Temple, the Silver Temple in Kyoto, and somewhere in Nikko.

Only a few days after Eliza arrived we ended up in Kyoto heading to Kiyomizudera. I started getting a little nervous and trying to figure out how I'd propose. Unfortunately when we got there the place was packed full of school kids! The place was nice and everything being a temple nestled in the mountainside overlooking Kyoto, but it wasn't what I had envisioned for my proposal. So we left Kiyomizudera not engaged, but I was happy about my decision not to rush it because I knew I'd find a better place that suited my vision of my proposal.

Ok so Kyoto was near the start of my trip, and I ended up waiting until nearly the very end of our trip to propose in Nikko! We were staying at a fancy ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel/hot spring) in a small town named Kosagoe, located close to Nikko and this being one of my last chances for a romantic setting, I knew when we arrived that this would be the spot!

Upon our arrival at the ryokan we dropped off our bags and checked in to our beautiful rooms. It was the biggest room we had stayed in yet complete with: front little entrance way, bathroom, tatami room with a little tea table and chairs, another sink area with two chairs and a small table (separated from the tatami room by a rice paper sliding door), and a balcony overlooking the tree covered hills and a river. I kept looking at Eliza, excited that I knew I would be creating a big milestone in both of our lives! I always wondered what it would be like for a person on the day of their proposal and now I knew what it felt like: it felt a bit nerve wrecking, but great!

After the initial scout of the room we headed out for a walk around the small town and found a Japanese restaurant named Gasuto (like a Denny's) relatively close by for which we just stopped in and had a plate of different cakes to share. It was nice not having planned anything for the day and we could just take our time and enjoy one of our last days in Japan.

After the cake we walked back to the ryokan and messed about on their neat fitness room equipment. There was a mechanical bull type machine and a machine where it literally just vibrates you at a high frequency and makes you feel all numb. We were really just buying time before our fancy traditional Japanese diner which came next on our itinerary.

The meal was a delicious mix of different types of traditional Japanese food. There was sashimi, miso soup, tempura, salted fish, rice, yuba, a salad, green tea, and I think some other stuff I can't think of at the moment :) It was all oishi!

After diner we went back to our rooms and changed into the traditional Japanese robes (yukatas) that were provided for us. These robes are so comfy and fun to walk around in! We knocked on my parents door and saw that they too had dressed into their robes. We took the opportunity for a fashion photo shoot and got some really great family pictures in different funny poses all dressed up.

After the photo shoot Eliza and I went back to the room, but I snuck back out to visit my parents and to get the ring box from my mom. I had her carry the empty box the whole trip because I didn't want Eliza to accidentally find it in my luggage. My mom and dad got super excited and we had a nice little family moment of hugging and congrats. It was really special for me to be able to share this life changing milestone with my parents and I was really happy they were there and had the chance to get to know Eliza during our travels.

I snuck back into the room and moved the ring from my money belt into the box and hid it under the top cover of my bag so that I could easily grab it without making too much noise.

I had booked the onsen (hot spring) at 9pm so I thought after some nice relaxation time we could come back to the room and I'd propose!

We went to the onsen as planned and while the water was extremely hot, we had a fun time :D

As we walked back to our room I started getting a bit nervous. Trying to think about how I would exactly propose. I'm usually not too bad about coming up with something on the spot based around some previously though up "points." But as we entered our room I really wasn't sure how I was gonna bring it up. The topic of "proposal" doesn't really just come up with something easy from which to segue into. Thinking in your head that you will propose and then actually thinking of exactly what you will say and how you will propose is a completely different thing.

I was starting to get a bit nervous because it's not really easy to be sneaky in a small room. Eliza asked if I wanted some green tea and that sounded nice so she grabbed the kettle and started plugging it in against the wall. I quickly walked to my bag and took the ring box out and tried to conceal it by hiding it behind my back. Eliza kept asking why I was sneaking around and I really didn't have an answer. I just mumbled something out that probably didn't make much sense. You know I never really pictured it being difficult to ask someone to marry you, but you can't really just say outta the blue "hey umm.... marry me?" you really need to wait for the right moment to bring it up, otherwise it really sounds out of context and... definitely not romantic.

Then THANKFULLY Eliza mentioned that this trip or "adventure" had been great and I knew as soon as she said that it was now or never (not really never but that wording sounds more dramatic)! Her back was turned away from me as she was unplugging the steaming kettle I started to approach her and said agreeingly, "Yea definitely this has been an amazing adventure. I'd really love to have many more adventures with you." Still with her back turned to me she said, "Definitely! I'd like more adventures with you too." and as she said that she turned around to face me and I was standing there holding the little red ring box in my two hands in front of me. She looked at me, then down to the ring box, then back at me and she started to get a crazy happy excited look in her eyes. I got down on one knee in my yutaka, looked up at the love of my life, lifted the ring box and opened it saying, "Eliza Yodogawa, will you marry me?"

She had the craziest excited face I'd ever seen on her. I loved it! It was a mix of disbelief, excitement, happiness, and surprise. A face I will remember forever :D

She gave me a huge hug while I was still down on one knee and then she looked me in the eyes and say, "Yes! I would love to marry you!" I took the ring out of the box and gave it to her to wear. It was a little bit big but at least it wasn't too small! I was a bit worried it was too small and it wouldn't fit on her hand (that would be embarrassing) but it fit alright.

The rest of the night felt magical and I couldn't really believe we were engaged. As promised, tea was served and we sat on the tatami room floor at the little table drinking the nice hot green tea and I told her about how I had been carrying the ring around and how long I had been thinking about it and basically everything in this story that you have read up until now was kept secret to her (obviously!) so it was fun explaining all the details and all the work and different people who had been involved in the ordeal!

The next morning we knocked on my parents door because we had planned to all go for breakfast together. My parents came out wearing their yutakas (we were in ours too). Eliza showed them the ring and there was a round of hugs in the ryokan hallway :) From there we went downstairs for a delicious traditional style breakfast.

We needed to check out before noon but I had been really wanting to call Eliza's Dad to officially ask his permission for his daughters hand in marriage. I wanted to do this before asking Eliza, but being together almost 100% of the time in Japan with dodgy internet connection made it basically impossible to call him! I had been getting stressed about calling while keeping things a secret from Eliza so I decided it would be much easier to call after I asked Eliza so I wouldn't have to be sneaking around and stressing about it (plus if she said "no" then I wouldn't have to ask her dad. j/k!!)

The ryokan had wireless in their fitness room so this is where I went to make the call. It was a bit weird calling her parents in this big open area where anyone could just walk in and hear our conversation, but luckily it was the morning and no one was exercising. I rang up Eliza's parents and her mom answered the phone, "Hello?" "Hello!" I said. We chatted for a bit and then I asked if Mr. Yodogawa was around. Unfortunately he wasn't! Crap he'd just stepped out to the hardware store so I would have to call back again in 20 minutes or so. I'm thinking Mrs. Yodogawa was probably wondering why I wanted to talk to Eliza's dad. I was nervous making the call and this hadn't helped matters.

I went back upstairs into the room and chatted with Eliza for the next 20 minutes and then headed back down to call her Dad back. I don't know why but my palms were sweating while dialing the number. It's a bit weird because I know Eliza already said yes, and I was pretty sure Eliza's Dad was gonna say yes, yet I still felt a lot of anxiety. Not the type of phone call you make everyday.

The phone started ringing and Eliza's mom picked up the phone again. I thought maybe Mr.Yodogawa was still out and I'd have to awkwardly tell her I'd call back. I asked if he was around and thankfully he was! He said hello on the phone and after maybe only 10 seconds of chit chat I got straight to the point. I said, "Mr.Yodogawa, your daughter Eliza means the world to me. I love her more than anyone. While this is something I always imagined asking you in person, I would like to ask for your daughter Eliza's hand in marriage."

"Oooooh! Yes! Congratulations!" He announced loudly :) "Oh Alma's crying now she's so happy." It felt great asking her family and telling them how much I loved their daughter. And just like that all my anxiety was gone, and everything that needed to be done to get Eliza to marry me was finished! It had been a bit stressful, but mostly it had been really fun asking the girl of my dreams to marry me. After reading these 3300+ words about asking your girl to marry you maybe seems like a lot of work, but perhaps that's part of the fun and satisfaction of getting the “yes” that you want :)

So now we just have to actually GET married! The wedding is booked for January 29th, 2011. Wish us luck!

TEDx Monga + New friends

Yesterday was the first TED event that I have attended.  For the past 2 months Johan and I have been helping the organizer with the marketing of the event.  I must say that the experience of being part of a TED branded event was something I was really interested in on just a personal level, but I got out of it much more than I thought I would have.  For the past half year that I've been in Taipei I haven't met very many foreigners, but the organizing team for TED was basically comprised of almost all foreigners!  It was quite surprising but I enjoyed meeting all the new people who are living in this foreign place and hearing about their personal experiences.  Some of which I could relate.

On the actual date of the TEDx Monga conference (Dec 9th, 2010) Johan and I arrived only a bit ahead of time because the organizer, Chris, told us that they didn't need the hands to help set up on the day of.  I ended up helping the camera crew out a little bit but it wasn't a very big commitment and it allowed me to sit and listen to the various speakers and meet people during the networking parts of the event.

Some of the speakers were so so, and some of the speakers were great!  While we were watching the second last speaker (Ting Shih with ClickDiagnostics.com) talk about her company that uses cell phones and mobile apps to provide medical assistance to those in remote and poor countries, thus helping out over half a billion people, it was quite inspiring and really felt like we were at a real TED talk like we'd watch on the web.  I hope this one gets published to the TED website.

During the intermission and at the very end were two networking opportunities to mingle in the lobby of the venue.  I wasn't sure what to expect but I ended up meeting a lot of really cool people doing a lot of cool things.  I'd also not seen such a diverse group of multicultural english speakers since leaving Vancouver.  It felt a bit like home!

Johan and I met two ladies from Ontario during one of the TED activities and found out they were doing their masters degrees here while teaching English in Tainan (btw did you know you can get your masters degree here for free???).  One had been here for 4 years and the other, 8 years!  It makes my half year seem like nothing. lol :P  They were really genuinely friendly people and at the end of the event before they headed back to Tainan they invited us out to have dinner with them.  Johan unfortunately had to head to an appointment but I was available so I joined them.  They ended up having a whole crew with them from Tainan including 2 Americans and another guy from Ontario.

We caught a cab from the university to the Taipei 101 area and ate at the Macaroni Grill, a fancy Italian restaurant.  If you are familiar with the one that used to be on Davie in downtown Vancouver then you'll know the food is delicious!  The girls were really psyched about eating here and I secretly think they just came up to Taipei to eat here, and that the TED talks was just an excuse to eat Italian ;)

During diner we ended up sharing a bunch of our dishes which was great.  I don't even do this with my friends but I always wished I could!  It's the best when you can just share stuff and you get to try a bit of everything.  The fact that they shared with me I think was another sign of just how friendly these girls were.  We all got to know each other a bit better and I had a really nice last meal in Taipei for 2010.  I was really the only "stranger" in the group but oddly enough I didn't feel like a stranger even though I'd only known them for an hour.

I think there's something quite unique about meeting foreigners in a foreign country.  It's almost like they're a lot more approachable and you have this "context" of being a foreigner that allows you to be more approachable.  It's like you already have this common ground and you're always looking to meet more potential friends, because you don't have your social network from when you were a kid that you are so tightly integrated with at home.  At home I don't really have "room" in my social circle for meeting whole new groups of people, but in Taiwan I love meeting new people and making friends and I continually seek the opportunity to network.  Perhaps it's being a foreigner, OR perhaps it's just a change in my own way of thinking and this whole "theory" about meeting people in a foreign country being easier is just me trying to understand my change in attitude.  That or the people I've met like the ones from TED are just extremely warm and welcoming.  I think maybe it's a bit of both.

Some of the Tainan crew were heading out for drinks but unfortunately I had to catch the HSR home because it was close to the last one.  We said goodbye and exchanged contact info.  When I'm back in Taiwan I'd love to go party with them "Tainan style" and also I hear many great things about the city so it gives me a good excuse to finally check the place out.

This post has gotten a bit longer than I thought it would so I'll conclude by saying TEDx was a lot of fun, but the unexpectedly great part of it was expanding my social network in Taiwan and meeting some genuinely nice and really cool people!

Anzu Tonkatsu!

Johan and I were in Taipei today helping out with the setup for TEDx Monga and around dinner time we went to check out some retail shops as research for our new business venture.  Anyways Joe gave us a call and asked if we wanted to join him and his family for dinner. It sounded like a nice idea so we took the MRT and met him at the restaurant.

The name of the place was Anzu and their specialty is tonkatsu.  We sat down and started out with this big bowl of salad greens and finely shredded cabbage (the salad is all you can eat). There was a nice ranch dressing and this delicious Japanese miso dressing with lemon in it. Marvelous taste!

For appetizer we ordered oyster katsu. They came served in their shell. To be honest I didn't even realize it was ouster until I had almost eaten the while thing. It just had a really light but flaky batter on the outside and it was juicy on the inside.

Next was the main course!  Joe had just had a meeting with a  Japanese client the night before who introduced him on how to eat tonkatsu the real way.  First you take the mortar and pestal each person is given and you smash up some toasted sesame seeds until half if it is powder while adding a bit of sea salt in for taste. You then sprinkle this seasoning over you tonkatsu.  Then in the now empty mortar bowl you add the tonkatsu sauce for dipping. Then you dig in!

The tonkatsu batter was so light and the meat was juicy and high quality.  One of the best tonkatsu I've ever eaten.  The meal also came with some pickled vegetables, rice, and miso soup (clam or veg).  All this for about 10-11 dollars! Great value.  And Joe ended up treating us all so that was super nice of him.  Thanks Joe!  I'm starting to know Joe better and he's a great guy and I'm glad to have him as a business partner.

Silver Tower

I just wanted to post shortly about the Cingpu Silver Tower. This restaurant is a 5 min bike from our house and has delicious cheap meals. I go here many times a week so I thought it was worthy to document.

Yellow Sign = Silver Tower

The food here usually ranges from between 1-2 dollars. I usually get the beef ball soup and some rice dish with bamboo shoots and it comes to $2. Can't beat that value (unless maybe you are in Vietnam)

The lady who runs the store knows me so I always get a smile when I go in.  They know I can't speak Chinese very well but I know all my favorite hints now so I don't have any problems ordering.

Oh and the name.  We don't actually know the name of the restaurant but their menu has some similarities to the Silver Tower restaurant that Johan and I used to always go to in Richmond when coming home late from ubiq.  The good ole days!

Lamb Hotpot Celebration

My Taiwan crew decided we should all go out for lamb hotpot as a farewell celebration to see me off and to celebrate my time here with new friends.  The famous lamb hot pot they always talked about was the destination. I'd never been before but I like both lamb and hotpot so the combo must be good!

The restaurant was near the Jhong Li night market and Johan had the absolute worst time finding parking. I think it took him close to 1 hour to finally find a place far away and then to walk back to the restaurant.

We had a mini celebration when he arrived and sat down at the table. While waiting for him we had already picked what we wanted to order so the food came pretty quick.  A big pot of soup and lamb was placed on our table over top of the burner which started bubbling after a few minutes.

For extras we ordered two really delicious satay lamb dishes, a whole bunch of different leafy vegetables, and the special tofu cheese red lamb sauce.

Oh yes, and I should mention the smell!  Lamb hot pots always have a unique smell to regular hot pots. Just walking past one in the street you can tell easily if it's lamb or not.

Everything tasted delicious as I knew it would and we had some apple sidra for drink. I toasted to my friend because I wanted them to know that I've had the time of my life in Taiwan and I know it's directly because of their friendship and unending generosity. I love you guys and I will be back so see you again soon!

Day 9: Goodbye Vietnam!

I awoke at 545am naturally to catch my private car that I had booked to take me to the airport.  Rob and Iwao had awoken to say goodbye. It had been a really great time with them and I'm not sure what the trip would have been like without their company.  I'm glad I have some friends of which we can share our stories of Vietnam together, both from Canada and Spain.

I said my goodbyes to my sleepy travel buddies and headed out the door of the Blue Paradise Hotel across the misty early morning streets of Hanoi into the car.  The sun was about to rise and during the 30 min drive to the airport the big orange disc made it's way slowly up into the sky.

The drive seemed rather uneventful to me, which I thought was a bit weird because we almost got into several accidents, saw scooters carrying fridges and dozens of tied chickens, and saw a herd of buffalo blocking the highway. I guess being in Vietnam for a week takes the insane and unbelievable and makes it regular.  Perhaps I was starting to feel like a local!

I arrived at the airport on time and after some confusion with the airline staff and a change in boarding gates that nearly gave me a heart attack I've made it onto the plane which is where I'm writting this final Vietnam blog entry at 32000 feet.

In reflection, I could not have predicted the fondness and sense of friendliness that I got from the country.  I was only in Vietnam for a week but it had felt like I had been there for much longer. I'd seen many unforgettable sights and made friends with some unforgettable people and for these reasons I will always look back on Vietnam as another fantastic trip of a lifetime!  Farewell Vietnam!

Day 8: Back to Hanoi, Basque Reunion!

We awoke at 6am to get ready for our included hotel breakfast buffet. The sun was just starting to rise and cast its light into the Cat Ba bay.  The view from the balcony was gorgeous.

We ate our breakfast and headed down to the lobby to meet our tour guide. I made a quick call to Eliza and then it was back onto the bus for a quick 5min ride back across to the small harbour.

Our boat was ready and waiting for us and we all hopped back on.  There wasn't much planned for today because we were heading back to board our original bigger ship which would take us back to the main Ha Long port.

For the next 1.5hrs we sat on the roof of the boat quietly enjoying the view of the islands and the hot sun. I put on some Kow Otami music from Shadow Of The Colossus which seemed to fit the scenery perfectly.

As we approached our bigger ship I noticed Asier standing on the upper deck! I waved to him and he waved back. It was great to see him because I wished we had exchanged contact info and I doubted we would run into them again.

It's Asier standing in the green and black shirt!

We climbed up and over the railings with our bags and boarded the ship.  We went upstairs and chatted with Asier and caught up on what we had been doing since we last saw each other. It was another 1.5 hours to Ha Long port and Rob and I pretty much chatted with the Basques, standing at the front of the boat.  Asier kept joshing us about yolkless omlettes because Rob had mentioned it was something some people do in Vancouver. Eggs ended up being a big topic.  We told them about some of our favorite egg dishes such as eggs Benedict and soft boiled eggs where you dip your bread soldiers in the hill.  They had never heard of these dishes so I'm writting them here on the blog in case he forgets :P (Hey Asier)  One of the egg methods that they shared with us that I had not heard of before was that you first separate the egg white and yolk, then you fry the egg white first, and when that is cooked you put the raw egg yolk on top and just head it up ever Su slightly. Rachaelle put her thumb and index finger to her lips and kissed the air, with the gesture of deliciousness.  I agreed it sounded tasty!  Before arriving at the port we made sure to trade contact information so that we can share pics and give them the address to this blog.

When we arrived at the port, it was lunch time. We all made a short treck down the street to a nice hotel restaurant where we proceeded to have another nice lunch that was included with the tour.  Rob and I additionally ordered lemon milkshakes because they sounded interesting.  When served to us they turned out to be really light tasting and refreshing sorbet type slushies. Delicious for $1.

After lunch we crammed back into the van for the 3hr drive back to Hanoi city.  The 12 of us that had Dang as our tour guide pooled together some money as a tip because He had been excellent and we wanted to show our gratitude.  I realize now how much a tour guide can really make or break a trip.  Dang had been great!

Rice seedling farm on the way back from Ha Long

By about 4pm we pulled up in the packed Hanoi streets to Vega Travel.  We said our goodbyes to our group and walked back to the Blue Paradise Hotel.  The Basques be followed us there as well but the hotel rate wasn't so good (25USD/night) so we agreed to meet at 630pm for dinner and they left to find another hotel.

We deposited our stuff into the top 5th floor room and headed back out into the streets for me to do some let minute shopping for friends.  I managed to bargain  some "I heart Pho" shirts for $2 a piece which I was really happy with.

At 630pm we met the Basques at the arranged meeting spot and headed to this little Nom restaurant recommended from an Ipod app I had downloaded.  Nom is a Vietnamese street food consisting of a bed of thinly sliced daikon with cilantro, and three types of dried beef with a light sweet vinegar dressing and crumbled peanuts on top.  It was quite tasty and the experience of sitting on the road with mini plastic stools was fun!  We even had about 7 different ladies come by ad try to sell Vietnamese rice timbits and a guy serenaded us with his nose flute.

After that light meal we all went to Papa Roti for some of their delicious sweet freshly toasted buns.  We ate them standing in the middle of the street and watched two Vietnamese women get into a pretty physical cat fight while the police basically just stood there and watched.

The night was still young so we took our friends to Yummy for some coconut and fruit drinks.  I guess the Vancouverites were used to the jelly and big straws that came with the drinks but this was something new for the Basques so it was fun introducing them to this type of Asian drink.

After some laughs and the drinks we decided to go to one last place to hang out: Legends Beer.  It's a place we spotted on the first day and it has a long circular patio overlooking the major traffic circle in the heart of the tourist and night life area of Hanoi.

We said our last "Salute" (cheers in Spanish) and drank our beers while overlooking the bustling chaotic traffic.  Grimmace even made an appearance for a photo op!  He gets less shy every trip.

By this time it was 930pm and our friends had to get back to their hotel for their 6am flight to central Vietnam.  We walked them back to their hotel and said our goodbyes.  I told Asier I was getting married in January and he said congratulations.  I mentioned that if they ever traveled to Vancouver they should definitely email me and it would be a pleasure to show them around and maybe they can eat a yokless egg omlette :P  He replied back and said that anytime if I was to ever be in Spain travelling to Bilbao in a year, 3 years, 5 years, or whenever, to let him know as it would be wonderful to meet up with them again in the future.  I've always wanted to travel to Bilbao and now I am 100% sure that it will be on my radar for a trip in the near future.  I look forward to the day we get to hang out again!  Farewell and bon voyagé friends!  I hope the rest of our trip throughout Vietnam and Cambodia is unforgettable. :D

After saying goodbye we headed back to our hotel for some chill out time.  We had seem quite a bit of Hanoi at night and we thought it would be nice to wind down for the evening.  I had to catch a taxi at 6am so it was lights out for me soon after getting back to the hotel.

It had been a fantastic past 7 days and bumping into Asier and Rachelle again was the icing on the already delicious Vietnamese cake!

Day 7: Cycling, Jungle Trekking, Private Beach, and Cat Ba Island

I awoke at quarter to 7am to the light coming from outside our window above the bed.  I could see that the sun was starting to rise and I didn't want to miss it so I quickly hopped out of bed and made my way to the upper deck.  The sun was just starting to rise above the islands and I was treated to an incredibly beautiful view.  The air was cool because of the wind but it was still warm out and you could tell it was going to be another hot day.

The plan for the morning was to hike up the 400 steps to the top of Ti Top island, which was an island close by for us to view the sun rise.  By 7:20 or so everyone was up and we boarded our small boat to take us to the island.

When we arrived there was a group of people doing Tai Chi in the morning sun.  There was also a good sized natural sand beach with a few people just coming out from the water.  I thought to myself what a spectacular view to experience for an early morning swim with the sun rising over the islands and some beautiful traditional looking boats parked close by.

Our group walked along the back of the beach and up the steps to the top.  It was a fairly short climb up to the top and I was completely distracted by the natural beauty around me so it made the trip up even shorter.

resting stop on the way up

At the top we were treated to an amazing 360 view of the bay.  Check out some of the pictures because they'll paint a much better picture than me trying to describe it.

After mulling around at the top for 15 minutes I was thinking of going for a swim so we made our way back down.  Upon arriving at the beach we walked over to the waters edge.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to swim but I knew I wanted to dip my feet in the water.  I was wearing my sandals so I slipped them off and dipped my feet into the water.  It was cool but not cold.  I looked up and saw the two older german ladies already swimming.  What the heck if they're living it up then so am I!  I took off my shirt although I wasn't wearing completely perfect swim wear I ran into the water and jumped in :D  The felt great and the feeling of swimming around in the cool water with the sun beating down in this fantastic scenery was unforgettable.  I had given Iwao my camera and he took some pics of my morning swim.

After 10 minutes or so of swimming around I came back to shore and we motored back to our boat for breakfast.  I quickly showered to get the salt off and sat down to eat fried eggs, bananas, jam, and toast (not all at once).  Near the end of the meal Dang introduced us to our itinerary for the day and the first thing we would be doing was getting off this big boat and onto a smaller boat for the remainder of the tour.  Tonight we were sleeping in a hotel on Cat Ba island and this boat was returning to Ha Long Bay Port.

The Singaporean family were not coming with us so we waved good bye and boarded the smaller boat.  We then cruised for an hour or so along some more magnificent limestone Islands and we made our way to a small dock on the south eastern side of Cat Ba island.  This is where our cycling tour would begin!

rock formation named "Chopstick"

South China sea on the top left

We left our bags on the boat and walked along the cement dock to an area with a few dozen bikes parked.  We each picked a bike and started our 30 minute ride around the island.  The first part of the road was along the coast and then it went up over a hill and dropped us back down into the inner part of the island.  Biking through the jungle was something I had been looking forward to and it did not disappoint.

After half an hour we found ourselves in a village along an inner valley floor on the inside of the island.  It was really neat how the valley was quite skinny, yet it was all cultivated for farming and a small community had risen up there.  We parked our bikes and proceeded on a 45 minute trek through the jungle.  It was an easy hike and we got to go through a cave and then climb up some pretty steep limestone rocks.  We reached the top after only 10 minutes of ascent and we were able to look back behind us over the jungle canopy or forward and see the valley floor with the little village below us.

The guy in the straw hat is Dang!  Our excellent tour guide

After a short break and some riddles from Dang we climbed back down the other side and walked back to the village to get our bikes for the bike back to the boat.  We biked back along the same trail, yet it felt different because you're seeing everything from the opposite direction :)

Back at the boat we ate another lunch of veggies, spring rolls, shrimp, and roasted fish.

Dang then gave us the option to do more kayaking or go to a beach.  Most people wanted to go to the beach for a swim (including me) so we cruised for 15 minutes or so until we came to a really small beach on some random island.  Noone else was on it and it was like our own private beach.  Great!  Most of us ended up dipping into the water for a swim and once again, the water was nice and cool and the scenery magnificent.  After my 10 minutes of swimming I layed on the beach and got a bit of a tan.  I think this would be my first time getting a tan in December.

our private beach!

After an hour at the beach we got back onto our boat and sat on the upper deck for an hour and a half as we cruised the islands towards the main Cat Ba Island Port.  As we grew nearer there was a really massive floating village comprising of over 400 families.  It was quite something to see.  And almost every house had a dog or two.  I wondered where the dogs went to the bathroom...

We reached the port at Cat Ba in due time and departed the boat onto a bus that took us 4km over a small mountain and into the main Cat Ba resort area.  It was a smallish promenade built up along the water with a small bay filled with another floating village.

At the hotel Dang showed us on a map in the lobby the route we had taken during the past 2 days.  I just drew this path on the map in photoshop (it wasn't actually on the map in real life).  It's an approximation of where we went.  The black line is where the main boat took us.  It started at the top of the map and went south.  The purple line was around where we kayaked, the blue dot is where we slept, green line is where we biked, red line is where we took a bus onto Cat Ba Island where this photo is taken in the hotel lobby.

We checked in to our hotel and had free time for the rest of the evening.

For dinner Dang recommended the Green Mango restaurant so that's where we ate our diner.I had my most expensive meal of the trip with the total coming in at a whopping $8.  It was a Spicy Medium Rare Tuna with green mango rice and a mango salsa.  Delicious!

After diner we went to look for a bar to have a drink or two.  We found "Good Bar" and went upstairs for some 75cent beers and free pool.  The place was empty when we arrived but it soon filled up within an hour or so.  Some Vietnamese kids also came in and we watched them play pool after us.

It wasn't all that late but we were tired and had another early morning the next day so we decided to head back to the hotel for some sleep.  Another successful day :D