When I was a lost baby freshman at the U of O, not knowing if I really belonged there, not sure if the people around me were people I wanted in my life, not knowing at all what my future held, the universe introduced me to my soul's other half—Miss Bridget Merriam. I had never met such an inspirational person, living with so much joy and passion and an addictive adventurous spirit. When I think back to our friendship at that time, we were already set on traveling and climbing and adventuring the world together. Well it took us four years from those early days, but we finally made it happen!

I caught a late flight to Bangkok from Cambodia the day before Bridget's flight arrived. I talked to her in Siem Reap the night before while she was in SF for a layover. I wouldn't see her for 24 hours from then... She had a long travel time to make it over to this side of the world.

But she made it!!! I awaited her at the airport (the sign is a joke from our favorite movie, Bridesmaids) and I can't even explain my joy for the moment when I could finally embrace this beautiful human. 

We caught up as we took the skytrain through the Bangkok skyscrapers to the hostel, where our friend Audrey was awaiting us! She was on holiday from her job in Chiang Mai and overlapped with us in BKK for a couple days :)

That night we got dressed up in an attempt to go to a fancy rooftop bar, but when we made it to one (okay it was the tallest one) we were informed that it was over 1,200 Baht (over $35 USD) to even go up to the restaurant/bar, so we opted for a cheaper option. After dinner, we all had our first Khao San Road experience. This is the craziest road in Bangkok, closed to vehicles at night, and open to bars and vendors and tattoo shops and neon lights and drinks and fried bugs and plenty of drunk white people. We grabbed road beers at a 7-11 and dared to eat a scorpion on a stick! Crunchy, freaky, and just gross... but when in Bangkok !

We were all pretty overwhelmed from the craziness, and I knew it was a lot for Bridget's first few hours on this side of the world, so we went back to the hostel for the night.

The next day, we had a yummy breakfast then met some nice fellas at the hostel who were going to a swimming pool in a park downtown and invited us along. We took a water taxi to meet them there, only to find the pool was closed. So we just wandered the park and soaked up some peace and nature.

Audrey had heard about this condom-themed restaurant for safe sex awareness, called Cabbages & Condoms ("birth control should be as accessible as vegetables in the market") so we went and tried it out. The food was incredible, and we splurged on the best dessert EVER—mango sticky rice (and ice cream). YUM.

We ran into the guys back at the hostel and went out as a big group onto Khao San Road. We went a little wild with the beers and buckets, but it made for a fun night out, and a funny hungover breakfast the following morning. We did a little exploring and shopping and relaxing that day before leaving to catch an evening flight down to Krabi. We got into Krabi Town, found a hostel and crashed for the night.

In the morning we did a little yoga on the balcony, ate a yummy breakfast, and wandered down to the pier to catch a boat to Railay. Our destination was Tonsai—a little climber's heaven, located one beach over from the resorty Railay Beach. After our boat to Railay we took another quick one over to Tonsai!

This beach is one of those picture-perfect Thai locations, with the karst towers and blue water and longtail boats, and the added attraction here is all the bronzed, fit climbers scaling the rocks all along the beach :)

We walked the path up to some bungalows where our friend Zach was staying and booked a few nights in a simple little bungalow.

We met up with Zach and another American, Kaleb, who he met there the day before (so many Americans on Tonsai!), and we clinked some beers before setting out on a little adventure. On the far side of Railay there is a steep hike up to a lagoon and viewpoint, so we went adventuring!

Zach checking out a big ol' tree on the hike-

Adventure babe on the steep descent down into the lagoon-

Found a cool roof in a cave next to the lagoon to soak it all in!

After a mud fight and a swim, we climbed back up and caught a beautiful light on the landscape from the viewpoint.

That night we met up with a couple of Kaleb's friends for dinner and pool and drinks and a little star-gazing to cap off the night. I was feeling some pain in my lower back that night but assumed by morning it would be fine... Not so much. I could hardly use my back muscles I had such intense pain. Sitting up at breakfast was hard. Finding a comfortable position laying down was hard. I attributed it to some combination of yoga and boat rides and steep hikes the day before, but the pain really was a mystery. After resting, and Tylenol and tiger balm, I gained some strength to meet up with friends at the beach to swim (which helped take a little weight off my back muscles).

That evening we headed down to the beach for a little sunset climb sesh!

Not a bad approach :) I didn't climb because I was still hurting, but I was a great cheerleader and photographer!

This place is really heaven on earth, and basically what Bridg and I had been dreaming of for years. 

Our new friends spoke so highly of a deep water soloing outing they did with Basecamp on Tonsai that Zach, Bridget, and I booked on to the next day's trip! (DWS is climbing up a rock face over a deep body of water with no ropes/protection.. yeee)

Luckily my back was starting to feel better when I woke up that day! We set out in the morning on a boat to the first climbing spot which had a traverse and a few fun routes which we got to play around on, and then there were some taller routes that these crazy Thai guides just flew up, barefoot, pausing to hold on with one hand/foot, or to do a massive jump from insane heights.. So damn impressive!  

We had such a blast, the climbing wasn't too challenging and falling in was equal parts scary and refreshing and FUN!

After that we stopped at a private beach for lunch, fresh fruit, and snorkeling! Had too much fun being goofballs with everyone 😜

The afternoon was another round of soloing at a slightly more chalenging spot with higher jumps. Bridget and I did our last jump of the day in together!

(spot the climber)

After getting back to Tonsai, we caught a motorbike cart ride back to Basecamp, and Bridget found herself a Thai boyfriend ;)

One of the coolest things about Thailand is the free fire shows every night. Our bungalows had a bar that opened up to a big sandy area lined with platforms for hanging out and hammocks and a slackline. Around 9 every night, the bar would crank up the music and the most incredible fire dancers would come out and put on an unbelievable show. They each had a different style, and the last guy to go on was honestly too talented for words. I'll never be as good at anything as he was at throwing fire!

After signing off on an adventurous and beautiful few days on Tonsai, we set sail for the island Koh Phi Phi located about 3 hours south of the mainland by boat. Kaleb is a teacher in Thailand and worked his magic to get us a discount at a nice hostel on the east end of the main beach. We took some power naps then rallied up a hike to a beautiful view over the whole island!

Dream team right dere. That night we grabbed some yummy Indian food and drinks from 7-11 and started the craziness. We played King's Cup with some girls at our hostel and proceeded to have one of the wildest night of my life! Just looking down the beach from our balcony we knew it was going to be a party. All the bars have blaring music and crazy lights and either a massive jump rope or limbo stick (sometimes on fire, of course) which all the foreigners flock to and drunkenly try to participate in. One small Thai guy limbo-ed under the pole with massive Kaleb on his lap! Haha and Bridget and I were killin it at the partner jump rope. At some point a man gave me this sweet neon body paint design on my chest and neck? Thailand...

 In the background of all of this was people dancing on platforms and fire dancers, and beyond that the ocean and fishing boats and stars! And naturally we had to go for a swim :)

After only a few hours of sleep, and a much needed breakfast (eggs and rice❤️), Bridget and I hopped on a boat for an adventure day! This was our crazy Burmese guide, he grew on us throughout the day. He also said his name was Richard... ehhh not sure about that one.

We all did a jump from this rock into the ocean. "Richard" pointed the girls to a jump spot that was shorter than the main jump spot and Bridget at I were like -yeah right- and jumped form the "guys" spot. Yee!

We stopped at Monkey Beach where Bridg was united with her soulmates!

Then we cruised over to the southern Phi Phi Island to check out Maya Beach where "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed! We arrived at the same time as a rainstorm, so we huddled together on the boat and ate some lunch while we waited for the storm to roll by.

The rain scared off all the people leaving us with a beautiful unobstructed view! We also saw this massive school of fish (left side of the picture), and behind us was the start of a beautiful sunset.

Our next stop was sunset snorkeling!

Looking down, you could see beautiful fish and coral, then looking up you see this dazzling sunset... One of those -how did I get here- moments! 

But the coolest thing was yet to come—we cruised into a hidden bay after it was completely dark out so that we could see the bioluminescent plankton all around us! If you've never had the chance to do this, you have to.. it's honestly too magical to describe. I had done this once before in Mexico, and it's such an amazing and memorable phenomenon. Every time you move your arm/leg/anything underwater, thousands of these little plankton light up for a second! I grabbed some snorkel gear and watched the illumination of the people swimming from underwater... TOO COOL! 

We rode back into the bay under the stars and grabbed some subpar Western food with some friends we met on the boat. We watched the Songkran holiday slowly begin to kick off on the island. Songkran is a widely celebrated Thai holiday for the country's new year, and it is officially my new favorite holiday! Everyone celebrates by essentially having one massive water fight, and it lasts for 3-4 days in most cities! So even though it was the night before it technically began, the locals all were equipped with water guns already and were firing away. 

We went down to the beach that night to find it even more wild than the night before... There were blow up bouncy castles and mechanical bulls in addition to the normal jump roping/limboing, and everyone had caught on to the water fight memo so needless to say, we were immeditely soaked. It was so much fun though, everyone just turned into kids again, and anytime the music beat would drop, the crowd erupted with screams and water! 

The next morning we were planning on catching a 10am ferry back to Krabi, where we'd be taking an overnight bus, and even though we ran from our hostel to the pier, we missed it by a hair and had to hang around until the next one left at 1pm. But how can you be upset when you are causing so much joy for little children with squirt guns? (Plus it was a good excuse to grab a little hair-of-the-dog)

We caught our ferry and sailed through a crazy rainstorm, took a fun taxi ride to the Krabi bus station (everyone on the sides of the street were spraying and dumping buckets on the car!), and settled in to our seats for the night. The bus was even playing the new Transformers movie!!! Granted, it was all dubbed in Thai, but I was still stoked.

We pulled into somewhere in Bangkok around 4am and deliriously tried to find a decently priced taxi to the hostel. Some incredibly nice Burmese man asked us if we were headed to Khao San area, and that he was too and would share a taxi with us. He worked so hard to find us one that would take us there (it was a crazy party there that all taxis were avoiding apparently), and eventually he convinced one. Then when we got there, he insisted on paying! Such a kind act, especially in our current state. 

We made it to Born Free Hostel, where we couldn't check in until 1pm, but luckily they have a big lounge area with comfy mats and pillows, so we promptly fell asleep and dozed there on and off until the sun was well up. It was already madness outside when we made a mad dash for food. Zach, Bridget, and I bought guns and took to the madness with our pal Seb who we met the last time we were in Bangkok. We got pulled into the hoards of people and started spraying/getting sprayed like crazy. They also have a tradition where they smear a white paste made of water and chalk or flour on everyone's face. SO within minutes we were drenched and covered in this white paste, and we were lovin every second of it. Everyone really just turns into a child and we had countless fun interactions with smiley locals!

We rested that evening then started gearing up for round two. We basically wore dresses over swimsuits because we knew we'd be soaked immediately anyways. We went out on Khao San Road to find it just as crazy, if not crazier, past dark. We danced and sprayed and danced and made friends and at some point I was crowd surfing(?!!), ahah it was such a blast!

The next day we were a little low energy from the craziness so we relaxed and then took a water taxi downriver to visit the "Ghost Tower" at sunset! This skyscraper has been abandoned for years and is now an incredible spot to see all of Bangkok from, if you're up for the climb up the 50 flights of stairs.

We made it up just in time to see the sun setting!

And to enjoy a well-deserved Chang :)

We stayed up there taking it all in for a while... The sky bar with the gold dome in this picture is the roof where a scene in the Hangover 2 was filmed-

From there we caught the skytrain to an area called Silom in search of a skybar, and instead we were met with more Songkran craziness! (I love this picture of Zach haha)

When we stepped off the train, we heard loud music and screams and then saw this sea of humans, covering a six lane road for as far as you could see in either direction!

We jumped into the madness again, geting soaked and plastered all over again! We even stopped at a bar to get drinks and were sprayed at constantly there as well. After the celebrations subsided a bit, we headed back towards the hostel for the evening. 

The next day was the day I was dreading- Bridget was flying home at 11:00 that night. I went in the morning to the Vietnam Embassy to appy for my visa, and when I got back to the hostel I had a frantic message from her that her flight was actually at 11am! She missed it, but she got back from breakfast with Zach and told me she talked to the airline and she would be have to catch the next available flight back to Portland, which was 5 days later.

WHOOPS, but honestly not that whoops, because these things seem to happen for a reason. Bridget told all the people back home who she needed to about the change in her arrival, and we got to spend another 24 hours together before I was hopping on a plane to Hanoi, Vietnam.

Something that Bridget and I had been talking about since Peter's passing was getting a tattoo while we were together in Thailand. When he was there he got one, and Bridget and I have always wanted to get tattoos, so we knew it was the right thing and started brainstorming for a few months. We almost would not have gotten them if not for her missing her flight, so we spent our last day together finalizing our designs and making an appointment at BKK Tattoo off of Khao San Road. 

We decided on simple small tattoos of the paw prints of our spirit animals—a wolf for Bridget and a fox for me. Each only took about 15 minutes for the entire process, and while it was definitely painful, it almost hurt in a good way. We held hands through it all and celebrated with some drinks afterwards. 

These symbolize our friendship, our adventures, our forever wild side. And having this to look at while I dragged myself away from Bridget and Zach to catch my flight to Vietnam was possibly the only thing that enabled me to leave. Having her with me on this journey was more special and necessary and amazing than I could have ever imagined. She helped me to feel reset and motivated to live fully during these last few weeks of my travels. And now we're already planning our next destinations together! Adventure awaits us, always. Thank you Bridget, I love you ❤️❤️❤️

I don't know how I ever thought I could skip Vietnam on this trip... I have never felt more reaffirmed to be somewhere than I did arriving in Hanoi. Well, my first few hours here were a blur due to the overnighter I pulled to catch my early flight. Which was possibly one of the worst flights I've ever had, but I won't dwell in that. I grabbed a sandwich and took a $2 (40,000 Dong) shuttle into the Old Quarter in Hanoi. I b-lined it to a hostel so I could finally catch some Z's!

I woke up around 4pm and was finally ready to start my day! I grabbed an iced coffee and started walking around this big beautiful lake in the heart of the city. 

Within the hour I spent there, a beautiful local girl asked to take my picture, a young student asked if he could have a conversation with me to practice his English, and, my favorite of all, an old woman walking with her friends reached down to hold my hand as we lined up to cross the street! I was absolutely beaming at this gentle gesture as we giggled and crossed the street in one long, diverse chain. Wow, Vietnam you know how to welcome a girl!
 
And don't even get me started on the food!! I met up with a friend I met two months ago in Pai and she showed me to one of her favorite Vietnamese restaurants, and we feasted! 

Pho, spring rolls, rice with veggies and fried fish, cashew chicken stir fry... All of which was the best I'd ever tasted. Then to cap it off we walked around the lake to a delicious ice cream place and enjoyed some coconut ice cream and live music. 

The next day, I found the highly-recommended Zenith Yoga & Cafe, which was a dangerous discovery for me because I hardly felt the need to leave there for the next few days. Aaand it was pretty expensive.. but so entirely worth it. Check out these mango avocado spring rolls!

Sooo good. Plus free tea whenever you visit. And that evening they had a donation-based meditation class, but no one else showed up, so the teacher let me just have the studio to myself 😊

Iended up taking them up on their buy-two-get-one-free yoga class deal, so I found some much needed serenity at this point in my travels.

That night I tried to meet up with a friend, and in a attempt to find wifi, I made a new friend who I ended up hanging out with that night, and the next day, and the whole next week after that as we traveled to Cat Ba Island and Sa Pa!

Caitlin and I realized our travel plans were similar in regards to time frame and places we wanted to visit, so we became temporary travel buddies. I have gone through so many travel dynamics during my travels—being in new groups/by myself/with friends from home/with new friends—and each has taught me different things about myself. I had a tendedncy with new people I had met throughout my travels to only spend a limited time with them before distancing myself once again to be on my own. But now that it is towards the end of this journey I realized how nice (and often convenient) it is to travel with someone else. 

Caitlin and I's first stop on Cat Ba Island (after a bowl of pho) was Asia Outdoors, a climbing/adventure company that would be the source of all of our amazing experiences that week. They gave us info on climbing, where to stay on the island, where to eat, and where we could catch the best views of the island. We checked into a hostel then hiked up to a beautiful viewpoint of the island for the sunset!

A little further hike, with 360 views, was to an old fort on top of the island. We decided to wake up nice and early and hike that one for the sunrise! Since it was overcast there wasn't a distinct sunrise, but it was still beautiful to be up there in the morning and to scope out the bay where we'd be living the next couple days.

Yep, we booked an overnight trip with Asia Outdoors and made this beautiful bay our home! After some breakfast (pho) we caught a small boat over to the Asia Outdoors boat. WOO!

We passed the most beautiful karst formations in the background of colorful boats and floating villages. We even saw dogs and cats living out on these homes floating in the middle of the water... hmm.

Our crazy climber guide, Vu!

Once we got there, we had a delicious lunch and a beer, then shuttled over to an island with some awesome rock climbing on the beach. I think I climbed 5 out of 6 routes on Moody Beach, thanks to the belays by the staff guys. It felt so good to be back in a harness and on some nice rock, plus the views didn't hurt!

And made a sweet lil friend, she was only 10 and was climbing for her hirst time! She didn't make it up on her first attempt and was pretty upset, but to everyone's surprise she gave it another go and made it! I did my best to congratulate her in broken French haha. Then we bonded and exchanged shells and emails, it was adorable.

The big boat dropped off the other folks who were just on for the day, and Caitlin and I transferred onto this huge, nice boat which we would have all to ourselves for the night! One of the staff accompanied us as well, and the three of us had so much fun. 

We sailed out to the middle of Lan Ha Bay, where we parked against the floating house (?) of some local fishermen. We had a delicious Vietnamese dinner, beers, then joined the locals for tea and tobacco and green mango. 

After it was plenty dark, we hopped into some kayaks and went night kayaking in the bay! We maneuvered between shrimping boats and karst towers, ending up in a dark bay where we could see more of my favorite little bioluminescent plankton! Every paddle stroke lit up the water beneath us, and if I splashed it looked like I just threw glow in the dark paint out into the water or something.. So indescribably cool!

We had the option to sleep out on the top deck, which we obviously opted for, and we hung out there and talked under the stars until we all drifted off to sleep. Waking up to the early morning light on the bay was possibly the most beautiful sight I'll ever wake up to. Wow... Not a bad start to another amazing day.

We were served breakfast then took the boat back to the island where we'd switch boats again to go on the original one with new people for a full day of kayaking! Out in the bay again, we slipped into tandem kayaks and our fearless leader Luca took us to some beautiful nooks and crannies. 

We went back to the boat for a delicious lunch (theme of good food throughout all of Vietnam) and went swimming (jumping from the top deck of course!)

We also got to play around on some SUPs which made my whole day complete! I learned how to do a rescue flip, and a 180 turn, and showed off some yoga moves on the board (before falling in, repeatedly)!

We then sailed up to the north part of the bay for some even more magical kayaking!

We passed massive jellyfish and found ourselves in these incredible tucked away coves where we swear mermaids lived. It was all so unbelievably beautiful, and I was in complete denial about leaving (yes, leaving a boat to go onto an island).

The following day we rolled out of bed for some breakfast, then rented motorbikes to explore the island. On our way out we luckily ran into our new friend Julian, who gave us the locals tour de Cat Ba (he'd been living and working on the island for about 10 months so he had the best suggestions!) 

We explored this awesome cave and dodged bats and did some completely silent sensory deprivation.

 Then we stopped somewhere and explored up and down a dried up river bed full of crazy insects. After that Julian took us to a yummy local restaurant where we got some power food before heading to the island's National Park for an evening hike. Even biking around was a beautiful adventure in itself! I've completely fallen in love with the 

We started around 5 and sent the hike in about half the time than expected, putting us at the top of this peak before sunset. We got to enjoy a beautiful sunset all to ourselves and played around with echoes and pictures

Riding home in the dark was a little sketchy though (I think I killed a rat that ran out in front of my bike).

The next day we had planned to go to Sapa, a cool mountain town up near the Chinese border, but we heard the weather was iffy (plus we wanted to climb more!) so we postponed our journey there by a day. We met up with some climber boys and rode out to Butterfly Valley, the beautiful crag on the western side of the island. 

First thing, they had me lead up a route so I got any nerves out real quick. The next one Julian led up barefoot, so naturally I wanted to try it barefoot as well! Such a cool feeling to have that direct contact with the rock—plus this route had a tree growing out of the rock about halfway up making it equal parts rock/root/branch climbing! SO FUN :)

Next we chilled out and napped and watched other climbers and jammed, then went to a different area and I led up another climb and then finished off the day with a 6b (European ratings...)

We rode back at dusk and shared a delicious hot pot for dinner, plus some tea with the restaurant owner.

 Then we tried Xem Soi (mango sticky rice and coconut ice cream!) at a little local place.. SO good. Afterwards we got cleaned up for our final night on the island and first went to the Good Bar, to find that everyone was going out to a nightclub! The island has one nightclub that was pretty small but so loud and crazy with techno music and lights and dancers, plus every table had a large bowl of assorted fruit to snack on. Totally normal... I turned it into a low-key food fight haha

We rode out to the hotel where the Asia Outdoors staff all live, which is right in the harbor of Lan Ha Bay. We ended up putting crash pads and blankets and pillows out on the roof and just sleeping there! Which made for another epic wake-up view, I greeted the sun with some yoga! Then slept a little while longer :)

That day we finally packed up and somehow turned down offers to staff and work at Asia Outdoors as we were saying goodbye. We caught a bus at noon to a ferry, to a bus to the town nearby, where we caught another bus to Hanoi, where we caught our final bus up to Sapa! I don't really fit anywhere in Asia, sleeper buses included. I always end up in a little ball and hope for the best. I think I slept for maybe 3 hours total before rolling into Sapa. 

When we got off the bus at about 5am we were totally disoriented, my map app listed the bus station in the wrong place, so we just wandered and tried to cross reference street names, before finally stopping for some breakfast and then finding wifi (and coffee) which set us right.

Sapa Town was beautiful and just got us qso excited to explore the surrounding mountains. We headed past all the women (asking to take us on treks) to an organization I was recommended called Sapa O'Chau.

SOC educates and employs local village children and families, plus they are super helpful to visitors. We were presented with a few options for trekking and decided on a 2-day trek that promised nice views and a homestay with some villagers. We saw this sign on the wall in their cafe, and he ended up being our guide!

Nha was our awesome 19-year-old guide from the local CatCat Village, and he knew the area back and forth. We set out with two other Americans and began following our guide up a steep hill. We got to a lookout back towards the highest peak in Indochina, called Mt. Fansipan (it was a bit cloud-capped that day though).

We continued along winding village paths past children and farm animals and rice farmers and women in beautiful handmade garments. We then hiked up over a ridge to the next valley, through a bamboo forest!

The whole time Nha was telling us about the local villages and pointing out farming techniques and crazy insect species and how to correctly say hi to the locals in their language(s)... He's the best.

We made it to a spot with the MOST incredble view in the whole area, and posted up for lunch and lots of gazing out into the beautiful Muong Hoa Valley.

After about an hour, we got our feet under us again and started the second half of the day towards our homestay. I immediately saw a 3+ foot long snake winding up the ditch to the left of the path from me and watched it crawl under a rock. We traversed past a few creeks, one where this woman was washing clothes as children played in the waterfall above.

We also saw these MASSIVE water buffalo everywhere... Rough life huh?

:D

After an entire day on our feet, we finally made it to our homestay! It was much nicer and more spacious than I had imagined, and the hosts were so kind. We were greeted with tea and CHAIRS! So grateful to be off my feet.

Before dinner, we went up to a waterfall a short hike from the home and caught some beautiful evening light on the valley.

Caitlin got a picture of me and my new friends...

We returned to the family preparing us the most elaborate dinner!

There were spring rolls, chicken and veggies, sautéed morning glory, bamboo shoots, tofu and tomatoes, pork and peppers, this sweet delicious pumpkin mash, all served over rice. YUM yum yummma!

Before we began, the parents explained that their family is Christian and pray before meals, so the father said a prayer in the local village language, H'Mong. I thought it was so cool that even in the remote village we were in, this family converted to Christianity (they said they heard about God about 11 years prior and were Christian from then on out). They didnt drink, but the others at the table kept the rice wine drinks coming. The Vietnamese like to stop about ever 10 bites and cheers these little rice wine glasses and take a drink together, such a fun tradition! Got me a nice little buzz going before I crashed super hard, falling asleep to the sound of the rain and insects all around us.

I was slightly worried that we would face rain the next day, but we woke up to beautiful blue skies—even more clear than the previous day! Oh and pancakes and fruit :) Nha warned us that we had a big uphill section to start the day, but I was feeling great. We hiked up and up and up this rocky trail for an hour or two to another beautiful viewpoint! We were across and down from the lunch spot the previous day, and I could make out in the distance where we were the previous day. We had come such a far way wowow.

My man!

Traversing through the rice paddies was a highlight of the day :) and these kiddos riding a buffalo!

 The scenery was too gorgeous for words, I will urge anyone planning on traveling in SE Asia to include Northern Vietnam in their itinerary... It is so, so worth it.

Nha pointed out some graves as we passed by, grouped based on family, and facing East keeping their spirits alive. A good reminder of the one certainty we have in life...

For lunch, we stopped at a different homestay where Nha made us some noodles and eggs. A woman was staying there as she was working on a book about handicrafts of ethnic minority people in the area, and she had some great suggestions for places to visit even more north and east of Sapa. Already looking forward to exploring this part of the world more.

From there we had our final hike out of the valley, a bittersweet but relieving ending to lots of hours and kilometers of trekking!

When we got into town we needed to find a hotel for the night, but little did we know there was a big Vietnamese holiday about to happen and every single hotel in the entire town was booked. WHOOPS. We talked to the girls at SOC and some of them gave us helpless looks. Caitlin talked to a few more who made some calls, and finally were kind enough to offer us one of their beds in their staff dorms (they would share one, and we could share one). It was such an incredibly kind gesture, because we really were kinda screwed without them. 

On top of that they invited us to a staff hot pot dinner and afterwards a surprise birthday party/karaoke celebration! I don't know how these things come to happen, but hey that's the travel life for ya. We had cake and drank beer and did our best singing and dancing to quite the variety of Vietnamese and Western songs!

After a few hours of that we all wandered to some small place for tea and snacks. That's another great thing about Vietnam—their drunchies are sliced cucumber and mango with tea. We need to bring that one back to the states!

We caught a taxi back to their housing and fell asleep to the sound of the rain. In the morning we walked back to SOC where our stuff was, and Caitlin and I had to say our goodbyes! :( She was headed on to Laos and I was going back to Hanoi. The bus ride down to Hanoi had some incredible scenery... So glad I got to see it all in the light of day.

When I got back into Hanoi, the bus essentially circled the whole city for an hour and didn't stop anywhere near the Old Quarter. Finally at the bus station I got out and just started asking about local buses to the Old Quarter, and was pointed to bus 15—no 21—no, 34, you need to be on bus 34—and somehow that process brought me right to where I needed to be for 7,000 Dong (about 30 cents, significantly less than a taxi would have been). It's pretty cool to see how comfortable I've become with travel and communication and overall independence in the last 5 or so months. There is no way I would have opted into that interaction at the start of my trip, but I guess this is one of the many ways I have grown throughout these travels.

So that holiday I mentioned? It was for the 40th Anniversary of the Reunification of Vietnam (the day the Vietnamese "won" the American War), so it was interesting to be there for it, and definitely gave reason for celebration. The fact that I could peacefully experience some incredible times in this country that in my parent's lifetime we were at war with... That's some impressive progress. It makes me want to treat foreigners with more openness and warmth once I'm back stateside. 

That night they had a beautiful firework show over the lake that I first visited in Vietnam... full circle!