HALLO HALONG!

As luck would have it, a mere week after my harrowing, however un-touristy, jaunt “Up Country,” I had planned possibly the most fantastically touristy weekend of all time for my friend Anne’s visit.

Anne and I were roommates back at Fordham in the infamous suite 17F. Now, I use the term “infamous” lightly. We spent most of our time together in the early morning as she got ready for Yoga and I left for my 5:30am job at Equinox Gym. Sometimes we’d also pass each other during the afternoon, before I took a nap or read something. That’s not to say I wasn’t fun in college! There was one time when Anne came home at 4am to find me laying on the couch in my underwear. When she asked what I was doing, I moaned, “Waiting....”
“Waiting for who?”
I groaned and rolled over to my side.
“Ohhhh...” She said. “Maddie? Are you waiting to throw up?”
I nodded yes.

See! I was fun! I made some bad choices! Don’t let the pictures of me falling asleep on barstools at 11 pm fool you! I was wild!

Currently, Anne is on a Fulbright Fellowship in Thailand, researching Muay Thai boxing.
In college she was an African American studies major and I was a Theatre Performance major. We both hail from Pennsylvania and love the Pittsburgh Steelers. How the hell either of us ended up living in Southeast Asia is beyond me, but alas here we are.



And there we went: Ha Long Bay! Ha Long Bay is a Unesco World Heritage site and is currently lobbying for a position as one of the “7 Wonders of the World,” or so the billboard saying “VOTE FOR US!” attests. I didn’t believe this, thinking, “Whatchya gonna do Ha Long, beat up the Taj Mahal?” But apparently it’s true! Ha Long Bay is indeed nominated to become one of the New 7 Wonders of “Nature.” Vote today! (I did). http://www.new7wonders.com/



You could call Ha Long a tourist trap, but it’s legitimately fun so you don’t mind being trapped there. Also, even during a cold and rainy weekend, its quite beautiful with 1,969 limestone islands. Some of the islands also have some awesome caves, like “Surprising Cave,” which we of course visited, in all its neon-lit glory.

We stayed overnight on a junk (i.e. boat) called the Hanoi Opera. There are hundreds of these Junks around the bay, each reminiscent of French Colonial Viet Nam. Ours even went so far as showing “Indochine” starring Catherine Deneuve on the big screen. It was pure-touristy goodness, and I loved every minute.





Well, almost every minute. The last day I started having tummy trouble--just like a real tourist! I think it was the squid. This happens about once a month, and I take it as my digestive systems’ way of reminding the rest of my constitution that despite living here for 6 months, its meat and potato upbringing in no way prepared it for life in the bowels of Asia, pun intended. What can I do?