Sapa, the town up in the north of Vietnam. Famous for the staggered rice paddies.

Renting a scooter was the best idea ever! Me and my travel buddy visited a waterfall;

After the waterfall; had some lunch and went the other way, some roads where really really impossible to drive but I managed to keep the scooter going.

The weather was not as bad as expected. Although today it is pretty bad; so I’m heading back to Hanoi to get south to see the sun as soon as possible.

So the plan is to go to Hanoi at 9:30 and sleep there one night and go to Paradise caves (in phong nha) Then continue south and follow the sun.

Until the next post!

Sooo… This isn’t gonna be a long post because I have to catch a bus in a bit. Crazy as I just came off a party island / booze cruise and am catching a bus to Sapa in a bit (3hours)

Backpacking can be hectic I guess, but its great fun in the end. The island was filled with ppl from “stralya” and the accent is pretty bad ha-ha.

Ha long was really nice, kayaking and I did my first ever wakeboarding… Got up at the fist get-go and then lasted for 10minutes jumping wakes and avoiding boats. Even the Vietnamese driver was surprised; me as well… But I’d recon that’s pretty common… I suck at ballsports but am a natural at all on water or requires balance.

I hope Sapa is less hectic so I can update this post a bit and get a good rest tomorrow…

— update from Sapa:

So ha long bay… What can I say. A bit of a mix between bootcamp and spring break. If you got caught using the words “ten” or “mine” you had to do T-E-N pushups…

So that was pretty funny, people getting down for pushing up regularly; in the mid of the dancefloor, in a kayak on the beach. There was a group of “shakas” from Australia that had to do all kinds of challenges.

– 1 before 9, 11 before 1.
– sleep with a tour guide
– little spoon a stranger
– get naked

Just to name a few; and most of em had them checked off already. The booze ran out on our cruise because of the insane amount of liver bashing being done. But in the end a great experience I didn’t want to have missed out on.

See you soon!

Yo people,

I will be off the radar for the next 3 days, so probably no internet thus no updates…. Ineke sorry I missed your call!

Off to ha long bay in 4 hours!

XXX j

Hello all,

Yesterday was crazy (like always here in Party Hostel Hanoi)
I finally decided i got accustomed to the Asia atmosphere and after booking one more night again (because i don’t want to leave tomorrow at 6:00) i’ve booked a 3day 2 night trip to Ha long bay (Castaways, again some sort of party tour… but hey, what’s life without a party?!?).

I kind of like all the crazy people i met so i’ll be hanging with them for a bit longer.

After that i’ll be returning to Hanoi and then i’m planning to head south.

Ha Long Bay Trip starts at 19 JAN

-xxx- Jay (as Jeroen is not pronouncable, Toi La J(ay)

Firsts firsts firsts….

All new experiences….

Learn to backpack is quite the challenge i’ve noticed… and ofcourse as a backpack virgin; i brought too much stuff, but it’s still manageble.

So that’s why it feels like im back at school. the tour though hanoi (by the hostel) was cancelled today, but that didn’t stop me. I met Trang during breakfast. Trang is a vietnamese girl who took me though Hanoi, which is a really good experience with a local (probably even better than the guided tour by a westy already stuck here for a few years)

We’ve gone to St. Josephs Church and walked around Hanoi for a bit. Then it was time to get street smart. Trang learned me everything about prices, good shops, bad shops and … mostly FOOD!

We started off with a Hanoi beer, Fryed Banana Cake and fryed potato cake. Walked a bit more, then went for some Pho (pronounded Fur, like `vieze Fur`) which is noodle soup (with beef)

After that it was time for a Egg yoak coffee (with condensed milk) and my first vietnamese lesson.

Now i’m back at the hostel, now for the hard part… Where to go next???

I’ll probably extend my stay in Hanoi for a day because i’m still getting used to Asia and Backpacking… the jetlag doesn’t help either. But who knows… i might meet some new people and change my plans (which is happening constantly)

Let’s see if i can contact NL for some personal updates via Skype or Viber.

Keep you updated