You know, you sound a lot like you're from Kowloon Bay as opposed to Hong Kong...

Hi!
If you're confused, don't worry about it. Wayne's World. Hi! I'm in Vietnam! We got to Hanoi today, and it's pretty cool. Where did I leave off? Somewhere in Shanghai. Basically we ate our way through Shanghai, and it was delicious. And then we ate our way through Hong Kong.

Hong Kong was cool. First I was impressed with their efficiency-- great train to Kowloon, which is on a different island than the airport. The whole city is islands connected by roads and ferries. The train was so nice, we took it this morning and could acutally check our bags in Kowloon before taking the train to the airport. Efficient and awesome. Since we took the train and then a cab, Jon and I didn't really see the whole city when we first got there. Kowloon is across a harbour from Hong Kong Island, which is the big one. So we walked to the water from our hotel, and it was just mind-blowing. As soon as we could see Hong Kong Island, we were floored by how huge it is. Then we turned a corner and it just kept going... and going. Seriously, it is absolutely massive. I know being all spread along the water helps, and the fact that the steep mountains make all the of the buildings visible, but seriously it is just a giant city. What's cool is that it's still kind of nature-y, too (I mean compared to other giant cities). The water was clear-ish (unlike Shanghai), and we took a tram up to Victoria Peak, where you can get a beautiful view of the city. On the way up, there was dense tropical foliage and lots of birds. From the top, you can see other islands in the distance and it is just stunning to see natural beauty on one side and this incredible man-made feature on the other. I really liked Hong Kong. Also, the food was spectacular. We ate dim sum for like two hours, and ordered three times. I loved it.

My favorite part of Hong Kong, though, was the laser show. Turns out the whole city does a light show around the harbor every night. Let me repeat that for you. The whole city. Does a light show. Every night. It was hysterical! It was like Illuminations at Epcot but on a massive scale. Each building kind of did it's own thing, but it was all set to the same music which we could hear from where we were standing. It was amazing. We might have liked it even better because we had just finished a bottle of wine in like 20 minutes (the place didn't sell by the glass, and obviously we couldn't miss the show), but I think anyone would have been impressed.

Hanoi is pretty, very green, especially compared with like Beijing. The city is very colorful too. Lots of cool cheap things to buy (Jon and I are eying the laquer-ware) and lots going on. The traffic is nuts. We've had some scary street crossings in China, but it had nothing on Vietnam. Friends, guidebooks, and our tour guide have all said the same thing, so it must be true: the only way to cross the street is just go, don't look, and let them avoid you. It's terrifying. Jon and I generally wait for a little break in the traffic to cross, but we crossed with our guide today just walking through all the motorcycles. It's crazy. We haven't gotten hit yet.

So as I mentioned, we have a guide here. Since we are trying to do like five locations in eight days, it seemed to make sense. They did all our airfare and hotels, as well as visas for us, so that's cool. It has made things a little more touristy than we would probably have done on our own, though. We took a "cyclo" tour of the Old Town today, which means we were on little carts pushed by guys on bikes. It was fun, but kind of awkward and very touristy. Interesting, though. We also went to a water puppet show, which is what it sounds like, and which was pretty cool because it involved things like underwater pyrotechnics. I mean little ones, but still. So far it's been a good balance of time with the guide and time on our own. Had a great lunch at a nearby vegetarian restaurant. There is a giant market going on outside our hotel tonight, which might be loud, but was fun to walk through. If you need knock-off Power Ranger action figures, let me know. Or exotic fruits. Or underwear. It's interesting.

Alright, off to bed, we are getting up early so I can go running. I've been doing this program that gets you from running like one minute at a time to running half an hour in two months, running three days a week (I started before I knew we would be doing this trip-- it's been kind of inconvenient.) But tomorrow is my final run! And half an hour is a big deal for me; as most of you know, I'm just not a runner. But I am now! So I am pretty proud. Alright, that's it! Love to everyone and I will keep you posted!