Just an update

Were back in Hanoi from out travels up north. Wow Sapa the mountains were beautiful and we took an overnight train there and back and slept on bunk beds. It was really fun and very interesting to learn about the culture of the Coh Lao people. They are a tribe of 400 people who have lived in the mountains, farming their own food and totally separate from any civilization. They wear traditional costumes. They marry each other based on the year they were born in for example I'm 1981 year of the buffalo. I would need to marry someone who matches my year if I lived in that tribe. Very bizarre. They don't go to the hospital but rather use traditional medicines to heal one another. More than half the kids dont attend school, its their parents choice and often they choose to have their kids help them sell and beg. They walk 12 km to Sapa daily to sell their bags and other useless stuff they make. The interesting thing is that women are the ones who are breadwinners while stay at home to raise the children and farm the land. We noticed that they have a lot of cute puppies running around but very few older dogs. We inquired and wished we didn't. When the dog reaches around 1 years old... yes they eat them.

We then came back Halong Bay. We were on a boat overnight and sailed to an island called Cabata. There we hiked through a few caves that were thousands of years old. We kayaked into a lagoon, and ate a lot of seafood. The trip was really fun except the weather was rainy. Vietnam is a beautiful country but like we mentioned earlier the people are getting to us. So we are happy to leave.

We changed out itinerary because we didn't want to go to Laos, it was difficult to get there from Hanoi and a lot of people had not the best things to say about it. We did hear great things about Bali Indonesia instead. After careful research and budged examination we decided that we can squeeze it in. We booked our tickets to Bali and we are leaving tomorrow. We will have a stop over in Malaysia for a few days in the capitol city Kaula Lampur. We are very excited about these plans and cant wait to get out of here.

Marc and I definately cought the traveling bug. We love it and now just want to go to every country in the world (not on this trip). We met so many people and we learn so much from each person we met. On the boat there was a couple from Poland, they were our age and the girl spoke Russian. She worked in Ukraine and Moscow and told me so much about these countries. I got to speak Russian for the first time on this trip which was amazing and to my surprise I'm still pretty good. We were having a conversation about Poland joining the European union in 2004 and how a lot of Polls (polish people) left the country to work in the United Kingdom. I actually knew from speaking with Irish people we met previously that Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and I was so proud to have such knowledge. I already feel that I have learned so much and grown as an individual on this trip. Besides now we have many places to stay around the world for example: Poland, Denver Colorado, England, and Amsterdam.

We read your emails and we are so happy to hear from you. Please keep them coming. We miss you all terribly and cant wait to come back to the best country in the world!!!