So I know it has been a while since I posted. A lot has been going on.  I guess the start is I crashed. I figure you saw pictures on facebook. I got real lucky and didn’t get hurt as bad as i could have. I spent almost a week in a quiet city called Hoi An, recovering my wounds. And looking for a change of plans

The day before I crashed I was thinking of a post about how wonderful and free it is on the bike. Wind on your face, sun on your back, beauty all around and the badass feeling that comes with speed on a motorcycle. 
Now my bike runs like shit, it pulls to the left and the transmission is shot, but it’s driveable. I spent 75$ to repair it to that shape (a lot of money here, especially since I bought the bike for 260$)  doubt ill be able to sell for more than 100 though. I was not ready to be done with it then but now I am. And I should be in Hanoi in about 2 days to try and sell.

So in Hoi An I left my travel partners, Thomas and Markus, from Denmark and England, they were fun but young. And later traveled with an Auzie, a Dutch and a south African, all very awesome. I had been needing some change because I was starting to not be happy.

I also spend a good amount of time with some Israeli girls. I had a crush on one and we did travel together, but she was not interested in anything sexual. It was very good for me because I am racist against Israelis. All the bombing and ties to America. I talked with her a bit about it and though I didn’t make major changes in my opinion I did make some.  I think both sides of the conflicts need a lot of change. She told me I should identify with Christians since that is the religion I have been around the most. Then she told me she was atheist. Confusing. A cultural jew. It was nice to meet her, Roni. We went into the rice fields and some Vietnamese men took pictures with us and caught a snake next to us without us even noticing. I held it, it was about 1 meter or so. He kept saying “dinner”. And later after the sunset, we were on the beach and some kids were throwing sand at us and we couldn’t make them stop. She got up a grabbed one of them up and spun him around in circles while the other kids just kept throwing sand at her. I sat there laughing better than I have in a while.
So then I went with the the 3 guys from earlier for about 5 days to a farm stay around the Phung Nha national Forrest. A place run by an Auzie and Vietnamese couple, Ben and Bitch (pronounced beeh). They were great and Ben had some good things to say. He said he didn’t identify as an Australian anymore and that they are the new Americans. He said just about every American he met was a good person, probably because world travel is not the norm for us, and we know what the world thinks of us, whereas auzies don’t see when they come off as assholes. There is much more to this conversation but the point is auzies and Americans are very similar, English too. (but auzies give a lot more shit from what Iv seen, “I’m jus takin a piss”)
From there I went on a 2 day 1 night hike with another Australian named Grant. Only the 2 of us committed after 6 or so others himed and hawed. It would be $220 each because of so few people. Way more than I’d usually pay but something about it seemed special. Then in the morning Evan from New York showed up and came with us. He was at the hostel for about 3 minutes before sayin yes, and we left 10 minutes later. The priced dropped to $160. He said a quote “Unusual travel suggestions are dancing lessons from god” -Vonnegut. 
We hiked 9 k into the jungle, through a minority village, the burun-kil tribe of 7 houses and about 35 people. They were nice I’m sure our guides paid them to hang with us but it was cool. Then to the Hang En Swallow cave. Fucking beautiful. We went all the way through to the other side it was around 2 k. Up and down rock hills and across a river that went through it. It was about 100m tall at the highest point. Then we ate a great dinner, some of it caught  in the river. Then we drank rice wine under the moon and ate badly cooked pork belly. And slept in hammocks in the cave. it was amazing. The next day we hiked out. I think it was at least 37 degrees and the last 3k were up a very steep hill. But I lived. Our guide was Mr. Thai, a wonderful man who I’m hoping Ben will start working with and go freelance, where he can make some real money. He told me he makes 150$ a month through the Forrest service. 
So me and Grant are in Ninh Binh now and probably in a few days I’ll get to Hanoi and take care of some business shit like embassies and extending my plane ticket. Then I think back to Saigon, where I will look for a job teaching English, maybe I’ll get lucky, but it’s a long shot. There is also this cute Vietnamese girl I would like to see again. It will be about a 2 month stay in total for Vietnam, not nearly long enough but still good.