Into the bay

So midday yesterday, I signed up for a boat tour of Ha Long Bay with Hanoi Backpackers' Hostel. I wasn't interested in staying at the hostel, but the main selling point for booking the tour through them was the woman working their tour desk. Her name is Rio. Yep, not sure if she dances on the sand, but she's one of the the nicest and most helpful people I've met on this trip. And all in all, I wanted to book a trip with other fun travelers...and on the bus now, I think it's going to work out.

Jazmine, a Canadian is to my my right, and I don't think I've laughed this hard in months. Next to her is Hadas, an Israeli who just finished her two years in the army. We keep exchanging glances after hearing the words coming out of Jazmine's mouth. She's one of those people who hasn't traveled much yet, or been exposed to much outside of Alberta. Blond-haired, blue-eyed, in school to be a nutritionist, everyone on the bus thought she was from Callie. She's naive and doesn't even know it yet. It's great.

This group is going to be a blast. Several French Canadian girls, several English-speaking Canadians, a dude from Mexico, a Spaniard, a Swiss girl, the Israeli, two Scottish guys, two guys from Philly, and several Brits thrown in for good measure. Getting to know each other, our guide Viet asked us to describe ourselves, maybe what languages we speak, where we're from, etc. Some of us speak several languages, some only one. And then there's another guy from the States, next to last to introduce himself. And here's what he said, "I'm from America. I speak American." I responded, "I'm sorry. Can someone please translate?"