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Published: February 13th 2008
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Halong and Hang Sung Sot cave Leaving Hanoi early (Blog:
Hanoi), we headed by road for the 100km+ journey to the coastal Halong City, taking in the views of daily Vietnamese life along the way. We stopped for a break at a slightly tacky/touristy shop along the way (along with several other bus loads) which sold various Vietnamese arts and crafts; I wouldn't exactly save your Dong for this visit if you are on the same Intrepid Tour that we were on! As we closed in on Halong, we passed countless stalls all selling pineapples. In fact they all looked so samey, I couldn't imagine how they'd all make a living from this. There was nothing to persuade anyone to stop at one over the other. Perhaps this, along with the star and sickle flags we'd seen now and then throughout Vietnam, were the only ocassional reminders that we were in a Communist country.
Eventually we arrived at the busy Marina and boarded our boat, setting sail with a leisurely lunch. The limestone cliffs we expected to see soaring out of the sea in this World Heritage zone were soon on the horizon. It brought back memories of our honeymoon
in Krabi - it is gorgeous. As we sailed in towards Hang Sung Sot cave in the calm waters, the views all around were particularly stunning. As we moored, the Tourism Police had it in for our guide, Quan. They demanded to see his papers and prevented him from entering the caves with us - enter the group's new guides, Sally and I! We left Quan behind to argue his case, leading the way through the illuminated limestone caves. Sally wasted no time in leading us on to the new sight that was before us...the glowing 'penis rock'! The caves were certainly a worthwhile diversion.
On our way out the caves, we dodged a couple of random vendors with stalls set up (largely full of tat) and went off in search of Quan and our boat. Finding he hadn't been incarcerated by the Tourism Police, we set sail for Cat Ba island. The limestone cliffs continued to serenely roll on by in plentiful supply, as did the stunning views which these create. As we drew closer to Cat Ba we passed floating villages reminiscent of Tonle Sap in Cambodia (blog:
A fascinating journey through Cambodia begins : Angkor).
Cat Ba Island By the time we
arrived at our hotel it was sunset. A fustratingly slow internet cafe session later and we all went out to a restaurant overlooking Cat Ba Harbour, which was pretty average.
The next morning we set off for the National park for a hike to the top of a hill and back! The trouble was, we had very limited clothing and footwear options with us (we'd been told literally to bring an overnight bag and not a lot more). The problem with this was that the hike was actually very uneven and rocky; trainers or walk boots were needed. Half our group only had flip-flops though, which made things pretty hard going at times.
On the return journey to the hotel, we just about had time for a brief visit to Hospital Cave. This cave, a wartime bomb proof military hospital, is hidden away off the main road into the National Park, up in a steep and rocky looking hillside. We were greeted by a man of advanced years in a military uniform. It soon became apparent he expected nothing less than to conduct a tour of his bunker with some discipline...we were his new military recruits and were
Crazy man
The Hospital Cave ordered to stand to his attention! He led us into his world, showing us the various rooms that made up this complex, explaining what went on and how they would have looked. He halted us at one point to sing along with him to an army song and wasn't going to accept anything less than total participation in this by us all! He certainly made it an entertaining tour - without him (and an interpretor), looking around the empty, dark concrete jungle that were the remains of this once military bunker, could have been rather dull. Being guided by this slightly crazy, unpredicatable guy certainly kept my attention!
The public ferry from Cat Ba Aside from Hospital Cave, the journey out of the harbour by public ferry was easily the most memorable part of an unremarkable stay on Cat Ba - but perhaps for all the wrong reasons! Boarding the public ferry at lunchtime, we were the only Westerners on the entire ship. This was fine with us, but clearly wasn't with the locals. The ferry was busy and there were very few spaces left on the benches for us to sit. The fact that a number of the
Vietnamese chose to layout on them didn't help. I targeted an empty space next to a lady and despite noticing no one was appearing very pleased to see us, I headed towards it. Seeing me coming, she swiftly stretched out, putting her feet up on the bench in front and blocking my way through! She really did not want to share the bench with me and was not going to move. I stepped over her anyway and sat down to evil glares from her. Meanwhile, somewhere behind me the others were getting equally frosty welcomings! Sally had a local taking up all her personal space to read the paper! Perhaps they assumed we were Americans (negative feeling isn't far below the surface), but they absolutely were not going to make it easy for us to sit down amongst them. Quan sensed the atmosphere and obviously understood their Vietnamese mutterings enough to take us out and up onto the roof of the Ferry, where we'd be alone. We probably shouldn't have been here, but it was a breath of cooling sea breeze air to escape the uncomfortable atmosphere inside!
As we relaxed on the Ferry roof, trying not to burn
ourselves on the scorching metal, Matt found a good spot to sun bathe, using his overnight bag for a pillow. He was soon joined by a couple of crew members who also decided it was too hot inside. One of them got increasingly close to Matt, to the point where he was sharing Matt's 'pillow'. If this wasn't enough, he then pulled it from under Matt to take it for himself!! In utter disbelief and still reeling from the rude locals inside, he gave his 'pillow' an assertive tug back! The point had been made.
As we reached our destination, we began our exit in true patient, polite English style. We soon found we were shoved out the way by the locals forcing their way past. This was yet a further example of how unwelcoming and rude we'd found many to be in Vietnam. We weren't taking anymore of their rudeness, so pushed back. Afterall, we were bigger than them! Whilst we can laugh about it, along with the Cylco and taxi drivers trying to con us, the laundry stealing our clothes and other unwelcoming behaviour we'd experienced throughout, this had tainted our view and came in stark contrast
to the smiles and laughter that had greeted us in Cambodia 2 weeks earlier.
After one more night in Hanoi, it was time to escape to home away from home...Bangkok.
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