Halong Bay

---

Halong Bay

The next morning we were both happy to get out of Hanoi. Fortunately we had a
7:45 AM departure and pick up right from our hotel. Ok, it was actually 8:30 by the time we left, after we had a fresh baguette with jam free at the hotel our mini van arrived. We loaded 12 people in it by the time with left Hanoi, and headed out to Ha Long Bay.

The drive to Ha Long harbor was about 3 hours. It was very interesting to see the countryside in Vietnam. Because we were traveling in a closed and cramped air conditioned van I was unable to take pictures through the window, but I will try to describe it as best I can. The amazing thing was the crazy driving did not stop even on the highway if you wanted to pass a car or bike(lots of bikes) they just do and honk all the way until they are in their own lane again.


But, back to the scenery. Most of the land is used for rice farming, with rice patties everywhere. It is just like you see on TV they are all in boxed off areas of all sizes some square, some rectangular, and some just kind of oval. They are also elevated; they even use the ditches between the roads. The farmers are all wading up to their knees planting their seedlings. They also use water buffalo and pull a plow though the fields before they plant. The most bazaar site is all the graveyards are in the rice fields and they are above ground like the ones in New Orleans. We actually saw a funeral when we were going through a village, the whole town literally stops and everyone goes. Even in the country they do not waste the land all the houses are very tiny and made out of bricks with a concrete wash over them. If they want a bigger house they just go up some are 3 stories high but only about 20 feet wide and there are no other buildings around them. They also have very ornate double doors and balconies on the front, and they usually paint the front bright colours but the other 3 sides are bare concrete. The doors are all mostly open and you can see that inside they have amazing furniture, elaborate china cabinets with built in TV’s. It is hard to believe that 36 years ago there had been war all over this country as today it is very peaceful.

We drove for 3 hours with a short break on the way. We off course got dropped off at this place that is all handicrafts to shop. All the people that made the crafts were handicapped in some way. I have to wonder how many of these deformities are from the extensive spraying of defoliants during the war which continues to contaminate their soil. I loved some of the statues which were all hand carved from rock, a little to heavy for my backpack so guess I cannot buy that, so I just got a picture taken instead. They also had pictures that were all hand embroidered which were really beautiful, but again cannot bring anything like that home either.

We boarded boat around 12:00 PM. The bay must have about 400 boats on it all with tours. We could not believe how crowded all the boats were .They were side by side and if they left about 2 feet between them, another boat would try and squeeze in, which they did. We were all assigned our rooms which were actually quite comfortable, with our own bathrooms and showers. Since we were in such a small space it did not take long to meet everyone. There was a mother and daughter who were Israeli( very loud and both liked to drink and party, they spoke very good English),father and son from Germany (father could speak no English at all but the son was very friendly and spoke English well), a young couple from Germany (English Speakers), and a great couple from Denmark that we spent a lot of time with(Ron and him proceeded to clean the whole fridge of beer before our overnight trip on the boat was over.) The only crew member that spoke English was our tour guide and he was a blast. The rest were French and a Czechoslovakian couple who could not communicate with anyone).

Lunch was served on the boat while we cruised through the bay. It is an extremely beautiful bay with many islands. Halong means dragon and it was named this because they believed that long ago a dragon was thrashing around with his tail and created all the valleys that filled with water from the ocean. All of our meals were seafood based, interesting, however not very appetizing.



After lunch we were taken to an island for a guided visit of Sung Sot cave, it turned out
to be about 200 steps straight up the side of a mountain. It was a little more strenuous than I thought it was going to be, but the view was unreal. The cave was very large and had a lot to offer, you can see the Vietnamese have done a lot of work to make this a safe tourist attraction as there were well lit paths all though it.

Later we went to another island where we docked beside a floating boat rental place. Some people went kayaking and others dove off the boat to swim. We, the people from Denmark and the Israel stayed and had some beers, watched the fisherman and the sunset. It was a lovely evening, we ate on the boat. The Israeli girl gave our little guide 1 shot of Vodka and Red Bull and he got so drunk he could barely stand. We had a mock wedding
for them ,right down to pictures and dancing. All in all, a lot of fun.

We slept on the boat that night, and after breakfast we cruised through to Cat Ba Island where we were dropped off at Gia Luan Pier and some of the others returned to Hanoi.


The tour company had a van waiting for us and we drove to Cat Ba National Park for some hiking. At least that is what they said in the brochure. We hiked for 2 hours up a mountain there were 400 steps up and then it was a rough path through the Vietnamese jungle. Some of the slopes were so steep that they had ladders for us to climb up to get to the next piece of level land. The last 15 minutes up I had to use all fours to get up. Fortunately I was not wearing heels. Once we got to the top there was nothing but mountains as far as you can see, with heavy mist all around it was almost eerie. Now comes the worst part climbing down, as you all know I am afraid of heights so as long as I was going up it was ok(or at least it was bearable).Now I looked straight down on these little hand and foot holds and thought oh my god how am I ever going to manage this. The answer was slowly. We did make it down eventually and then went off to our hotel,


Guests can relax at the hotel, shop along the sea-side strip, visit Cat Co beaches or go for a trip to Monkey Island with their tour guide.

In the evening we had free time to relax; we walked along the seaside strip, cleaned up and went out for a dinner and drinks before bed. On refection, it was a busy day. The people in this country have such high energy when it comes to showing you their country. It is obvious they are very proud of far it has come over the past couple of decades.




We went Gia Luan pier by bus in the morning. The night before I was reading about Cat Ba and it had said there was another cave on the island that was converted into a secret hospital for the Vietnamese during the American /Vietnam War. I asked our guide about it and he pointed it out on the way back. It was square entrance about 150 feet on the side of the mountain with steps all the way up. Can you imagine them trying to carry their wounded up there secretly. The guide said that the whole inside is rock and they even cut into the walls to make beds.

We arrived back in Hanoi about 4PM after finishing the cruise . To our surprise the hotel which we assumed we had checked out met our van when we got back, brought us in gave us tea and gave us a space to shower and clean up before we took the train to Hue.
They even got us a cab. I cannot say enough good things about the people in this country when it comes to hospitality. What they may lack in facilities is greatly made up, in smiles, willingness to help and make you feel comfortable.

---

Photos

Statues
This was a rest stop on our way to Halong bay.It has handicrafts mostly,beautiful embroidered pictures and vases. I was very impressed with these statues which are all chiselled by hand

Junk Boat
This was our boat that we used for cruise,sleeping and eating on Halong Bay

Our room
We even had a full bathroom

pushy little boat
With all the big boats at the dock this little guy squuezed his way through to get a spot

Boats in harbour
View from our roof deck as we were leaving the harbour

Our 1st 2 beer
Ron and a fellow from Denmark managed to empty the fridge of beer before the night was out.

Busy harbour
There were literally hundreds of boats in the harbour,they actually hit each other all the time.

cave
The Vietnamese have made special care to make this cave easy to access

fishing
These feloows put a big net in the bay then they took 2 sticks and banged on the side of the boat as they went around the net trying to scare the fish into it. We saw only 2 fish in the net when they brought it in about 3 inches long. A lot of work for a very meager catch.

sunset
This was so beautiful I must have taken 20 pictures

Pirate Ship
This one is for Owen,it was the fiqure head on the front of our boat

Commercial Fisherman
This boat is actually made of reeds ,when it is soaked in water it expands so that there are no leaks. It is hard to believe it would be safe.Most people fish with nets,however you do see the odd one with a rod.

Fishing village
The people actually live on the sea and they keep their catch under their houses in square nets.