SE Asia 2014 Day 13

---

Up fairly early because we are visiting a cave today and Kien wants to beat the other tour boats. Breakfast is just coffee, juice, French toast and fruit so we can get going quicker.

The boat is already under way and soon stops at an island that boasts one of Halong Bay's largest caves, Hang Sung Sot Cave, also known as Cave of Awe. It consists of three chambers, each larger than the previous, that together total 10,000 square meters.

Kien's plan to get there early has been emulated by several other tour leaders, and there is a major backup to mount the rock steps leading up to the cave entrance. But once we are inside, the crowd thins out.

I've always had a soft spot for caves, and this one is great. Incredible rock formations greet your eyes in every direction. A nice job has been done to provide just the right level of illumination. The ceiling is interesting, scalloped by the rushing of ancient rivers. Dark passages call out for exploration but we have to remain on the designated path.

We spend about an hour in the cave, then re-emerge. There are spectacular views of the bay and ships below from this vantage point. We descend and rejoin our group at the water to be ferried back to the boat.

Back on board, we have either a late breakfast or early lunch, depending on how you look at it. Then it's time to pack up and pay our bills as the boat makes its way back to the mainland. We say goodbye to the crew, who have worked hard to make this a memorable voyage.

We retrace the same route back to Hanoi by bus, stopping halfway at the same tourist trap I mentioned previously. It's just after 3 pm when we hit the Hanoi traffic. Our hotel for this one night is in the old quarter, and Kien has promised a more leisurely repeat tour of the area.

After check-in, we head out into the old quarter as a group. I've already supplied a description of life in the old town and the challenges of moving through it. Suffice it to say that this outing was similar. One of the things I've been meaning to mention is how many tourists, or more precisely, non-Vietnamese there are in the cities we've visited. When we were in China last year, our Caucasian faces and in particular my height were a novelty for some Chinese. Not here, not even a bit. Vietnam is crawling with us whities. There are lots of Ozies and many varieties of Europeans. We've run into others from Canada as well, but, interestingly, not one American, although I'm sure they are generally well-represented as well. The other interesting thing is the number of young Westerners, probably students, passing through or even living here. According to Kien, tourism is now the third largest industry in Vietnam and indeed in SE Asia as a whole. I joke to Kien that everywhere you look, there are Caucasian chickens running around. (I'm allowed to say that.)

Kien takes us to some of his favourite food stands in the old quarter (remember Hanoi is where he lives), including a rice-roll shop and a roasted chestnut stand. We take the chestnuts with us in a paper bag when we break for a beer at a corner pub. Like all old-quarter shops, the pub is out on the sidewalk; we all sit in tiny plastic chairs around a plastic table–essentially, the kind of furniture we buy for our kids. We enjoy the cold beer with the roasted chestnuts (delicious) and steamed peanuts from the pub (not my favourite).

Then we walk to tonight's restaurant for supper. It's a French restaurant, and the meal is very French: exquisite food on enormous plates with clever presentation elements. And the signature dish is beef tenderloin, seared and cooked medium-rare. It is so good, our heads are swooning.

We're picked up the bus and ferried back to the hotel. I work on the blog and try to get caught up with the postings, but the Internet connection is up and down. (I should say that every one of our hotels has had free wifi, and the connection speed has been decent; at least, much better than in China.) I get two more days posted and give up. I'm way behind on the posting, but I'm working hard on my notes, so as soon as I get some time and a fast connection, the blog will catch up.

---

Comments

[Gail macdonald]

Blogs up to #13
Loving the blogs, David. If I 'had' my legs, I'd be in heaven on this adventure. gail