ahh, so interesting!

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Hello people we love... 😊 Well.... we just arrived back in Hanoi yesterday after a very "interesting" tour through Halong Bay. Where to start. Well, we left Hoi An (as Kohley has already mentioned) and travelled for a little over 24 hours. We took two regular buses, a sleeper bus, taxi and four motorcycles to end up at a skeezy hotel in Halong Bay. First I'll say the traveling part left little to be desired- the sleeper bus was pretty cramped and freezing. They also filled the bus beyond capacity (as they usually do) so we had people sleeping on the floor of the aisle- making it difficult to move anywhere. It wasnt such a huge deal I suppose because most of the trip, we were meant to be sleeping. I'd call it a resting bus rather than sleeping though, it was difficult to sleep through the continuous bumps, honking, cramping bla bla bla... you get the idea. Luke got lucky though, as he is quite tall, there is NO way he could have fit into the "sleeper compartment," but he found a spot above the bathroom that had a little extra space- so he could actually stretch his legs out. ANYWAYS, I could tell you more details about our not so perfect sleeper bus, but you get it- it wasn't perfect. So we got off and into a very small taxi- that incredibly fit ALL of our stuff. We got onto a bus, that took a bit longer than it should have because they kept cramming people onto it.... just when we thought, "OK- its full, there is no way they will stop to pick anyone else up now..." ha ha- silly Canadians. Actually Luke had a guy try to squeeze in between us, but we were already super cramped so we refused that he cram in with us. So the guy basically hovered over Lukes lap for three hours. "Ahhh so interesting!" (my kids in China say this when something is crazy!) I wish we had a picture of this. It was something else. The fact that we overpaid for this bus (by a lot) didn't really allow for us to be the most accommodating Canadians. Couldn't we at least have ONE seat? I think they would have put people on our shoulders if we let them. ha!
Ok. Enough about travel. It is tiring and sometimes a but ridiculous. SO, we arrived in Halong Bay at a hotel that... well, was a but iffy (not by choice mind you, this is where the motorcyclists dropped us). We were tired and just wanted to be on "Cat Ba Island" but learned that the only way to get there was to hire a boat (thai gueila ! too expensive!) or take a tour the next day- also too expensive BUT we figured the tour would be organized and simple.... or so we thought 😊
Getting onto the boat was a bit of an ordeal in itself. So many foreigners all standing under a tin roof waiting for some direction (while in Monsooned!). Hmm, there were many frustrating things to describe about the organization of this tour. Lets just say that we did A LOT of waiting, and did not get a lot of what was promised. We paid for the tour to avoid waiting and complications... if wanted to wait around and be confused, we certainly didnt need to pay big money- we could have done this on our own. Right up until the end it was frustrating, by the end of it, all we could say was "ahhh SO INTERESTING!" ha. But, Halong Bay is beautiful. The mountains jet out of the ocean... it was simply gorgeous. The water was like bath water. SO warm! We kyaked, hiked, jumped off the boat and in our free time we rented scooters and scooted to a BEAUTIFUL beach on Cat Ba island (Cat Co 2). There were lots of great things to take away from the tour for sure.
We have now arrived in Hanoi and are flying into Loas tomorrow. Today actually! Its early morning Monday. We dont have visa's yet, but are hoping that it wont be too much of a problem when we arrive in Vientiane. (We've heard that its easy peasy). Anyways... we only have a few weeks left, which is CRAZY! We are healthy and happy- tired of rice and spring rolls- but we are lovin life. We miss you loads. More than you know actually. Will write from Loas.
much much love.
Anna (and the girls)
xoxoxo

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Comments

[Maggie]

scooters
Hi Anna I am enjoying your blog - thanks :) We are off to Vietnam in 8weeks. I am thinking of hiring a scooter on Cat Ba too but have never rode one! Are they actual scooters or motorbikes and are they easy to drive? I don't want to wreck myself or more important - my daughter who would be riding behind me....Would we be crazy to hire them???? thanks Maggie Have fun!