February 18 - 19 Halong Bay

A mystical place.  Sadly also a "mistical" place while we were there.  Serenity and tranquility abound save for the boats which are grouped fairly close together at night.  One of them had a noisy generator which I heard all night long.  Ours was completely silent by comparison.

The bus trip to Ha Long Bay was about 3.5 hours with not a great deal of interest to see.  When we arrived at the port it was incredible to see the number of boats (and tourists) there.  The line stretched about as far as the eye could see.  We located our boat, walked the plank and departed for the two hour journey to the cave site.  The beauty of the place, even in the thick mist, almost defies description.  Island after island, islet after islet, rows upon rows upon rows of them stretching to the horizon.  Anyone unfamiliar with the area would definitely need GPS tracking equipment to find a location and the way back!

We anchored in a beautiful locale for a lunch of a variety of Vietnamese dishes all of which were pretty good.  Nothing unusual and I can't recall precisely what they were.  Ditto for dinner.  Overall there was fried fish, steamed rice (of course), steamed vegetables, fried tofu, fried spring rolls, corn soup, mushrooms, etc.  Breakfast the following morning was an omelet, bread, cheese, cucumber and jam.

We arrived at the large cave site and I took one look at the number of stairs required to reach it and immediately decided that it was too much for me.  Unfortunately that meant that I didn't get any photos of the interior of the cave.  Hopefully someone got some good shots and sends them along to me so that I can post them.  Getting to the dock and then finding a place to park the boat proved a Herculean task and if there was any strategy to it it certainly wasn't readily apparent.  Lots of bumping, pushing and shoving of boats, a few minor crashes and lots of yelling and blasting of horns but we finally accomplished both.  The boats all have a row of tires on the side to lessen the damage from the bumping but some of the roofs show the affects of too close calls.

From the cave we proceeded to a hilltop pagoda (see photo) which once more was higher than I was able or prepared to climb.  Not to mention that I had my fill of pagodas much earlier in this epic journey.

It was interesting to watch the kids in small boats approach our boats to sell various and sundry things - Ritz crackers, chocolate bars, beer, vodka, cigarettes, water, fruit, etc.  With Vu's help we spoke with one young girl who told us that she lives and sleeps on her boat because her parent's boat is too small for her.  When it rains she ducks into one of the many caves to keep herself and her goods dry.  I bought a bottle of vodka (made from rice) because at $10.25 I figured it was probably as cheap or cheaper than at the airport Duty Free shop.  The following morning, around 6:30 one of them approached our boat again and tried to convince me to buy something.  Although she had no command of English her performance was worthy of an Academy Award and we all had a good laugh.  Her repertoire included sulking, pouting, laughing and feigned crying.  After about a half hour I finally gave in and bought some cigarettes from her.  We finally settled on a price, including a tip for the two photos I took of her, and when I gave her the money she said she had no change (the ultimate con).  Luckily I had the exact change.  The I had to pry the extra money out of her hand, both of us laughing all the while.  Good fun for all.

The room I had was, I think, the one the crew normally slept in because when I got up in the morning they, Vu included, were all sleeping on the floor or the benches.  My room was fine and had everything I needed including power so I could have taken my computer.  The washroom was right beside my room so there was no hardship there.  Others had washrooms in their cabins.  I tried, rather unsuccessfully, to take photos of the lights from the boats reflecting on the water at night but the boat was too unstable to allow for sharp time exposures.  When I got up I found all of the doors including the hatch to the top deck were locked and I couldn't get any of them open.  Eventually Vu got up and unlocked one set of doors.  It didn't matter a great deal because there was no sunrise anyway, just a continual lightening of the sky.

The trip back to the dock and then back to the hotel was uneventful.  After checking in most of the group took off for a final shopping frenzy but I stayed here and had a nap.  I had to take a taxi to the restaurant for the final farewell dinner (thankfully).  The driver not only ripped me off with the price but also dropped me at the wrong address.  Fortunately I got talking to a student from Ha Long Bay who is here in Hanoi studying English and History in order to become a tour guide.  I talked with him for a half hour while I waited for Vu, with no sign of him.  Eventually my new friend told me that there were two other restaurants by the same name (Little Hanoi) and he walked me to them.  Sure enough the group was in one of them at the address where I should have been dropped by the taxi.  I bought a photocopied book (Memoirs of a Geisha - the only one I recognized and hadn't read) from him because i was tired of reading about history and war.  He said that he had been out selling for more than five hours and that was his first sale.  Sometimes he goes two or three days without selling anything.  A tough way to pay your way through school.

The dinner was ok.  I didn't want the set meal so ordered crab soup and fried noodles with vegetables and seafood.  Both were good.  By the time I finished eating my head was spinning from the noise and the heat so I paid my bill and went outside to wait for the group to finish.  I thought it might be ten or fifteen minutes but it took more than an hour for them to finish eating and make their farewell speeches.  Meanwhile I was only managing to stay awake because two small children were having fun touching my beard and then we played tickle and hide and seek for a bit.

The incompetence at this hotel continues to astound me.  When we checked in it took them almost half an hour to locate our luggage because no one seemed to know that there was another storage room.  When I returned from dinner I wanted some beer to bring to the room so went to the restaurant but there were only two young people in there singing along to an extremely loud video.  I went to the bar and was told it was closed (according to the information in the room it supposed to be open 24/7) so it was back to the restaurant.  Eventually I got the attention of someone who appeared to be working (and I use the word very loosely).  it took me a while to make her understand what I wanted and then to convey my room number.  The whole process probably took me the better part of a half hour.  This morning I went to the front desk to see if they had any stamps but, of course, they did not.  I was told that the gift shop had them and would be open at 8:00.  When I went down later the woman in the gift shop told she didn't  have any either and that I would have to go to the post office.  Later when I went down to see more of the group off I attempted to check my e-mail only to find that the wireless network wasn't working.  Of course no one at the reception desk knew anything about it and there seemed to be no here who did.  Finally I tried to get some more beer but there was no one working in the bar and the restaurant was in the same condition as it was last night so I decided to try room service.  What a procedure!  The woman didn't understand English and it must have taken me ten tries to get her comprehend my room number.  To get her to understand what I wanted I had to count in Vietnamese!  Trouble was I only knew the numbers to three so I counted them out - mo, tai, ba and added four.  She laughed but understood.  When it was delivered it proved to be warm but she brought a container of ice.  I took the ice out, put a bottle in the jug and added ice around it only to have the jug split sending ice and water across the table!  At that point I gave up and decided to wait for the fridge to do its job.  No doubt I will have to pay for the jug as well....  I shudder at the thought of checking out...

Now I must get busy and repack everything for the journey home.  Room won't be a problem but I want to pack carefully to avoid, as much as is possible, the prospect of nay damage.  I had hoped to have laundry done so that everything would be clean but after I heard about delays with laundry here I decided against it so will have a big job to do when I get home.  My fingers are crossed in hope that I don't have as much trouble locating my prearranged and prepaid taxi as everyone else has had.  The drivers don't appear to have names or details or know that the trip has been prepaid so it takes a while to sort all of that out.

My original plan was to take a tour around Seoul to put in my twelve hour layover but I think now that I will scrap that idea and just relax or sleep in the Air Canada lounge (if there is one).  I don't leave here until 11:30 pm and the flight is only 4.5 hours so I don't expect to get much, if any, sleep and doubt that I will feel much like more touring when I get there.

With luck I will be home about forty-four hours after I leave the hotel.  My crystal ball shows a good deal of sleep thereafter.....

Oh yes, the wireless connection still isn't working so I have no idea when this or the Ha Long Bay photos will be uploaded.