Ha Long Bay

Sitting in the minibus waiting for the other passengers to be picked up, I started to feel a little nervous. The fist people picked up were an American family with a kid, and then an older couple who turned out to be from Darwin. This tour group wasn't looking to be the funnest group of people I've ever seen. The last people picked up were a young couple, so my concern was at least dissipated a bit. It turns out I couldn't have been more wrong, the people on the tour were awesome, and some of the nicest I've met while traveling, and even as I type this I still feel bad that I even had a moments bad thought about the tour.

The trip up to Halong City was long, but everyone was in a good mood, and the time passed pretty quick. The weather was the only sour point, as the haze that clung to Hanoi seemed to be even stronger in Halong Bay, and it was also joined with a cold wind that made enjoying the boat deck a little hard. The view though, made freezing worth it. I don't think any pictures can do justice to Halong bay, and its just something that has to be seen. The karst system is spectacular, and it just seems to strech forever. After a great lunch on the boat, Binh (our tourguide), took us for tour of Surprising Cave, which was an expansive system of caves with spectacular rock formations (including penis rock), and stalactites.


We then got to go kayaking in some secluding coves so that we could investigate the rocks a little closer. The water was as calm as a lake, which was just weird for the ocean, but I wasn't going complain. It made the Kayaking easier, and kept the sea sickness at bay. We paddled to one of the mountains so we hike to the top and get a view of the bay, but the fog made the view somewhat limited (but nothing like in Hong Kong).We then went back to the boat for another great dinner, and lamented the fact that it was such an overcast night, and would therefore see no stars.

The next day we unfortunately had to say goodbye to Emily, Lea, and Jane, and the rest of continued on to Cat Ba Island to do some hiking. The hike wasn't that hard, but the rocks were sharp, and since I'm a total Klutz, I managed to scrap up my leg and cut my hard. Everyone else managed to make it through relatively unscathed. As we ate lunch just off of Cat Ba anchored to a small fishing shack, the sun finally came out, and we decided that it was time for a swim. The water was ass cold, but it was great to be able to finally swim. We then kayaked a little more before heading to Cat Ba town for our final night of the tour. We checked into the hotel, and had a nice hot shower (well everyone but me, my water for some reason was luke warm, the bastards). Feeling a little beat, and needing a drink Mark, Kate and I headed to the nearest Bia Hoi bar, for some of the best 15 cent beer you'll ever find. After dinner we headed to another bar after a fruitless quest to find a good bottle of rice wine that Binh wanted to treat us to. I guess none of the bottles passed the mustard, because we had to wait until the next day when we returned to Halong Bay to try some.

After a night in Cat Ba, we again boarded a boat to take us back to Halong Bay. It turned a bit cold again so we all sat in the cabin and Binh taught us some Vietnamese card games. Again Halong bay is stunning, but it was really the people that made the trip. The group was diverse, but all had great respect for the country, and I was able to learn a lot, not only about other places in Vietnam, but also about a group of people I wouldn't have had the opportunity to normally meet. I think one of the greatest things to see was how Evan, who was 10 years old, handled everything. He had been traveling with his parents for a few months, and he's just the best kid I've ever met. I remember how I was when I was 10, and there is no way I could have handled a trip like this. My parents would have had to have packed a suitcase just filled with peanut butter, because I never would have eaten most of this stuff back then. There are many hotels that strech from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi, that owe Evan a percentage of their profits because anytime we asked about a place to stay in certain city, he would produce a card or brochure from great place.

So then it was back to Hanoi. The next destination was to be Sapa...but that's a whole other story.