I have a lot to catch up on, so this entry will focus on Halong Bay.
We had another lovely breakfast (super early, 6am) at the Ruby Excellence Hotel, after which the van for "Paradise Cruises" picked us up. Sharing the van with us was a nice couple of young accountants named Katie and Leanne. We shared the 3.5 hour ride to Tuan Chau Island. On the way we stopped at an obvious tourist stop which sold a variety of goods including gems, silk paintings, and marble statues. This particular shop focused on hiring people with disabilities. We met/saw a man who was a double amputee (used two prosthetic) who walked around with very little assistance. He was a foreman on the floor where women and men where making the silk embroidered paintings. Jared bought one which pictured the strange little ruin we saw in the middle of the lake in Hanoi.
After the quick shopping stop, we arrived at Tuan Chau Island. There was a fancy little cabana where we were greeted with water, tea, pho and some cookies. We got on the "junk" cruise ship at 12:30 pm.
The ship was very high end - super fancy. Our cabin had a full/queen bed in it, and a full bathroom with marble walls and floor. Our room also had a balcony with small wooden table and chairs. The room smelled fantastic - jasmine, ginger, and something else sweet. They must have pumped the smell through the A/C because I couldn't detect where it was coming from. The boat was all dark wood and brass.
We had a seafood buffet lunch, which I enjoyed. Butter fried fish, cold jellyfish salad, boiled calamari, vegitarian cold noodle salad with mushrooms...very nice. Not so many options for Jared (who, I have discovered, is a very picky eater: meat and potatoes kind of guy).
After lunch we set off to explore the "Surprise Cave." The Surprise Cave was not so surprising. It was filled with tourists (mostly Vietnamese tourists) - we had to climb over 100 steps up and 100+ wet, slippy steps down into the cave. No accident, thank god - All the tour guides (not just ours) kept pointing out all of the stalagtites and stalagmites that resembled other objects: "See there? That's a lady with long hair." "There is a mushroom." "Here is a Buddha." "that one is a man kissing a woman." It was ridiculous - like pointing at clouds. Jared tried to join in by saying, "That one looks like a dragon," and the lady tour guide responded, "no, that one is nothing."
So the caves - not so surprising. As an aside, I'll name some surprising things I've seen on motorbikes in Hanoi (motorbikes must outnumber cars 30 to 1):
1. One adult and three children (all of which looked under the age of three, one was an infant)
2. A man with two dogs - one dog balancing on the front of the bike, and another dog balancing on the back of the bike seat. The motorbike must have been going 25+ miles an hour and the dogs were balancing fine.
3. A man sleeping on a motorbike - in fact, I've seen this a bunch - men taking naps all stretched out on their parked motorbikes.
Back to Halong:
Caves - super funny, ridiculous - and our tour guides did not speak very much English. In fact, we have had lots of language problems in Vietnam with people not speaking very much English. The two girls we rode the bus with said Vietnam was harder to navigate than Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia in that respect.
After the caves, we continued to cruise through the beautiful limestone islets.
Then we visited another island, Ti Top, where we were allowed to swim. The water did appear oily - probably a consequence of all the tourist boats in the Bay. I enjoyed swimming, but many people did not. The water was very, very warm - not as refreshing as we had hoped.
Jared was not too impressed with the trip at this point. In fact, he got a little pouty (I think I have a good picture of his little kid pout). But, when I asked him why he was so sour, I understood his response: This place is so beautiful, and it is being spoiled with excessive tourism. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site, but we didn't see any sort of protection of the wildlife, environment, fishing culture. Jared said he wished he had spent his money in a more responsible way. Tourist ships, charging $100-200 a head, make so much more than the shrimp fishermen can make- but I doubt the tourist junk ships are giving anything back to that community.
After swimming, we had a small cooking class where we learned how to make vegetarian spring rolls. Then, a 3 course dinner. My dinner was salmon spring roll (wierd), stuffed calamari, salad (which contained pickles, olives, and tomato), and a banana crepe for dessert. We had planned to stay aftr dinner to watch a showing of "The Quiet American" aboard the ship, but both Jared and I were feeling sea sick. Lucly, I brought an obscene number of pills and potions and I had enough dramamine (both daytime and nighttime) for both of us. We took the pills and then CRASHED. We literally went to bed at 8:30 pm and did not wake up until 6 a.m.
We missed the Tai Chi session at dawn (6am), but we did get up and get coffee at 630. We then boarded small rowing ships where we went into the lagoon at Luon Cave - which was so unbelievably beautiful - I thought, overwhelmingly beautiful. Amazing. Incredible. One of the most beautiful places I have ever been.
We returned to Tuan Chau Island by 10:30, took the bus back to Hanoi - arrive mid-afternoon. Next entry will be what we did Jared's last night in Hanoi (sneak peak: spa, tuk-tuk ride, and hotel suite lottery upgrade).
Bottom line on Halong Bay: There are some serious ethical issues with the tourism industry in Halong Bay and there does seem to be a need for regulation - how would we accomplish this? I don't know. But, I am so happy I was able to see it. I thought it was truly beautiful. Jared, I think, would have preferred to have gone to the Mausoleum in Hanoi. I also enjoyed seeing all the women selling their wares on little wooden boats: these women, wearing traditional Vietnamese garb (hats, dresses), selling cokes, cookies, all while talking on their cell phones.
P.S. I gave Jared my user name and password and told him he is welcomed to write updates here from Laos.
