Just returned from my adventures over Halong Bay way. Very nice, very nice indeed. The food was really good, except for breakfast. The meal doesn't seem to be a big deal, requiring nothing more than some bread and eggs. Well listen Vietnam, I like substantial breakfasts, so straighten up.
Ya.
Halong Bay is of course a lovely place. All the big limestone...things, rising out of the emerald blue waters like some kind of...large rocky structures. A sight to behold. I'll let you find pics for yourself.
The legend goes like this. When the Mongols were on Vietnam's doorstep this dragon showed up and took a shining to these Vietnamese, so helped them repulse the invaders. Afterwards teh dragon decided life on earth was better so rather than go home she went to ground so to speak. She chose Halong Bay (meaning the Bay where the dragon descends) and made a mess of the stone, but now it looks pretty so nobody minds.
Our boat was a big wooden jobby, sort of "junkish" in nature (by that I mean the traditional vessels of the area, not that the boat was a piece of crap). Lots of room, double cabins and en suite showers. Supposedly hot water COULD flow, but we never got it going. Meals were always these big multi plate festivals. Very good and focusing on surprisingly enough, seafood.
I'll say right now I'm a might tired, so if things look a little bit scrappier than normal...there's a small man beside me who keeps hitting my keys.
We saw teh Surprising Cave, apparently named that because the European who found it in 1911 kept being more and more surprised the further into the cave he went. It is very nice, and has all sorts of stane paths and stone bridges for the tourists to follow around. It also has all sorts of rock formation that our fearless leader (guide by the name of Thanh) would point at and say "what does that look like?" At one spot someone said a snake so the guide said "NO", it's a dragon, it looks like a snake but it's a dragon. Hmm, our fearless leader was okay for a few laughs, but not much in the way of guiding. My contribution of a polar bear mauling a walrus turned out to be a frog. I was close, and teh only reason it isn't known as a polar bear mauling a walrus is because the Vietnamese don't get to see it on a day to day basis like I do.
It was the polar bear line that broke the ice and got me talking to the English folks along on the trip. There were 5 of them and myself on for the three days, and we had a grand old time. Simon, Si (Simon), Iain, Emma and Rachel were fun indeed. They taught me the wondrous card game of shithead. A game in which nobody really wins, but one person REALLY loses and becomes the shithead. The game is basically designed to lay into your friends and call them shithead a lot. Good times.
We spent teh first night on the boat...nice, but would have been a touch nicer if we weren't parked in teh bay with all teh other tourist boats. It is quite a sight at the piers where all tehse big brown beasts rumble in and bump one another disgorging and embarking passengers. Then they all seemed to park in the same sheltered bay for the night.
We went for a swim...a bit moire than I was expecting but the English boys were so excited to have water they could jump into they just kept going over and over. I guess we're spoiled in Canada. Then we also did some kayaking including through some keen caves that put us into bays entirely surrounded by rock cliffs. FUN!
On land the second day we went to a cave used as a hospital and HQ during teh war adn had this old army vet sing us some kick ass songs. Apparently there's a path inside the cave that leads all the way to the top and outside. I wanted to take it of course but the bridge was out. Still though, it seems very Lord of the Rings with bridges and stuff inside a mountain. Then a lovely bike ride to the far end of teh island. Because none of us wanted to bike back they needed to find some time to kill and we ended up having tea with the family of the local english teacher.
The great thing about these English folks is tehyy were just so excited about everything even if I wasn't I got carried along.
That night we had a "few" drinks and played shithead into the wee hours. I was never the shithead for 12 straight games, an unheard of feat for a newcomer to the game. Yes I am that good. That evening we also had an extended chat with some American fellas who've been teaching economics at a Masters level in Korea for 5 years. Me being Canadian and dense I didn't pick up on the fact they were the first right leaning yanks I've met. The 2 Simons being themselves, by the end of the night had moved what had begun as a talk about sports to a talk about why America was ruining the world, and making these two fellas feel a bit silly. Mean you say? I don't think so when these two stereotypes were delivering all the lines that make people dislike the country.
"3 million years ago we couldn't get enough to eat, now we can, so I say get fat." Thanks chubby.
Then today it was just the boatride and bus trip back to Hanoi. Whew! Now I have to get me some supper and head over to the train station. Over night train to Hue tonight. I'll be sleeping the whole way!
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