Halong Bay
Trip Start
Apr 20, 2003
1
13
24
Trip End
Jun 10, 2003
Halong Bay,
Vietnam
Thursday, May 29, 2003
I had decided prior to coming to Vietnam that I wanted to go to Cat Ba Island in Halong Bay, east of Hanoi. Apparently it isn't easy to get there on your own but getting back is easier, so I decided to join up with an overnight tour for AUD$27, and ditch the tour after the first night and stay longer.
After 3 hours in a bus with a rather well-off Vietnamese family (who
appeared to own hotels around the country) and their mid 40s friend from Singapore, Thomas, we stopped of for lunch at 11am in Halong City! Ignoring the early time it was actually a good meal in terms of the atmosphere, as the place was full of travellers, and I got the lowdown on Vietnamese table manners direct from a Vietnamese family. They were very spirited and friendly people, with the Grandfather given first dibs on the food (a Vietnamese custom is to let respected elders go first) and the Mother telling me how she'd travelled to Melbourne for business and she liked the trams. I also ran into Aussie Hoona from yesterday, who was doing a day tour to Halong.
From there the group split up ('Chao' to the Vietnamese family and hello to a mish mash of westerners, plus Thomas and myself) and we were designated large Junk Boats for the cruise into Halong Bay to Cat Ba. The group included a French couple who hardly spoke English (and hardly spoke), a large group of locals, two good value Aussie fellas, four English girls, a weird Englishman named Denzel, and a number of others who kept to themselves.
One of the Aussies is Adam, who is a Doc from Brisbane, and fully fledged Lions fan and member. Hence he's a better person than Ian, who is from Sydney. The four English girls are Rosie, Bec, Wendy and Emma, though I can never remember which one is which, let alone if they barrack for the Lions. It becomes apparent that we are all a friendly bunch and the rest on the boat are a little on the ho-hum side of things, or in some cases plain strange.
The boat trip was spectacular - the bay is absolutely full of islands (more than Phang Nga in Thailand) and thus everywhere is a photo opportunity. Unfortunately in places the water is a little on the dirty side. We stopped off for a swim in one bay - it was like jumping into a hot cup of English Breakfast tea and not actually 100% appealling. In the true tradition of Aussie blokedom, someone suggested we swim to shore. So we did that, and found that it really wasn't worth it, especially as the onshore barnacles cut like running a razor down your finger.
We also stopped at a cave which ran in hundreds of metres into an island. The cave entrance was about 5 feet in height, but it opened up to large caverns. Unfortunately it had been 'touristed' up with the inclusion of various colored lights (Disneyland) and marble floor tiles. The guide exclaimed "if you'd come here 10 years ago it would have looked nothing like this!". Um, you mean, it would have looked natural.... The highlight/lowlight was a stalactite shaped like an erect penis - someone in tourist land Vietnam had decided to highlight the fact by placing a large red light on it, just incase you missed the big 8 foot phallic symbol. Niiiiiice.
Back onto the boat for AUD$1.50 beers which weren't cold enough, however the peacefulness of the place (except for the chug chug chug of the boat engine) made up for the warmth of the beer.
We arrived at Cat Ba island and checked into our hotel, which was rather plush. Alas they are doing a great amount of construction, so its like staying on a worksite, with constant jackhammering. I am however still getting my US$18's worth for the entire tour so far.
After dinner (the now standard tour selection of one serve rice, one serve tofu, one serve beef with unusual vegie that looks like sliced granny smith apples, one serve greens) the Aussies and English decided to head out for drinks along the main street of Cat Ba island, which is right on the bay.
Cat Ba is the home of garish lights - dozens of fake firework lights are lined up and down the foreshore, very similar to the 'Happy Buffet' asian restaurant on Nepean Highway near Southland for those who know it when they drive past at night (surely none of you eat there).
After a couple of beers we decide to head to THE premier spot in Cat Ba. Known simply as the DISCOTHEQUE. Yes the full name. It was hilarious - the only people there apart from the seven of us was approximately 30 local men, all dancing with their shirts off. Keep in mind this wasn't a gay venue... (and the story behind this was explained to us the next night).
As the music was downright awful (Britney Spears, all the bad Eminem tracks, and Kylie's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" played no less than 3 times) we headed to a smaller bar a few doors up. It was much nicer and relaxed, and everyone had their shirts on. The place had 8 or so other tourists from other groups including some Irish girls and a couple of Welsh fellas who were the life of the party.
The Welshies (as I named them) picked up a guitar and started singing songs - rather poorly. It was about then when Dr Adam owned up as to being able to play, so he took over a played a song. The call went out as to if anyone else wanted a sing. It was a beautiful moment. Only three beers in, and following up on a couple of out of tune Welshies, and the microphone was mine, and the guitar was Adam's. Australia Vs Wales in a sing off.
Basically I tell no lies here - Adam and I floored them. No one knew any of the songs that we did (except for a really pissed Australian girl in the corner who made know sense apart from "youse guys are really musical") as we stuck to solely Australian repoitoire with the odd exception. They started asking about the songs and saying how fantastic they were. I kid you not, we did a full set - well maybe a half set....
A late finish, but certainly not under the weather as I only had three drinks. The licensing fella from Melbourne and the doctor from Brisbane. We rock.
THERE'S A NUDIE CHICK IN MY BATHROOM, ROCK KICKING GOATS and CULTURE CLUB.
If I wanted to stay an extra few nights then I had to pay for the
accommodation - thus as I had the option to move from the construction site that is the current hotel, I did, shifting to a hotel on the waterfront which was half the price. It has all the mod-cons, a view straight into the harbour from my front balcony, and for some unknown reason the bathroom tiles contain a 4 ft by 2 ft picture of a topless woman as part of the tiles. Nudity and only AUD$12 a night..... go figure.
From up here on the fifth floor I can see that the water in the harbour is very polluted. It appears that the locals aren't doing a great job of protecting the area. Given the many hotels currently under construction I'd hope that would improve.
I decided to hire a motorbike and head around the island. Remembering to keep on the right hand side, I choofed off around the coast. There appears to be no swimmable beaches anywhere - all are mudflats. I attempted to head up a road to the mountainous National Park in the middle of the island, but the road came to a sudden halt for no apparent reason. The only thing around at the end of the road was a pile of 300 or so shoes by the side of the road (I don't know either), and some wild goats which were pushing rocks down from the roadside onto the road while trying to eat weeds. How strange.
As it was stinking hot I decided to forego the trip to the National Park and head back around to the harbour. I spent a few hours of the afternoon on the balcony listening to my walkman in the cool breeze, while watching Eagles glide around as swoop into the water looking for fish. From the balcony I took some great sunset photos, including the fake firework lights.
I ran into the tour guide, who invited me to join the tour again tomorrow to get home for free. Two nights in Cat Ba was enough. This tour turned out to be the bargain of the century.
I walked up the street for dinner and ran into the Welshies, so I ate with them. Dai (Welsh pronounciation DIE) and Craig (Welsh pronounciation CREEEEEEEG) immediately starting calling me Ade (Welsh pronounciation EEEYYYYYDE). They stayed around till 6am last night (well after my departure) and were a little under the weather. They told me stories of their constant falling off of motorbikes and plans to have Christmas lunch this year on Bondi Beach. Or at least that's what I thought they said - in hindsight they could have been calling me anything as their accents were as thick as tar.
They were keen to head back to the same Bar tonite, so after dinner they said they were first heading back to their hotel for a clean up. I said I'd go for a wander around and meet them there in a while. I ran into Adam (Ian had left that morning for Hanoi as he was only doing the one night tour) and the four English girls, and their American/Asian friend Vinh (male from Boston) who had a penchant for Redbull and Vodka.
We had a couple of beers on main street, chatting to the local waitress. She explained to us that Vietnamese women smile on the outside, but on the inside they are actually unhappy. She tells us Vietnamese women are occasionally beaten, and are not allowed to go out (as if they did they would be viewed by most as prostitutes). That explained the local Men dancing last evening.
We headed back up to the same haunt from last night. The Welshies weren't there, but a group of 6 Aussies were, singing absolutely shocking Karaoke, aided by the cheesy instrumental versions coming from the Vietnamese karaoke machine. I walked in and the barman handed me a free beer and pointed to the guitar - I thought he was getting me mixed up with Adam the guitarist, however he wasn't. He was keen for another performance.... At this stage I'd like it noted that nothing in Vietnam is free, so either he was tone deaf, or the show must have been alright.
No guitar, but instead we start singing bad Karaoke numbers. The requests start flowing. I would like to say that you haven't lived until you have done a duet of Culture Club's "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" with an Asian/American bloke named Vinh.
Proving that I'm a little older than the rest of the group I drifted off for a kip perched upon two bar stools. I hope no one took a photo...
