Halong Bay Part 2
Trip Start
Aug 09, 2008
1
5
13
Trip End
Sep 10, 2008
Halong Bay,
Vietnam
Sunday, August 17, 2008
We booked a boat back to Halong City (where we'd got our original boat from) with the manager from our ant-infested hotel. So I think it's fair enough to assume that we wanted to go back to the tourist dock of Halong City. However, on the boat I noticed that it was not heading back to the place we had first got on but rather a rather long way away from it... When the boat stopped we thought, oh it must stop here first and then go back to the tourist side. But then everyone got off. I wrote down where we wanted to go and showed it to the men, who spoke no english whatsoever, and they pointed off the boat and to an office. We went to the office and the lady didn't speak any english either so I showed her the piece of paper and she murmured "no, no" before finally coming out with "taxi..." As this had already been a rather expensive few days we decided we weren't going to get a taxi and instead try to find out if there was a bus we could get on. We wandered around this little dock place and into the main city, which turned out to be the Vietnamese side of Halong City, and luckily found a travel agent who spoke a little english. We showed him the piece of paper and asked if there was a bus, he understood a bit and pointed us to a group of umbrellas, saying the bus would stop there. The only problem was that it seemed to be the other direction from where we wanted to go.
NB here, the tourist side of Halong City is described in the Lonely Planet as "the place with all the tourist lifelines, whereas Hong Gai (I think) is described as "the rather more Vietnamese side"!!
There were some Vietnamese boys waiting for a bus at the bus stop so we showed them the piece of paper and they held up three fingers, something we assumed meant bus no 3. Then a bus came and they left. Panic was close but at the same time we thought we'd be ok and so felt pretty good about saving $20 and instead taking the public bus. A lovely lady, who also spoke no english, saw where we wanted to go and indicated that she would tell us which bus to get on. Two buses came and went and she waved "no, no" before finally the number 3 came and she pointed "this one!" We were still worried because we thought we were going the wrong way but just sat on the bus and assumed it would eventually end up where we wanted to go. We bought tickets for 5000 dong each (about 15p) and journeyed along like locals. After an incredible ride which seemed to go all over the place and last for ages, we started to recognise where we were and that we needed to get off soon. By this time the bus was packed so getting off was going to be a mission. However, the bus stopped at the tourist dock and we managed to get off without it driving off and quickly found a taxi to take us back to the hotel. An epic journey but we felt really satisfied that we'd not only saved money but also that we'd managed to ride a local bus!
Once we got back to the hotel we showered and then met up with a couple that we had met in Hanoi for a few birthday drinks before having a delicious meal on the balcony of our room. The staff were so sweet and brought the food in singing happy birthday in broken english with flowers and candles! It was a lovely 21st birthday and a good end to an eventful day, or so we thought!
After we finished I went back to the bar to tell them that we had finished, but the whole place had closed and the lights were all off. There was one man walking around who didn't say anything and I got a bit freaked out and with my vivid imagination persuaded myself that he was going to kill me so ran back to the hotel room. After this little episode we settled down with a dvd rented from the hotel and, about 15 minutes in, the power went. It was pitch black and after the man in the bar I was really freaking out! It seems so ridiculous now. Nick got his torch and went to see what was going on, and soon after the lights all came back on and we finished the film. Finally an exciting end to a wonderful day.
