"All The People" Love Halong Bay

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Trip Start Oct 12, 2005 Previous
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  Hanoi, Vietnam
Wednesday, November 9, 2005

Where to begin? Our time in and around Hanoi since our last post has been action packed!

We booked a day trip with ODC (Old Darling Cafe) tour company to the Perfume Pagoda outside of Hanoi. (ODC was referred to us by other travelers. We also recommend them!) A nice trip with beautiful scenery (check out the great photos) which was only marred by an altercation with the old lady who rowed us up and down the river, who was very upset that her tip wasn't as big as the other rowers. She ran after Matt, grabbing his arm and reaching for his wallet, and had to be yelled at before her ranting abated. Doesn't money bring out the best in everyone?

Next we booked another trip with ODC, this time the three day, two night Halong Bay Cruise. Halong is about a four hour bus ride from Hanoi. It is a bay filled with thousands of little limestone islands. It is a pretty extraordinary sight. Words can do it justice, check out the pictures. The first night was spent on the boat, in a little cabin with a fan but no AC. It was fine until midnight when the generator, and thus the fan, was turned off.

The following day was a trek in Cat Ba National Park. It was described as a morning trek, and seemed like a pretty moderate undertaking. It was for the first 2 kilometers, passing through jungle and a beautiful rice farming village in a valley. But then, we turned off the road and headed up a mountain. That meant using your hands and feet, scrambling up slippery mud and rock trails, for nearly 5 kilometers. Our bodies have never sweated as much.

01 Vietnamese Pub

The view from the top was lovely, and we sat for about a half hour in what used to be a Vietnamese anti-aircraft emplacement. Then back down, which was less strenuous, but more stressful than up. Kristy took a seat a few times, and all our sweaty, mud covered clothes have been sent to the cleaners.

After the hike we headed back to the boat for kayaking, swimming and some official relaxation. Our very patient and kind guide, Phuong, frequently referred to the group as "all the people" and informed us of the exact amount of time we had for relaxation.. For example, he might say to the group, "All the people have 30 minutes to swim." He was definitely trying his best but we couldn't help have a little giggle along with our eight other shipmates. After a vigorous hike and some kayaking we stopped overnight at a hotel on Cat Ba Island. The town is surprisingly well suited for tourism. We spent the evening with our shipmates -- 2 Kiwi ladies (New Zealanders), a couple from Northern Ireleand, a couple from Spain, a Dutch guy and an Australian. The Kiwis knew of a bar on Cat Ba run by a fellow countryman so we all went for a drink before collapsing into bed.

Now we are back in Hanoi, enjoying our new "expensive" ($27) hotel in a really great and relaxed area of the old quarter. The hotel is called the Freedom Hotel on Hang Trong street. We're just planning on being lazy for the next few days until we take the overnight train down to Hue on the 11th. We have orchestra tickets for the evening of the 10th. Aside from some great music, we'll have the chance to check out the inside of the opera house.

We are meeting many other travelers that we expect to see further down the road or in their home countries. To expedite the process of trading contact information, we had little business cards made up with our names, our e-mail address and our web address. They were only $4 for 100! We thought we might have experienced some communication issues when we ordered the cards but we were thrilled when we picked them up today and there was not a single typo!

As you may know, Vietnam is a country filled with motorbikes. Motorbikes are to Vietnam like cows are to Vermont. So before we close out this entry we wanted to include a list of the strangest things we've seen strapped on to motorbikes, and would like to commend the ingenuity of the Vietnamese people:

THINGS TRANSPORTED ON MOTORBIKES (AN INCOMPLETE LIST)
Coconuts
Large Mirrors
Baskets of Bread
Birds in Cages
8 foot long aluminum rods
Pieces of Corrugated Roofing
Propane Tanks
Coolers
Potted Plants
36" TV
Sacks of Rice
Familes (4 people on 1 bike seen with own eyes,have heard of 7 people)
Dead Pigs (full grown)
Car Engine

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

02 On the River	03 Matt at Summit	04 Kristy and Our Guide	05 River near Perfume Pagoda
05.1 Our Fellow Boat Riders to the Perfume Pagoda	06 Baskets on a Bike	07 Picture Perfect	08 Tough Guy
10 At the Summit	11 Our Teacher

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