Hanoi & Halong Bay

Arrival in Hanoi was peaceful after the mayhem of the flight from Nha Trang. Children were running up and down the aircraft aisle the entire time and the adults outdid the kids on the noise-o-meter. On JetStar, all food AND drinks are for purchase, even water :-( We spent the first evening in a restaurant that used to be a house, an old classic wooden colonial Hanoi house. It was great sitting on the cool enclosed balcony and watching the street from above while we ate shrimp encrusted sugar cane wrapped in rice paper with aromatic herbs.

The following day we explored the city first by taking the bus to the Ethnology Museum. We found out where to get on bus 14 and were on our way. Someone had thrown up on the floor of the bus and when I stood up to look at the bus route map I stepped in it and tracked it around the bus. At the next stop, the bus driver yelled to the money collector and he ran out the door, scooped a pile of dirt from the roadside and dumped it over the mess on the floor. We didn't know where to get off the bus but after we apparently passed the stop we wanted, the money collector motioned that we may want to exit. It's really nice to be able to pay and get change on the bus; it makes you think how cheap labor must be to employ an extra person on every bus! We got off the bus disoriented and asked several people (unsuccessfully) where the museum was but eventually found the right road. The museum had a description of all the ethnic groups in Vietnam, their linguistic heritage, crafts, religion, music, and economy. Outside, it had a typical house of many of the ethnic groups which were really interesting to tour.

We took the same bus home but it seemed to take a different route, partially along a one-lane road where all the motorbikes were zipping through and anything larger like cars and buses were stuck in a single-file line that did not move for about half an hour. Terrible. Eventually we got off the bus at a park we wanted to stroll through which had many interesting monuments and museums. When we tried to enter through the clearly open gate, we got yelled at by the guards. The next entrance we came upon was gated and locked so I walked up to peer through the bars to take a look at the Presidential Palace. The guard yelled at me aggressively and I motioned that I was just looking and not trying to enter, he yelled more even though I was not even touching the fence but was merely standing on the public sidewalk looking through the fully transparent iron fencing, at least a few feet away from it. He kept yelling so I started laughing and he shouted more and motioned angrily. I could not understand the idea of being prohibited from looking at something that is fully visible from a public space so I kept chuckling as the guard was seething. It was really weird but I guess that is one of those cultural differences that never makes sense to either person.

For the evening we enjoyed some wine from the nearby Dalat region and then went out for a drink where we unexpectedly ran into on of Sarah's high school friends. We enjoyed some 25 cent beers with a group of westerners and had a fun time chatting about where we had visited in Vietnam.

The following day we left early in the morning for a boat trip in Halong Bay, famous for its stunning karst landscape. We again experienced much confusion as we had to get on the bus at 8 o'clock sharp, only to ride in circles and pass our hotel again around 9 o'clock before even leaving the neighborhood. This type of thing was to be characteristic of the entire trip. The bus ride to Halong City was around 3 hours and when we got to the harbor to board the boat, we waited on the sidewalk for an hour at least while hundreds of people like us got sorted into categories of those on 2 day trips, 3 day trips, etc. We spent much of the time writing all of our names and nationalities on a sheet of paper which could have been accomplished much more efficiently on the bus. Dozens of passports were being shuffled around by all the guides for an unknown reason. When we finally got on a boat, we put all of our luggage in a huge pile on the deck, subject to weather and theft and wondered why we could not put it in our sleeping quarters since we were staying on the boat overnight. Our first stop was a magnificent cave but it was an absolute zoo. To me a cave should be a serene place, where voices are hushed, lights are low, and a sense of awe makes one want to take in the experience without distraction. Here, there was a constant stream of throngs of tourists, mostly loud obnoxious ones. A woman in high heals nearly had a panic attack when a stalactite sent a drip of water on her head and in the crowd, nearly pushed Elizabeth down the stairs. Multicolored neon lights illuminated parts of the cave which looked cool, but seemed inappropriate. There was constant yapping the whole time, shouting over the dull roar of the crowd, and shoving to take flash photos in front of the favored stalagmites. It was an amazing cave but by far the worst cave experience ever. We were told we had 40 minutes, so when we returned to the boat conscientiously on time, we waited at the dock for at least 30 minutes while boats vied for exit space from the overcrowded dock. A boatload of Vietnamese men next to us gawked and unapologetically stared and snapped photos of us as if they had never seen western women at this tourist attraction that is full of people that look like us.

The night was to bring even more excitement. Our shower was a tube attached to the sink and the knob was missing that toggles between sink and shower. You can imagine how bad the water pressure would be anyway, the without the know, only the sink worked. Like all showers in this country, it is the entire bathroom. I had to go in another room to use the shower which was a drip anyway. Shortly after falling asleep, there was a horrendous wind, thunder, and lightening storm which caused several anchored boats to collide with ours. A deafening crack of thunder startled me awake and the crew was running around yelling as the boats crashed and tipped. I woke up at 4:30 to watch the sunrise from our top deck and the sky and sea were as calm as ever.

The boat trip was terribly organized but was not without merit. We took a smaller boat around some of the karsts and into a little inlet where we swam around. We also spent the rest of the evening anchored and took turns jumping off our top deck and swimming freely in the warm water. The next morning we took kayaks and explored another cave that was only accessible by small boat so we were the only ones there. It was great until we needed a headlamp to go further so we turned around for fear of stepping off a dark ledge. The boat itself was junky with many things broken but I appreciated that it was all wood and made for a really nice atmosphere.

The boat headed back for the mainland and we waited an hour or so for a bus to take us to a restaurant that was included in our tour package. We were all eager to get back to Hanoi so ate quickly and went outside in hopes of getting on the bus first so we wouldn't get stuck with the miserable seats that fold down in the aisle of the bus. We waited outside the restaurant for an hour and a half or so while our group of ten and a hundred other people vied for the shady row under the awning with all of our luggage that we had to transport from the previous bus, as our bus sat empty and locked on the street in front of us. People were getting impatient and our tour guide was taking his time eating, then smoking a few cigarettes, the arguing inside the restaurant. The arguing became intense and the tourists were getting angry. When the bus finally opened for us, dozens more people than could fit tried to sneak on the bus. The tour guide singled them out and yelled at them until they got off the bus but it was a valiant effort since the waiting situation was becoming unbearable, all parties were angry, and no one knew when the next bus to Hanoi would be leaving.

I left out a few other annoying situations and needless to say we were happy to be back in Hanoi and free of an insane and incomprehensible tour schedule. Despite the Halong Bay mishaps, Vietnam was overall a great experience. We had a lot of fun here. Our last night in Hanoi we celebrated with some streetside seafood. The stall had dozens of clams, shrimp, mussels, etc fresh in buckets on the sidewalk. We chose clams, served with herbs dipped in tamarind/chili/lime sauce and it made for an excellent last dinner in Vietnam. I will miss all the street eateries with 6 inch tall plastic chairs, the vendors of delicious fruits on every corner, the bahn mi stands, the conical bamboo hats, the random chickens on city streets, the motorbikes with a million baskets enveloping them (or pig carcasses), the $6/night hotels, and the 50 cent fresh fruit shakes. Maybe China will have some of these things.