A-Bay-Bay A-Bay-Bay, Halong Bay


ROKAY! This is the fifth and final post about Vietnam, which I've started out with a bit of Hurricane Chris.  I’m so tired of blogging at this moment, but I do it for all of you people who have found some odd interest in reading my blog. 

SO HERE WE GOOOOOO!!!!!!

Maia and I set up a three-day tour to Halong Bay through Central Backpackers Hostel for $105.  Seems like a lot right? Well it’s not when you consider what’s included in this package: transportation, delicious food, accommodations, tour guide, and several day activities.  The only extras you have to pay for are drinks if you don’t bring your own.

I’m in a listing mood, so I’ll list all that we did.

1)      4 hour bus trip to the docks.  If you’ve researched the tours, you may have seen that one can take out Chinese junks, but I didn’t see any.  So don’t be disappointed that all the boats are white.
Our boat!




2)      Boat tour around the islands, which was exquisitely beautiful.  I don’t feel like using pretty evocative language to try and capture the beauty of this place, which is one of the New Seven Natural Wonders of the World.  This honor and title should explain its beauty enough.

3)      Tour through Heaven Grotto.  There’s a legend behind this which you can read if you click on the link and scroll down a bit! It’s a rather good legend.  The grotto is super amazing, and I was so impressed by nature and its formations.  But, the colored lights and copious amounts of tourists inside almost ruined everything.  I did, however, have a fun time imagining that I was a dragon doing a real estate search.  I could see myself living there if I were a dragon.
Rainbow rocks

This is much better


4)      Back on the boat to other docks to go kayaking for 30 minutes.  It was super great.  Maia and I had to hurry out of the path of one of the big boats, and then cruised around through the rocks, getting in a good balance of exercise and relaxation. 

Isn't it grand?

Under the archway

5)      Back on the boat to tour the bay some more, then we docked and slept on the boat.

6)      Day 2! It was raining in the morning.  We went to Cat Ba Island and then went on a two-hour hike up to the top of a mountain.  It was a bit slippery, but it was a great hike despite the fact that our tour guide may have been on drugs.  He kept screeching and attacking people like a monkey, and fanning everyone with his umbrella even though it was not hot.  The view at the top was pretty amazing, especially after climbing a sketchy rusty ladder tower.  Some of the group decided to see the Hospital Cave that was used during the Vietnam War rather than hike.  So if hiking isn’t your thing, there are other things to do.
At the top with our crazy tour guide

The scary tower



7)      Cruised to Monkey Island where we enjoyed staying in bungalows by the beach for the night.  Many activities were provided, such as kayaking, volleyball, swimming, foozball, ping ping, billiards, and surfing the Internet. I went swimming for a little bit, laid in the sun, read my book, and enjoyed the scenery.  My favorite part of the day was the sunset- I took way many pictures of the sunset.

Beach bungalow haven

Ain't it just purty time eleventyseven?


8)      The next day was mostly dedicated to heading back to Hanoi.  Nothing exciting there, but I did enjoy a conversation that we had with some Brits.  One of them was trying to come up with a clever name for his boat, should he happen to inherit one in the future. I beamed when they said that the name for my imaginary boat, Anchor Wat, is annoying clever.  Anchor Wat is a play on Angkor Wat, a temple complex in Cambodia.  Leave a comment, and let me know what YOU would name YOUR boat, or just leave a list of witty boat names.

 

So Halong Bay was awesome! I hope the pictures capture some of the beauty of this amazing place, and that you may want to go one day!
SO MUCH GREEN

You could be eating this on the boat

 

So, after we got back to Hanoi, Maia and I enjoyed one last meal at Quan An Ngon Restaurant where I ordered a sparrow atop my papaya salad.  I do not like eating sparrow- there are too many bones, and the flavor is not great.  But I did get an excellent bagel at Joma’s Bakery right next to the hostel for the next morning’s breakfast: we had to leave at 6:30 am, before free breakfast, to get to the airport.

 

The flight to Bangkok was short, as was the time that it took for all the Thai people to get off the plane.  Remark to all flyers- don’t be idiots when getting off of the plane- do it in an orderly fashion and be a decent human being by helping people get their stuff down from the overhead cabins if you have access to the aisle.  Don’t push people to get to the front if you are in the back of the plane- you’re just being a doofus jerk.  Thai people have this de-boarding thing down to a quick and painless art.

 

From Bangkok, we had to decide on taking the train or bus back to Chiang Mai.  The sleeper train is super cheap, 14 hours long, and often it runs over time.  The bus takes about 10 hours, and is still pretty cheap, but you have to sit rather than lie down as you can do on a sleeper train.  We decided to take the bus, and buy first class tickets so that we could recline our seats and have air conditioning.  It wasn’t bad except for the fact that we had to stop on the side of the road for about 2 hours for a mechanic to fix something on the bus.  That was annoying.  The best part about the bus trip was that I got to watch a bunch of Thai music videos and movies.  Thais are obsessed with love triangles- I swear, all of the plots to all of their entertainment include love triangles.  Stop it, Thailand.  No don’t, I think it’s hilarious to see how you try to make the plots different.

One last look  :)
 

SO! Maia and I got back to Payap at 12:30 am, 10 hours before class started in the morning. And our Vietnam adventure was officially over.  It was an amazing one, and I’m so glad that I went.  I have another stamp in my passport, I experienced a different culture, I met a lot of really great people, and I had some really amazing adventures.  It was a vacation well-spent.

 

If you are in Thailand for any extended period of time and want to visit Vietnam, all ya gots to do is obtain a letter from the embassy stating that you have permission to go to Vietnam (which you can apply for online and have it emailed to you), fill out a form, take a passport photo, and pay a $25 fee for a single-entry pass into get a visa at the airport.  Piece of cake.

 

Speaking of cake, I just nommed on White Chocolate Cake and Carrot Cake from Duke’s Restaurant and now my tummy is bursting.  Be jealous.

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