Vietnam Part 2

After one more night in Hanoi, we boarded a bus headed for Halong Bay. Going against guide book advice, we booked our Halong tour at our guest house. We still are not sure if that was a mistake. While we are happy that we visited Halong Bay, we felt along with most people we ran into or folks we overheard grumbling, that you don't get what you pay for. It was a bit like going to summer camp where you can only engage at certain activities at certain times, and the pictures of the nice bunks that your parents showed you to persuade you to go to camp turn out to be hot and uncomfortable. The big difference is that you are an adult, not a little kid. However, you can't do anything about the situation because the tourism industry is set up so that the blame for any problem can't be traced back to a source. People on our boat trip paid anywhere from 60 dollars to 110 dollars, but the amount people paid had nothing to do with who was allowed to do certain activities and who was not. Two Irish fellas on our boat were shuffled around to multiple different tour groups and even abandoned once. We only know this because they would magically reappear at every new location. As ridiculous as it all was, we had a good time, met some nice people, and saw some beautiful scenery.

The only way to appreciate Halong Bay's warm sea waters and 3,000 karst formations is aboard a Junk, but don't let the name fool you. Junks range in sizes and usually include a dinning room, sunning deck, and individual cabins. We managed to make it aboard our junk, avoiding any "human loss". A common problem when naive tourists wander away from their small groups while they are corralled under a canopy awaiting departure permission. Our guide's name was Twan. A 23 year old thin Vietnamese man who managed to change his stylish outfits at least 3 times a day and maintain the longest finger nails I've ever seen on a man. When he would get stressed out, he would start grooming his eye brows or finger nails, and he always lovingly referred to us as his "dear guests" (even after his "dear guests" began to voice some extreme frustrations). The food served aboard the junk was amazing which almost made up for the over charging of beers. Fresh fish, squid, noodles, and fruit served on the massive wooden tables in the overly ornate dinning room. Two cabins were located on the second deck adjoining the dinning room and the rest were bellow. We felt lucky that we got a big room, but the lucky feelings faded while trying to fall asleep in the sweltering heat under an fan that sounded like a wave runner engine.

The first afternoon, we visited "Surprising Cave" which contained 3 separate caverns growing 'surprisingly' larger as you headed further into the cave. Very quickly, along with the hundreds of other tourists, we were herded out of the cave and toward the kayaks. We paddled through the tree-topped karst formations, through a cave tunnel, and into a cool cove. The breath-taking views were only slightly marred by the tour guides who kept busy by shouting at the tourists who were jumping out of the kayaks to cool down in the water. After 1 hour of kayaking, we were finally allowed to go swimming as the sun set. Leon and a couple other guests jumped from the top deck of the boat while the rest of us opted for the lower second deck. Surprisingly warm, the dip felt well earned. We spent the evening getting tossed with our fellow passengers. Leon and I had thought ahead about the pricey drinks and brought a bottle of rum aboard. We didn't account for the lack of ice throughout SE Asia, so we enjoyed our rum and coke-light luke-warm.

The next day we were shuffled off the boat, into buses, and driven to the "trekking" portion of our adventure. We basically walked up a massive hill, climbed a rusting metal tower, and enjoyed a view of the surrounding forest. A tiny, crazy, little man guided us up the hill. He showed me how to use little bristles to make darts, fed me some random green fruit, fanned us while perching himself on random branches, and posed with me for a picture. He was my favorite part of the trek. When you get to the top of the hill, you step out of the shade and directly into the boiling heat. Leon and I decided to head down early to get back into the shade. Unfortunately, we got a bit lost and managed to find the muddiest way down. Luckily, there was a well at the bottom, so we cleaned up before getting back on the bus.

The next activity on our tour was "Monkey Island". We got our first motor cycle taxi experience as the bus was too full and Leon and I got to ride behind two racing motor cycles. On our way to monkey Island, we passed a floating fishing village where all the little houses are tide together on docks. I wasn't that surprised to see that even the floating village managed to have stray dogs running around. Monkey Island failed to produce more than one aggressive male monkey. We spent our couple hours there just chatting and swimming and watching the more foolish tourists try to provoke monkey. No one was bit, but one guy was smacked. We spent the evening in a mediocre hotel and ate a mediocre dinner. The next morning we bused, boated, and bused again back to Hanoi. we went to sleep early to prepare for our flight the next morning to Dien Bien Phu.

We rode in a small plane for only an hour (avoiding the 16 hour bus journey which we later heard was a knuckle-whitening experience involving cliffs and mud slides). Dien Bien Phu is small town historically known for the last major battle that took place between the French and Vietnamese. We stayed in a quiet guest house and spent the day sight seeing. The hill on which the battle took place has been maintained and the tunnels and trenches rebuilt. Following the tunnels for even a couple minutes in the dark made me panic. Spending days in those tiny tunnels would be unreal. We also visited the war monuments to both the French and Vietnamese. It was another early night for us as we had to catch a 5:30 Am bus to Laos.