Arrived in Hanoi pretty late in the evening, went next door of my hotel for a quick street food sit down bowl of Bun Bo (rice noodles dry, beef, herbs and a bunch of other goodness) for $2.75 and went to bed or my early journey to Bai Tu Long Bay which is part of Halong Bay but without the 500 boats.
Prior to my travels here, I was torn on whether to go to Halong Bay or not but decided to do it since I don't plan on coming back to this area. Onboard IndoChina Junk's Red Dragon! Unfortunately, weather conditions were not on our side as the fog just would not let up for the sun to shine through. "Just like San Francisco!" Martin, a nice gentleman from the Netherlands would say. We docked, climbed up some steps to see a cave, kayaked a little bit, visited some seven four week old puppies and back on the boat for the overnight stay.
Dinner conversation centered around the still missing Malaysian flight, as well as, the Asiana crash some months ago at SFO. I actually flew Asiana here, figured now is the safest time to fly that airline as they can't afford another accident. Martin thought the same as he flew Malaysia Air. We also talked a bit about movies, All Is Lost, as well as, that movie about the container ship being pirated in Somalia starting Tom Hanks. I don't remember the name but watched it twice on my long flight here and would highly recommend it!
We had a 7am breakfast wake up call which the French and the Belgiums were not thrilled about. I arrived on the deck of the boat, looked out and said, "oh, same same but different." It's a common saying here in Vietnam...much like TIA, "this is Africa" in Africa. The English couple, Sue and Michael, as well as Martin thought it was funny. Fog again! It was so foggy that we had to delay our departure, skipped the floating fishing village (kinda bummed) we were suppose to visit, as well as the pearl farm (kinda thrilled), because the captain and his crew couldn't see a darn thing out there. For a moment, I wondered if this is what Robert Redford in All Is Lost felt like?
The captain had really sophisticated equipment to work with, a GPS map showing the limestone islands and our boat, a compass and the engine controls. No depth meter, no radar but he did have a working cell phone to communicate with other neighboring boats. Sue, Michael, Martin and I found humor in it all but couldn't say the same for all parties on the boat. How could you not find humor when you see all crew on board (the guide, waiter/bartender, two cooks, engineer and captain), at the front of the boat, looking outward into the fog for some type of direction?! They would do this whether we were docked at the moment or going in circles. The limestones formation, well the ones I could see, were beautiful. They were actually much like the ones I saw on a cruise in Thailand.
Sue and Michael, from Boots, England were onboard celebrating their 40th Anniversary. The cruise experience, though disappointing from a scenery standpoint but lovely from a relaxation and food standpoint (loved watching the fishing junks appear and reappear through the fog), would not have been the same without them. It was well worth meeting that couple and the laughs we all shared. Their exchanges were priceless: Sue, "who told me not to bring a book?!" Michael, "well you know you should never listen to me. I didn't know you would listen to me. You shouldn't listen to me!" When Hien, our guide tried to teach us the Vietnamese way of "saying cheers", Michael, a Vietnam vet, lost patience and said,"oh, let's just get on with it. Two beers!" I guess you had to be there.
Arrived back in Hanoi after a five and a half hour drive and tonight, I am off to Sapa on the overnight sleeper train. Wish me luck with that one!
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