Vietnam Day 4

Day 4:

Our last day in Ha Long Bay and Hanoi. We were sad that it was already time to end the cruise because we had just made so many new friends but we were feeling ready to tackle the rest of the country. The cruise had been a nice break but it was time to start making the long journey south!

I woke up extra early to to take some photos of the sunrise on the Bay but alas it was another misty cool day.

We still had a few activities left in our cruise before it was over though! After breakfast we toured a pearl farm. We were able to see where they grow the oysters and how they harvest the pearls.

Did you know it takes 18 months for an oyster to mature enough to grow a pearl and then another 18 months for the pearl to be ready for harvesting? That's a 3 year investment!

Baskets o' oysters

Operating room? If you live out on on of those floating houses, is this where they bring you for emergency surgery?!?

Only if you are an oyster with a pearl inside!

We thought she looked like a dentists, what with her precision tools and all.

Whose house is missing their front door?

Of course there was an area where they wanted us tourists to buy their (overpriced) pearls.

A new pearl harvested.

Some last glimpses of the bay. The fog was really starting to roll in now.

After the pearl farm tour, we said goodbye to about half of the group who were staying another night in the bay on Cat Ba island.

Our last activity, as the boat made its way back to land, was a cooking class on making 'Nem' or spring rolls. I was quite looking forward to learning the proper way because the first time I had tried back home they were straight up inedible.

Our tour guide/cooking instructor. He said 'Yup' quite a lot.

Nick has a go.

And then I tried. Fun! And they were delicious, edible even ;)

Last photo on the junk with our tour guide, Tu. Yup.

Back on dry land we had about a half hour before the bus came so we explored a little and found the "Super Ecology Toilet." Unfortunately, we weren't able to find out what that meant because there were no stairs!

As we waited we chatted with our new friends and soon discovered that we were headed to the same city as Rahpael (pictured on the right). What a coincidence! We were both headed to Dong Hoi, although Nick and I by night bus and Raphael by sleeper train. Even still, we would arrive within an hour of each other so we decided we would meet at the train station in Dong Hoi the next morning to hopefully discover that city together!

Some new friends and some old friends!

Shortly before the bus arrived, these two strangers appeared out of no where for a quick hug and well wishes before they had to catch their boat. Yes, we knew we were going to be in the same country at the same time but since Nick and I had planned so little it was a coincidence that we were in Ha Long Bay at the same time!


Even though we had slept well on the boat, we still slept most of the way back to Hanoi. We woke up at one point because there was a commotion, the bus had slowed way down, and traffic was starting to build up. Everyone was craning their necks to see out of the right side of the bus.

What's going on? What's out there?

The sobering truth of how they drive in Vietnam.

There appeared to have been a motorbike accident and there was a man on a the pavement laying next to his motorbike. His limbs were at unnatural angles; he was not wearing a helmet. There were no blood or brains on the pavement but he was also not moving.

A few men were just getting to the scene to roll him over as we passed by in the bus. There was really no telling if he was just knocked out or dead.

It was rather disturbing to see but really, this must happen a lot. There are so many motorbikes on the road amidst cars, vans, buses, and trucks, and the majority of them do not wear helmets (or seat belts). In addition, they are C.R.A.Z.Y. drivers! There don't appear to be any road rules, speed limits or law enforcement. (As we saw printed on a t-shirt: Green Light means I can go. Yellow light means I can go. Red light means I still can go.) The most important car part in Vietnam is your horn. People are constantly sounding their horns to let other drivers know they are about to pass you, that they are not stopping at this stop sign, that they are coming up from behind, and that they are about to hit you so you better get out of the way!

Also, drivers take a LOT of risks. For example, the drive to Ha Long Bay was all 2 lane highways. The only way to pass the car ahead of you is to drive into the oncoming traffic's lane. There were no breaks that I would have deemed long enough to be able to pass another car but our bus driver was constantly passing cars. At times, he was cutting it so close that all you could see out of the windshield was the inevitability of a head on collision but then at the very last moment, our driver would pull out of the way, back into the proper lane.

We somehow managed to safely make it back to Hanoi and were dropped back off at the Sinh Cafe. Thinh was working again and we had just over an hour to before we were getting picked up for the sleeper bus trip that night. We got some more details about the bus schedule and hammered out a few more details for the transportation at the end of the trip.

This was the "oper tour" bus schedule. 

We were about to get on the bus from Hanoi leaving at 6pm and would get off in Dong Hoi at 4 AM. Hopefully this sleeper bus would be comfortable enough for sleeping!

We had about 20 more minutes and hadn't eaten dinner yet so we made a mad dash around the block and decided to try a few of the foods from the street vendors since it would be quick, cheap, and hopefully filling.

Even thought we had been so wary of the street vendors, the food turned out to be delicious! Too bad we discovered this so shortly before we left!

After filling our bellies and grabbing a few snacks for the road (who knew if the bus would make any stops?), we headed back to the office to wait for the bus.

The entirety of the travel agency and Thinh!

A short while later we were picked up in a van and driven to the bus stop. After a brief bit of confusion with the ticket, we boarded the Sleeped Bus!

From the outside it just looked like a coach bus but on the inside it was set up quite differently. There were 3 rows of "bunk beds" and each "bed was a reclined seat. Your feet tucked under the head of the 'bed' ahead of you. Pretty cool, actually! I think Mega Bus should buy some!

We chose a seat neat the back.

The very back of the bus was a triple bed! 

Two British girls chose it on our bus hoping no one else would get on. They were lucky. At one point, however, they did noticed that Nick's legs were a bit too long for the seat he was in and offered him the middle bed so his legs could hang off the edge into the aisle.

He kindly turned them down.

Shortly after departing from Hanoi, the lights were turned off and the bus quieted down. The bus would make random stops on the side of the highway for less than 5 minutes and then take off again. Sometimes people would get on and off but they weren't making any announcements so we really had no idea what was going on.

Nevertheless, we were soon asleep (although we did wake up frequently hoping we hadn't missed our stop).

Check back tomorrow to find out what city we woke up in and if we ever met up with Raphael!
Thanks for reading!