Just 2 American Kids: Hanoi

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!

Day 3:

Our Travel Agent, Thinh ("Chin") had said we needed to be back to the tour office sometime between 7:30 and 8 AM to get picked up so we woke up and had a leisurely breakfast. Nick browsed the t-shirts for a while, we snapped a few more photos and then made our way to the office. It was only a few blocks away and we got there by 7:45.

We found the office just fine...and it was still there! Phew. Couldn't have been a scam if it was still there, right?

Hmm, no sign of the bus and the office wasn't open yet either, which we found curious. A few minutes and many buses passed but none of them stopped. With every passing bus we got a little more anxious. Thinh said just to be there between 7:30 and 8, right?

Wait, what?

Oh. My. Gosh. Between 7:30 and 8? Is that what she meant? We thought she meant just be there sometime between 7:30 and 8 and the bus would also be there to pick us up. But did the bus have other stops and we were supposed to be there at 7:30 so that when the bus came sometime between 7:30 and 8 we would get picked up? Had something been lost in translation and we had missed the bus? Crap!

Ok, well, let's check the tickets. Not helpful. There was a bunch of Vietnamese printed on the ticket and 7:30~8 written on it. At the bottom was one English sentence that said something along the lines of "If you are not present when the bus comes, the bus will leave with out you. No refunds."

Double crap!!

It was now about 5 minutes to 8, the office was still not open and no buses were making any indication of stopping for us.

My stomach sank. How could we have been so stupid? It makes so much more sense for us to be there at 7:30 so we were ready whenever the bus showed up! How had we not thought of it that way? Why had we taken our time with breakfast and buying a shirt when we could have been there when the bus came?!

My stomach was now a lead pit.

God, I prayed, this one's in your hands.

And just when we were about to give up the last hope,

A BUS STOPPED!!! A man got out and walked over to us and checked our names off his clipboard! This was us!!! HOORAY!!!!!! Thank you, Jesus!

I could have cried I was so relieved. It wasn't a scam. We didn't miss the bus. We were actually going to Ha Long Bay. It was working!!

We crossed the street and got on the bus :D

We made a few more stops and picked up some more tourists and were quickly on our way. It was a 3.5 hour ride so we settled in and got to know some of our bus mates, seeing as we'd be spending the next day and half with them. Our first new acquaintance were 2 Americans, one whom was prior Navy- small world, you betcha! I also took a few photos out of the back of the bus as we drove away form Hanoi.

The weather? Gray and cloudy, as it would be for our entire trip- except for day 6...

Thatch roofed houses

Hanoi Skyline

GIGANTIC pile of trash

People farming (rice, we think). Yes, they really do wear those straw steepled hats!

Ask Nick about the construction and architecture of Vietnam sometime....

We made a pit stop about half way there and yup, I found a kitty!

It was a really funny 'rest stop' because it was actually another tourist trap. They were selling all these random and HUGE lawn statues. Who buys garden statues at a rest stop in Vietnam?!? In the photo above, a man is carving a new statue.

Aaaand then I found some kittens!!!

So precious!!!

We got to Ha Long Bay about noon, along with a sea of other tourists about to get on their junks (that's really what their called!) for their cruises.

First we got on a mini junk that would take us out to the main junk that was parked further out in the harbor.

There it is! Our Imperial Cruise junk. Not much to look at on the outside but really pretty nice on the inside.

We had opted for the "deluxe" room.

Our first glimpses of the Bay from our junk.

The kitchen on the junk. If you take a right, just past those shelves in the upper picture, you end up on the back of the boat (pictured below)...

...looks like this.

Shortly after setting sail, lunch was served. Overall, the food was delicious! Especially the first lunch since I had been too distracted by kittens at the rest stop, I hadn't bought a a snack = ^_^ =

Pictured above is one of the lunch dishes- morning glories! I didn't know you could eat the vines!

The main course: Before^ and After \/

By the time lunch was over, we were getting into the thick of some limestone karsts that the Bay is famous for.

They have these floating houses and towns throughout the bay.

Genius way to cut watermelon! This way, you don't have to get sticky watermelon juice all over your face.

The third deck of our junk. If only it were sunny!

It was a bummer that it was cloudy and misty the whole time we were in the Bay but at the same time, it was rather mysterious how the karsts loomed up out of the mist in the distance.

Very Vietnam: - A woman on her cell phone while rowing her away through Ha Long Bay in an old fashioned Vietnamese row boat.

After lunch we took a nap. Then we were back in the mini junk, off to explore the "Surprising Cave" which was to be followed by some kayaking.

We were in the mini junk and could see the cave coming up on the rock face above us but then abruptly,

the mini junk pulled over at this floating village.

Six of us get off and then the rest of our group started to pull away on the mini junk without us!

Hey, where are you going?!

Our tour guide just said, "You 4 stay here, yup. We'll come back later."

Umm what?! Later? How much later? What are we supposed to do here?

But the mini junk had already pulled away. Right. What do you do? We explored a bit.

There was a boat full of supplies but no one was really around. There was also a pile of kayaks but no oars. Maybe we were supposed to kayak first and then trade off with the rest of our group?

So we tried to ask a lady that we found.

Hey, can we get a kayak?

Maybe later, she says. Again with this 'later' business. How much later!

Meanwhile, our new friend loved the resemblance he had to the Buddha and this other guy motored past with large blue mystery tubs...

After 10 minutes or so our mini-junk returned! It was now empty except for one Aussie woman from our cruise and our tour guide. We quickly hopped back on (while we had the chance!) and she was able to explain why we had been left behind. Apparently we had too many people on the mini junk and there were officials checking at the dock by the cave. Instead of making 2 trips all the way to the boat and back, they just dropped us off nearly halfway there so it didn't take as long to come get us. (She was still in the boat because there were stairs to get up the cave and her knee was injured.)

Sure would have been nice to know all that before we were left behind!!

Shrine.

Woot! At last we made it and caught up with the rest of our group.

We were taken in to the first room of the cave and quickly realized how inadequate our camera was for the job (so please excuse the blurry and dark photos!).

Then we walked into another area of the cave and learned exactly why it was called "Surprising Cave."

Looks like a finger, right? ;)

After walking the cave, we went back to the floating town where we had been ~~left behind~~ dropped off at before. Now it was time for kayaking. Neat!

The clouds broke up for just a minute and we got to see part of the sunset!

Hmm, let's paddle over here and explore another cave!

Saw postcards with this same image for sale!

All too soon, it was time to return the kayaks and head back to our junk/cruise liner. There was a small social hour where they served some fruit and wine and we were able to meet some more of our fellow cruisers- or junkies, as I like to call them ;)

There was this one older couple from France we sat down next to. She took one sip of the red wine and positively sputtered and made a disgusted face as she swallowed. "Zis is terrible! Like Vinegar!" I hadn't really taken note of it. It was just wine, right? But before I could try another sip, she obligingly took my glass away from me and would not let me have another sip! Funny lady!

There were people from all over on our cruise! In addition to the American guys we met on the bus, there was this French couple, 3 Dutch girls, a young English couple, a Thai girl and her mother, a Chinese family, a Japanese man from Osaka (!), and another French man who was living in Houston. Yay friends!

After dinner, we tried our hand at fishing for squid! The poles were just bamboo rods with fishing string with a hook attached. To fish for a squid, you stand at the front of the boat, at nighttime and shine a light into the water. Then you drop your line in the water and just move your hook&line all the way up out of the water and then drop it back in, etc, etc. It was dull work. Eventually someone caught one. Although, he saw it swimming past and literally just pulled his pole up as it swam past, therefore hooking it in the side.

And that was the only one we caught before getting bored. And cold!