Our group is finally all together. Bruce and Beth arrived in Hanoi while we were in Sapa and Linda and her sister Deb arrived from Canada about an hour before we got back. We didn’t meet up until breakfast this morning.
Bun is our G-Adventures CEO and Chien is the guide for our Halong Bay excursion. Bun is very personable – typical of G-Adventure CEOs. He herded us onto the bus after breakfast and then introduced us to Chien who took over the task of enlightening us on some of the area’s history. Hanoi is over 1000 years old so this is a very old culture we are visiting. Chien touched on some of the influences of the French and the changes to the area in the aftermath of the American War.
While he talked I realized that beyond the old section of Hanoi where our hotel was is a modern clean city with wide streets and bustling businesses.
A few things of note: the temperature up in the hills of Sapa were much better than down here in the lower lands. Perhaps it was the continual breeze but here I can sweat just sitting. Also, there do not seem to be a lot of birds here. Someone mentioned that most of them have been killed for food though maybe not anymore either because of laws or lack of prey. Another thing of note: though electricity in the Sapa region is hydro, down here it is thermal – produced by the burning of coal.
We arrived in Halong and found hordes of tourists. It is not the peaceful serene place of the brochures anymore. As our junk (not very junky) took off we joined an entire armada of boats heading out towards the 1000 or so islands that dot the bay.
My room is lovely with its own bathroom. If not for the gentle rolling and hum of the engine I would think I am at a hotel.
Lunch was especially good with many different dishes – shrimp, squid, tofu, pork, salad and I don’t know what else. Now I have to try and fit into a bathing suit to go kayaking.
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The serenity and peace we usually associate with kayaking was somewhat lost in the crowds of rafts and other kayaks but the rock formations were quite unique. I believe they are called karsts. Lots of caves and sharp projections of steep cliffs. We paddled through a cave and circled the lagoon looking for little macaw monkeys that never made an appearance. But it was nice to be on the water again.
The next activity was to boat over to a small beach and climb the 200 or 300 steps to the lookout at the top again surrounded by a zillion other sweating people. The view from up top was spectacular but the low-lying clouds limited the distance.
So now we’re back at the boat. I’ve showered to wash off that layer of sweat and will head up to a comfortable lounge chair to enjoy Happy Hour.
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Supper was another feast for the gods beautifully decorated with carved vegetables shaped into flowers. After the meal we had a fascinating demonstration on how to do it by the chef himself.
This was followed by a fruitless attempt to fish for squid with a bamboo pole and then exhaustion won out.