A Junk worth our Dongs

The journey from Hanoi to Ha Long bay was marked by endless rice paddys, hundreds of water buffalo, swamplands and of course, motorcycle traffic.  The distance between Hanoi and Ha Long Bay is only 160 km, but the trip took close to four hours, as our luxury coach bus had to navigate through a single lane and very bumpy highway by swerving between other like minded tour groups en route to their respective “junks” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junk_(ship)

Ha Long bay, which consists of a few thousand limestone islands that seem to be magically floating above a calm, clear water, is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Asia.  Neither pictures nor words could do the bay justice.  It truly is one of those breathtaking idyllic scenes that is a photographer's dream and honeymooners paradise.

Consequently, it is a staple in the itinerary of any tourists planning a trip to Southeast Asia, so we decided we had to explore it.  Hearing about sinking junks, overcrowded cabins, and scam artist tour operators, we were wary of booking an overnight tour in advance.  In order to avoid any potential issues, we splurged for the most luxurious option our Dong could buy us:  a 3 day, two night journey aboard the recently renovated Paloma cruise (www.palomacruise.com). 

The boat lived up to its tripadviser.com reviews.  We were treated like kings from the moment we were welcomed onto the boat with freshly squeezed mango juice and shown  our cabin, which featured a 270 degree view of the water from  the bow of the boat on the second floor.

Conducting our own muster drill aboard the Paloma

The boat had only 9 other groups and no two groups were from the same country.  We made friends with people from  South Africa, Australia, Pakistan, Spain, Canada, Britain, Dubai, China, and of course, Vietnam.

The cruise began with a 10 course welcome lunch and a breakdown of the itinerary for the three days by our tour guide, Long.  Lang was of course worried that there would not be nearly enough food on the boat for all of us, so in true American form, we overate our way through the gourmet meal.  As the entrees kept coming out, we realized once again that we would not have to resort to the Kashi Cereal  that Kaplan has been carrying around  in a plastic bag on a carabineer attached to his backpack since we left my house 1.5 weeks ago, at least until Cambodia.

The cruise charged $2.00 for beer and drinks, which is obscenely overpriced for Viet Nam.  Fortunately, the local people of the floating villages (literally they live on remote floating houses), capitalize on this egregious overpricing, by rowing up  the junks and selling pints of beer and water for a little better price—a quarter each.

After lunch, we explored the “Amazing Cave”, which lived up to its name.  The cave was formed over 300 million years ago and is home to thousands of stalactites and stalagmites as well as a nice escape from the equatorial sun.

Later in the day, we stopped in a picturesque and little cleaner swimming area (for the hundreds of years that the floating villagers have lived in Ha Long bay, they have had little choice but to use the bay as their toilet).  Only after being severely mocked by the Spaniards, we decided to jump from the 30 foot high sundeck into the warm bay.  See below for a Spanish rendition of an apparently cross-cultural childhood chicken noise and see our leap.  It looked a lot higher from our vantage point..

VIDEO TO COME WITH BETTER INTERNET ACCESS 

After cleaning up, we were given a brief Spring Roll cooking class by our incredible chefs before dinner. We then spent the late night hours squid fishing with bamboo rods under some distant lightning before Long informed us that there was a typhoon heading towards Ha Long and we would have to cut our cruise short and head back to shore the following afternoon. This morning, I woke at 6:00 AM to attend Tai Chi class on the sun deck.  Jeff and Steve slept in until 7 AM breakfast.

We then spent the morning exploring the floating village by Kayak and challenging the Spaniards to a doubles Kayak race.  Lang, and his rowing skills took the helm and rear and I took the front. The Spaniards immediately  got out to a clean 10 boat length lead after we somehow had three collisions, including one that put us at a dead stop, right out of the gate.  After a furious Lang let out a battle cry and demanded that we close the gap, we somehow miraculously came up from behind to surprise the Spaniards with a photo finish victory.  Think Jason Lesack in Beijing ’08. Jeff and his newfound South African partner Rufika, came in a respectable third.

Unfortunately our Ha Long bay cruise was cut short by a night because a Typhoon was creeping towards the area. After another 4 hour bus ride we made it back to Charming Hotel.

Tonight, we went to the best restaurant in Hanoi based off Frommer's travel guide.  Even after ordering three appetizers, eight entrees, nine beers, Vietnamese Coffees (an incredible concoction of egg yolk, coffee, and milk), and banana in coconut milk dessert, the bill still was less than $30 for the three of us.  The food was enough to feed a floating village and we impressed our waiter by eating through all of it. Lang decided to give our waiter a remarkable $6, 20% tip, and the waiter proceeded to show the entire staff.  We promised to come back soon and we’re confident we are the best customers they’ve ever had.

A three hour, $17 massage later and an all out sprint through the heaviest rain I have ever seen and we are back in Charming Hotel.  The Typhoon took out the power and the AC about 20 minutes ago and we sit here in darkness in our top floor ($30/a night) suite as the temperature seems to rise past 90 degrees.

This will presumably be posted later if we make it out alive.  (Just kidding moms, Typhoon downgraded to a Tropical Depression and we are perfectly safe.  Just really sweaty.)

Tomorrow back to exploring Hanoi with a couple of new friends from our cruise and then Karaoke with Z and her friends near her University at night.