Stories from Halong Bay

After a fantastic 3 day boat tour of Halong Bay it took a good 36 hours of taxi's, planes and buses to get me to my current location - Yangshuo.

Halong Bay (a.k.a. Ixnay on the Iet Cong Vay)
Kelly and I woke up much too early last Monday morning to be picked up by a swanky mini-van which took us from Hanoi to Halong City. Here we would board the "Imperial Junk" - the boat that would be our home for the next 3 days as we cruised around Halong Bay.

The mini-van ride to Halong City seemed exceptionally long since I was stuck in a middle seat, third row from the front, between Kelly and an 18 year old Dutch kid. At the rest stop mid-way through the drive, I turned to Kelly, completely exhausted and said, "You've got to switch with me. I. am. going. to. die". And so I slept for the next hour and a half with my face pressed up against the window, mouth open and perhaps (so someone may have said), drooling.

When we finally arrived at the ship, both Kelly and I were glad we splurged for the 80USD option. We were met with white linen table cloths, wine glasses, wicker chairs and a "sumptuous seafood lunch" (not really all that sumptuous). Two American guys joined us at our table and spent the next 40 minutes wondering where their passports had been taken. Kelly and I, much too used to randomly handing our passports over to strangers, sat back and laughed to ourselves at our nervous neighbors.

After lunch, the boat took off (our passports somewhere on the boat with the captain?), and we headed out on the bay towards some sort of cave. While inside the cave (I'm really not sure why we were in a cave), Kelly and I spotted both visions of Santa, Buddha, and Jesus. Both the Americans got in on our Jesus sightings and this led us to losing our tour group.

American #1: Well, they're either up there... or down there...
Kelly: The odds are 50/50 really.

We eventually reunited with the group and boated to a white-sandy beach for swimming followed by the boat docking for the night in the middle of Halong. The evening was spent drinking beers on the top deck of the boat with the Americans (who both turned out to be much cooler than our initial-passport-panic impression) and two Danish girls. Definitely a good end to a long day.

The next day was spent biking, kayaking and beaching and the evening was spent on Cat Ba island in a swanky hotel (again, excellent choice on the $80.00 option). The Americans, Kelly and I all headed out for beers along the boardwalk and ended up at a terrible 'Western' bar where the drinks were bad and the service was worse.

American #2: Um, can I have Bailey's, milk and ice?
Server: Uhh...
American #2: You know, Bailey's. Milk. And ice.
Server: You want have Barley's. Meelk. And iiice?
American #2: Yes, Bailey's. Milk. And ice.

We spent the following day travelling from Halong Bay, to Halong City and then back to Hanoi. When American #1 fell asleep on the bus with mouth in full fly catching position, Kelly and I both decided he's my soul mate and are currently planning the wedding.

After arriving back in Hanoi, we found there was no more rooms at the hotel we had already booked and were shuttled off to a less-than-clean over-flow hotel down the street. Met up with the Americans for dinner and then headed to the airport at 6:30am for our flight back to China.