ASIA TRIP 2013: Hanoi to Halong Bay Part II

ASIA TRIP 2013
HANOI TO HALONG BAY
Part II

Halong Bay

The drive from Hanoi to Halong Bay takes 3 1/2 to 4 hours down a 2 lane road. Surrounding you are buses, motorcycles, bicycles and a few cars.   EVERYONE is honking or trying to pass you.  You pass village after village, rice fields after rice fields.  In the middle of most rice fields are the family's burial plots.  

Rice Field

Interesting Fact: Vietnamese people are buried twice.  Strange, right?  The first time, the body is buried in a traditional coffin with everyone wishing them well and celebrating their life.  Three years later, the local shaman takes the bones from the coffin and re-buries the bones in the family's plot.

There was a stop halfway to Halong Bay at a store selling total “crapage”. Jeff saw a gong and we negotiated it from $160 to $125.  On the way back to the Hanoi Airport, we have been “promised” that there will be another option.

Junk Ship

We arrived into Halong Bay which is a small port city advertising itself as a resort city...by American standards, this is NOT a resort city!  We were escorted onto our junk.  Junks are rustic small sailing boats which have been converted to "hotels on water".  We were told that our junk, owned by Indochina Sails and not the 3 ships owned by Trails of Indochina were the best.  The feel to me is Novotel.  I'm going with the flow for the experience of the islands of Halong Bay but this is not a 5 star experience.  (To some of you, this would not matter at all.)  The beauty and uniqueness of Halong Bay is why it is on people's bucket list.  Some of you would feel that the 3 1/2 to 4 hours each way plus the accommodations would not be worth your time.  This blog is explaining the differences so when its your time to visit, you can make a decision.

Tip top Island

We saw Tip top Island and a local fishing village.  There is a very tight schedule of events if you want to experience the excursions.   Today, we woke up at sunrise (5:15am) and took a Tai Chi Class followed by visiting a cave and brunch.  Our return to Hanoi Airport took 4 hours.  Please keep in mind, we only went 160 km (about 110 miles).  The roads were that bad!  Our halfway point was another stop selling the same kind of stuff.  We stopped at a small village to see a water puppet show (something that Northern Vietnam is known for).  Jeff bought a "used" puppet in the shape of a cat or a fox to bring home. 

Our flight to Laos took 1 hour and 10 minutes.  

Example of a Suite on a Junk Ship

I'll talk about Laos in my next blog.

Stay tuned and thank you for following this adventure.

The World is Our Playground!


Mari