Halong Bay

March1-6

Tamara, on our bench in Seattle

I will go back to the beginning off our journey.Tam and I left Feb 27th starting our day at 0300 to catch an early morning flight to Seattle. Arriving at 7:30 with a 5 hour layover we found 3 benches in the international departures terminals and pushed them together to make a bed. After a lovely 3 hour sleep, we felt ready and refreshed to begin the rest of our 25 hour journey.... We flew from Seattle to Tokyo, an 11 hour flight that regardless of 2 meals, free alcohol, and an upgraded seat to "Economy Comfort" which gives a bit more leg room and a better recline, I was still ready to crawl out of my skin by the end of the flight. Sadly after a 30 minute layover in Tokyo,where were tried to stretch out our muscles and check one another for DVTs (blood Clots in our legs) we boarded with some despair our 8 hour flight to Bangkok, Thailand.  The plane could not land soon enough as by this time, over-tired and cramped, I was contemplating jumping out an emergency exit. 

A quick 12 hour layover in Bangkok, we paid a whopping $17 for a hotel with free transfer to and from the airport. It provided much needed hot showers, comfortable beds, and air conditioning as when we landed at midnight the temperature was 28 degrees Celsius, with 99% humidity! 

The next afternoon we flew to Hanoi in Northern Vietnam. That is where we met and stayed with Tams friends David and Nancy and their 4 children.

My favorite part of Hanoi was with help of our local friends finding the local markets and getting away from the tourists traps. We visited two of the local market, and I was both horrified and totally intrigued to find dog for sale.  The carcass is somehow de-fured, ears cropped, feet cut off, and nose pulled back off the snout and skull to show the the teeth.  Apparently one butchers a dog at approximately one year of age, and yellow dogs are considered the best. It is considered a very macho thing to eat dog. I'm usually game to at least try most things once; dog will never make that list.

After a lovely rest and acclimatization to Vietnam, Tamara and I were ready to go explore. Tam had also been struggling with a very nasty cold, so a few days of taking it easy and visiting with her friends was really needed for her to get back to health.

Halong Bay Islands

We next jumped on a bus to Halong Bay on the Northern coast. We boarded the "Halong Bay  Party Boat", which is a 3 levels"junk" boat that quietly floats through the ocean outside of Halong. We had at the advice of friends of my younger sister booked a 2night, 3 day cruise through the islands. just off the coast of Halong Bay is a random collection of just under 2,000 small islands that have been marked as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Jutting limestone island abruptly rise out of the ocean with sharp craggy spires. It appears like a crayons was given to a small child and told to draw islands.  Few have beaches or any way to land as they rise to sharply out of the water. Covered with lush plants that have found seed within a crack, and the roots now drape down the side of the rock, following cracks within the rock, and appear like rope beckoning you to grip hold and try to scale to the mountain top. most are small and only inhabited by birds and monkeys, a few are large enough to allow for locals to have small villages on, or have beautiful golden sand beaches to entice tourists., and small resorts.

Cat Bà is the largest inhabited island with a few harbors, a large town filled with hotels and restuaurants, and a National Park. 

Tam and I boarded our "junk", and checked into our room for the night. The room was great w

ith 2 windows opening to the ocean, two beds and out own private bathroom with a shower. 

Floating Fishing Village

We began to quietly cruise through the maze of islands, floating past local fishermen and a floating village of house built upon floating docks which makes up a few of the small floating fishing villages. 

The area is absolutely breath taking and although the weather that day was overcast and cloudy it added to the mysterious  landscape. 

The Party boat was a fun atmosphere and although originally worried it would be full of loud 18 year olds instead we found people close to our own age and e made fast friends with our ship-mates.

Our Hotel on Monkey Island and the surrounding islands

Tamara on the "trail" over the island 

The next day we transferred to Monkey Island, a small island just outside of Cat Bà Island to stay in a bungalow on an amazing golden sand beach, surrounded by the lush jungle. Tam and I surprisingly found ourselves  in our own private bungalow. We hadhad some issues with our originally booking, and had changed our plans suddenly while on the boat. We had no idea what to expect and were astounded by what $67 bought us. The tour also provides all our meals and we have feasted upon fresh fruit and vegetables and fantastic food. We hiked to the top of the island to overlook the surrounding water and islands, and a hike over top of another mountain brought us to the other side of the island where small long tail monkeys live.

 The hike was more like rock climbing and scrambling though a "trail", the sharp jagged rocks were a broken ankle waiting to happen. Happily we made it across and back with minor scrapes.  The rest do the day was spent soaking up the warm sun that made its first appearance since our time here in Vietnam. Tam and I happily found a recliner in the sand and sipped on Hanoi beer while enjoying a few vacation type hours on our tour through Vietnam.  Today is a day of traveling, taking 3 boats, 2 busses, taxis and trains all in 24 hours to arrive in Sapa, which is in the far north of the country near the border with China.

We are loving Vietnam. Sad to hear those of you in Calgary are dealings with snow storms, I'll put on an extra layer of sunscreen for you today.

Sunset from Monkey Island in Halong Bay