Team Northrup: Halong Bay to and from

Well, we are sitting in the Hanoi International Airport (just three months old!) and waiting for our flight to Laos. Only three nights left and then we begin the long journey home.

Propaganda signs line the highway

The last two days have been calm and low key. We drove from Hanoi early in the morning yesterday 110 miles to Halong Bay...it took us nearly 4 hours. Yup. There is only one road that goes to Halong Bay (a natural wonder, high tourist spot...one road). And, I meant to say earlier that if we didn't make it out of Vietnam, it would likely be due to an accident on these roads. Really, I know I keep talking about this, but the only option is to keep your eyes on the back of the driver's seat. People actually, no joke, drive on the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD. I am not talking like in England or Australia wrong side, I mean that if a driver gets tired of his side of the road, or maybe knows his turn is coming up sometime in the next ten miles, they just saunter on over and are driving right at oncoming traffic. And, no one panics, no one shakes their fist and puts their head out any windows yelling "Get over!" Nope, it's like it happens all the time. Wait, it does.

Anyway, I asked Phong today what kind of training one needs to get to get a driver's license and for a motorbike, he says, you just pay five dollars. For a car, it is much more difficult, you have to take a class for three months and then take a written test. Woah. This explained a lot. No behind the wheel, no road test, nothing. Just money to line the pockets of the traffic division. Wonky. And, since there are five billion motor scooters to every one car, you know how likely accidents are. And...we only saw one. A man lying in the middle of the road surrounded by motor scooters.

Okay, on to Halong. We stopped at a tourist shop which employs physically disabled people in work. They do handicrafts and tailoring and have a little cafe. We stopped again there today on the way back for lunch. Without work like this, the people would not be accepted in their villages and would suffer. It is a massive shop and filled with tourists, so it is good for everyone.

Halong Bay, the cluster of boats is a fishing village, the
people live here all the time.

Our boat through Halong Bay

We arrived in Halong Bay around noon and got aboard a three level "junk boat" and settled into our rooms for an overnight cruise around the bay. First, we docked at an island and climbed the stairs to the top for a view of the spectacular massive rocks jutting out of the water. Halong means "Dragon Rising" and the many rocks that grace the bay are like dragon scales we are told. It is beautiful there. After climbing for the tip-top view, Quinn and I hopped in a kayak and paddled between the many other tourist boats and explored some caves across the water from our boat. Beautiful.

We got up this morning after Tai Chi and then hit shore somewhere in Vietnam to explore a cave inside of one of the outcroppings. After that little experience, we packed up and headed back into Hanoi for our flight to Laos.

On our way back we also stopped at a little village and were welcomed into the home of a seventy-two year old woman. We just showed up on her door step and she asked us in...it probably happens all the time since another little group followed us into her house after we left. But, she raises pigeons for food and had a scrawny chicken or two walking around her courtyard. The pigeons were curious about us and so they wanted to visit with us as well in her house. This woman took out her best whisky (in a 2L plastic bottle that definitely had been around the block a bit) that she made herself with sticky rice and offered it to us to drink. We declined politely (I hope) and she also gave us a plate of peanuts that she alternately ate and fed the pigeons with. She was all smiles and let us just hang out at her home (one room, two beds a couple of shelves) and we asked her a few questions about her life. She has seven children and fourteen grandchildren and her mother waited outside the door while we visited. She was from another village over. She showed us the kind of hospitality that people in the US are unused to. It was genuinely sweet to sit in her tiny room of a house.

Our host

We also visited a large outdoor market and saw every kind of thing you could imagine being sold. And, the level of dirt and grime is indescribable. The market was jam packed with people making their purchases of raw meats/fish and vegetables, fruit even tshirts and rubber gloves. One girl stopped Quinnie on the way out of the market to speak to her in English about her studies and where we were from. Her English was awesome but her smile was even better.

We are sticky and dirty and ready for our next adventure in Laos. We go for one day and two nights, then to Cambodia for one night and I have no idea what to expect. Vietnam was beautiful, dirty, and friendly all at once. We hear Laos and Cambodia are even more of those things. So, I will post again soon.