Duc, our Handspan Tour Company guide for our Ha Long Bay adventure, met us in the lobby of the Rising Dragon Hotel at 6:15 a.m. (You will see Duc in the photos below.) Our three-hour bus ride took us through the city of Hai Phong, known, according to Duc, for its international harbor, pretty girls, and gangsters! We had a breezy, wet ferry ride from Hai Phong to Cat Ba island in Ha Long Bay, off the northeastern coast of Viet Nam. Arriving on Cat Ba, we took a bus to our beautiful home stay house, where we met our home stay family and were soon provided with a wonderful lunch. This 200 year-old "ancient house" was a traditional Vietnamese home: dark wood, statues, ancestral altar and long row of floor-to-ceiling shuttered windows, which were always open to the courtyard. (See photo of us with our home-stay family in front of their home.) After lunch and Duc's appointed "power nap", we caught a cab for our tour of Hospital Cave, where patients during the French War were cared for (see photo of Michael, Daniel and Duc) and a vantage point where we could see all of beautiful Ha Long Bay stretched out before us. That evening, after a wonderful meal consisting of many dishes, including ample options for the "veterans", as Duc called the vegetarians, we slept well in our mosquito-netted beds.
The next morning, after a breakfast of crepe-like pancakes and cute little bananas, we were off to our home for the next two days, a bright blue boat, modelled after a traditional Vietnamese fishing vessel. (See photo.) The men in the group had a great time hauling us into the boat, where we delightedly sat at the front as we motored out into the bay. We could not believe what a lovely experience we were embarking upon. (Great idea, Michael!) Later that morning we spent a couple of hours kayaking around the bay. (Jill - it's so easy!) The bay is studded with jagged limestone islands jutting out of the dark green waters. After much paddling and splashing, we returned to our boat in a madcap race, in which mother and son Michael were victorious! It was then time for a swim in the refreshing waters of the bay.
We set off on what we assumed to be a short, easy bike ride to the village of Viet Hai. These assumptions were shattered, as assumptions often are, with our first glimpse of the path under construction, which turned our 25-minute ride into a more athletic undertaking. All but Linda completed the ride without damage to life or limb. Fortunately, the damaged limb was Linda's good knee, ably attended to by "Bike Mike". Lunch in Viet Hai was a once-again sumptuous spread for both the carnivores and veterans.
Back on the boat, which by the way was our own private vessel, it was time for that day's "power nap". Next was afternoon kayaking. This time we changed partners, allowing Michael to solo. We paddled to secluded corners sheltered by limestone bluffs, and the boys climbed crumbling stairs to an old military outpost. The girls, hearing of the green mambas hanging from the trees, wisely opted out. Michael attempted a bit of free solo rock climbing (sans rope) up a sharp limestone face. (See photo.) We laid down in the kayaks in order to fit through the low, rocky entrance to a beautiful lagoon where we enjoyed paddling through the quiet, green waters before returning to our boat.
Showered and refreshed, we had dinner on the deck, where we were joined by Duc and our two-man crew. With lights out, we lay on the deck and sang, both solo and in rounds, as we looked up at the stars. Some of our group had high hopes of sleeping outside on the deck, but the wind drove even our adventurous boys inside to their cabin.
The next morning, after breakfast, we toured more of the beautiful bay, and saw, up close, the floating village where 200 families live and fish (see photo) before returning to the harbor. We went once again to our home stay house, where another delicious lunch and refreshing showers prepared us for the next leg of our journey.
We retraced our steps back to Hanoi by ferry and bus, where we sadly took our leave of our wonderful guide, Duc. We helped Daniel locate his hostel, where he would spend the night before continuing his journey the next day to Laos. We had another wonderful dinner at the Tamarind Cafe, enjoying such tasty treats as Zen pasta, black pepper chicken clay pot and teriyaki tofu sandwich. We regrouped, called our Mom and Michael's wife, Wei, and wished Daniel bon voyage for the rest of his Asian journey.
A short cab ride took us to the railway station in Hanoi, where we boarded the night train to...
Spec-freaking-tacular!!!
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