Halong Bay

Having been told that the Halong Bay trip was a lot of fun (read: the bar is open until the last man is standing), I wasn't surprised to see it start off with the hostel staff handing out giant straw sombrero style hats. I guess the colourful hats helped them spot us in a crowd while we were in transit.

The bus ride to Halong Bay was just over 3 hours, with one stop on the way. They had a giant gift shop and a small restaurant. This gift shop was pretty much a scam. They were asking for upwards of ten times what I had paid for hand made embroidered art the day before (for almost the exact same pieces). If you went to Halong Bay straight from the Airport, you may not have realized what a rip-off it was. Nonetheless I was hungry so In got some food (which was more reasonably priced). Personally, I've found the ramen noodles to be the exact same thing as back home, although the flavouring is sometimes better.

The first night we were to stay on a boat, and the second night on our own private beach. I was actually impressed by the boat - apparently they had recently renovated it. Halong Bay itself is beautiful - just an endless stream of limestone cliffs jutting out of the water (once I get my camera cable I will post pictures). Our boat drove out into the bay, where it docked so we could go swimming. I was the second one off the top deck of the boat, and was pleasantly surprised by the warmth of the water.

This was the warmest sea water I have swam in by far. The Carribean and Mediteranean are note even close. Most swimming pools I have been in are colder!

The next phase of our trip was kayaking - my specialty. I was paired up with a British guy named Carlo, who coincidentally had also just finished his bar exams before traveling to Asia. While we were paddling near the front of the group we turned around and noticed one of the boats had tipped. We decided to go back and help them do a T-rescue since the kayaks around them didn't seem to know what to do.

Once we got there I started to explain what we were going to do to the two guys in the water, when the staff told me there was no way it would work, and that they should try bailing their boat with a flip flop (there was a LOT of water in the boat... his suggestion almost made me laugh). Anyway, between the four of us (two in the water, two in a kayak). we were able to do a proper T rescue and get them back in their boat without incident. The guy from the hostel looked at us and said that he had never seen anyone do that before! Carlo and I were quite satisfied with ourselves.

Later on we walked/climbed through a cave, and I pretty much had the brightest flashlight of the group. So, shout out to mom for buying me that "torch". Everyone in the group benefitted from it's bright white light!

On the second day, we took another boat to our private island - it was raining a little, but fortunately it cleared up later in the day. Steve and I went wakeboarding (or should I say Steve Wakeboarded and I tried to wakeboard), followed by a relaxing day on the beach, and a short kayak trip to a beautiful, secluded lagoon inside of the island directly across from ours. We could tell the wakeboard instructor got along with the Vietnamese staff quite well, so Steve and I made an effort to befriend him (and the Vietnamese staff). After dinner while everyone else started with the drinking games, Steve and I were hanging out with Jordan (the wakeboard instructor) and a couple of the four Vietnamese staff on the island. They taught us some Vietnamese, and Steve and I each bought them a round of drinks (the Western staff get free alcohol but the Vietnamese staff don't). It was $1 a drink, so it only cost me $6 to buy a round for Steve, myself, and the Vietnamese staff! Jordan really appreciated it, so he got Steve and I a round of drinks later on.

In case my parents are reading this, after drinking with Jordan and the Vietnamese staff Steve and I carried on a deep philosophical debate as to whether or not tourist dollars were destroying the very fabric of Vietnamese society. Great thinkers ranging from Plato to Bob Dylan were quoted in this spirited exchange.

Considering our huts were sheltered from the rain, but not the noise (many animals including birds and goats populated our island), I slept surprisingly well.