Halong Bay

The train from Sapa arrived back in Hanoi at 4:30 in the am. The ride back was not as comfortable as the ride to Sapa, mainly because my body hurts. I said goodbye to the couple I met, and we promised to keep in touch. They were off to Singapor.
I took a cab to the bus station for  bus to Cat Ba Island on Halong Bay. Halong Bay is probably the biggest tourist attraction in Northern Vietnam.
When I arrived at the bus station I discovered that there was a 5:30 bus.
I have to admit that on that bus trip I was as depressed as I have ever been on a trip. Hanoi early in the morning is as close to what I think purgatory would be. Even at 6 in the morning it is hot. The smog covers  the city with a grey blanket, there is a slight drizzle. You can see the shadowy figures of people walking, cycling, or motorbiking. There  is the continuous sound of cars, buses, and motorbikes honking their horns as they go through red Lights. Red traffic lights are mere suggestions.
And everything is filthy. I don't recall a single case where a house was freshly painted. As a matter of fact I can't remember seeing a single paintstore.
I was depressed!
The trip to Cat Ba wasn't much better. It rained most Of the way. It was quite efficient though. First there was a two hour bus ride to Haiphong, then a 45 minute minibus ride to a ferry terminal, a  40 minute ferry ride  to the island, and finally another minibus to Cat Ba Town. There are a lot of hotels. I ended up in a dump. nice view, 6 bucks a night, but small, water on the floor, very basic. No A/C.
In the afternoon I visited Cat Ba National Park. It is 17 km from the town, and not easily accessible. I ended up renting a motor bike. That's the first time on a bike in almost 50 years. It was an automatic, and easy to ride. The first part, through some traffic was a bit hair raising, but after that it was fun. The park wasn't anything to brag about. Jungle, very lush, but no flowers, and no wild life, except myself.
The best part of the afternoon was spending the rest of the afternoon just driving along the coast, stopping for a drink, just enjoying the scenery. The weather was pleasant, no rain, overcast.
The next day I spent all day on a boat trip around the Bay. The scenery is really stunning. Hundreds of islands, and the all have unique shapes. They are not the soft hills we are used to, They are sheer cliffs, covered with vegetation. I hope the hundred or so photos I took turn out. There were about 15 people on board, from all over the world. Germans, Swiss, Polish, Czechs, Greece, and Canada. I had some nice talks with 2 German girls, and a Swiss lady. As we rode around the Bay we saw a lot of boathouses. They consist of a single room shack, about 15 by 15 feet, on a floating platform about 2 times larger. The all have floating fish ponds, small, which provide their livelyhood. That's it for one family. Sometimes there are a dozen of these close together, at other times, there is only one. Now some of these are over an hour from land, and the only transportation is a canoe type boat, no motor. I can't imagine life like that.
Obviously they must bring water in, because everything goes into the water, garbage, bodily waste.
One of the parts of the boat tour is that we stopped at one of these houseboats, and were provided with kayaks, which we could padle around for an hour or so. I had hoped to take a swim, but once I saw the water I decided not to. I also got lost among all the islands, and was the last one back.
After a nice lunch, on board, we cruised some more and visited a nice, large, impressive cave.
On the way back we stopped at Monkey Island. These are probably the last 6 monkeys that haven't been eaten yet. They were eagerly awaiting the tourists for goodies. The monkeys were quite aggressive, and one man was bitten by a monkey.
The tour ended about 5, all that for 17 dollars.
The other attraction in Cat Ba are the pearls. They have oyster beds in the Bay, and they sell gorgeous ear rings, necklaces, bracelets. A pair of nice ear rings, white, pink, or black were 2 bucks. I did some shopping.
In the evening I was walking along when I met the 2 German girls from the boat. I joined them for dinner, and the Greek couple, from our boat also sat with us. After dinner we moved from beer to the local homebrew which was 100% alcohol. Four rounds of those and we were having fun. We ended up closing the restaurant. The bill for a lovely shrimp dinner, 2 beers, 4 drinks came to 10 bucks.
After all that even my hotel room didn't seem too bad.
Till later
Ralf