But before I get to that, I have a funny story.
About a week ago myself and a friend of mine decided to venture into the city centre for breakfest and to book some tours for upcoming weekends. We had a lovely time just relaxing and I booked some awesome tours for the next couple of weeks. When we were ready to catch the bus back home, I realized I really had to use the washroom. Now, our house is about 45 minutes out of the city centre so I was hardly going to hold it the entire way. So, naturally, we decided to stop somewhere. After venturing into a few hotels who turned us away with a sour look and a dismissive hand wave (great promotion for their business), we finally spotted a cafe/bar called "Cool" who would assuredly let me use their washroom if the place did indeed live up to its name. As soon as I stepped into this place I was a little sketched out. The decor was very dark and neon-lighted with red velvet ceilings and mirrors all over the walls. My friend waited for me at the bar while I wandered off to find the washroom.
Once I found it, things got even weirder. I stepped into the stall and immediately I was bombarded with images of mostly naked men! I was completely baffled, and suffice it to say I got out of there pretty quickly. I made it back to the bar where my friend was awkwardly looking around, and as I soon as I reached her she said "yeah I think we should go." We got outside, both of us looking incredibly creeped out, and the men on the door just started laughing at us. I was completely confused until I turned around and finally noticed this sign.
Yeah... I don't really have any words for this.
Don't think I'll be going back there though.
So shenanigans and hookers aside, this weekend was pretty awesome. I finally ventured to the famed Halong Bay for a weekend out of the city and I have to say I was not disappointed. It is every bit a beautiful and serene as people say it is, perhaps more. I started my trip by arriving at the travel agent's office in the city centre at 8:00 in the morning. That might seem like a random and overly detailed way to start my story, but I can assure you I'm starting here with purpose. You see, in Vietnam, you literally can not throw a stone without hitting 75 motorbikes. They are absolutely everywhere. Up until this weekend, I swore on my musical abilities that I would never even touch one throughout my entire trip in Southeast Asia. Oh how wrong I was. After waiting for about 45 minutes for my bus to show up, this guy shows up on a motorbike and says "okay we go." I looked at him like he was crazy, of course, and asked if I could walk. He told me, however, that it was "short motorbike, far walk," so I was left with little choice but to jump on the gas powered death trap he was driving and hope for the best. I started off by swinging my leg over the bike, catching my pants on a hook and ripping them. Fantastic start. There was no way this could end well for me, as far as I was concerned.
Surprisingly, however, once we got going I realized it wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it was going to be. I mean, at first I'm pretty sure I nearly broke the driver's ribs. But after a few minutes I wasn't even holding on anymore. It's another one of those things in this country that looks ridiculously scary and dangerous, but once you actually do it it's not that bad at all. I still don't really see myself driving one, but I wouldn't be against getting on the back of one again.
After my uneventful first motorbike ride, I hopped on the bus with all of the other members of my tour and we headed off. The bus ride was dreadfully boring, so I'll spare you the details. Suffice it to say approximately three and a half hours later we arrived in Halong Bay, after a single stop at an extremely overpriced tourist market that I of course bought nothing from. The sky was slightly overcast so I was quite disappointed that I wasn't getting a sunny day, but my mind quickly changed once we got on our boat.
The boat was every bit as beautiful as it looks. The rooms were comfortable, the food was great, and the rooftop lounge area was awesome. I was quite impressed, to say the least. I quickly got to know the other members of my tour, which included one Romanian, two Germans, two Frenchmen, two Americans, three Indonesians, and four Brits (I was, of course, the only Canadian).
The first part of our tour was my least favorite. Our guide took us to one of the 1969 islands in Halong Bay to check out some caves. I have to admit, the caves were pretty cool, but the whole experience was far too touristy for my liking. I know it's kind of an odd thing to say considering it's Halong Bay which is a major tourist destination, but there were literally like two hundred Japanese tourists stuffed in these caves. The view from the top of the stairs looked like a sea of white hats rather than a majastic ancient cave. Suffice it to say, I was more than happy to make it back to the boat to watch the sunset.
Once the sun set, myself and my shipmates decided it would be a good time for a swim. The boat anchored down and five of us (me and the four Brits, basically) jumped into the ocean. It was amazingly warm and totally refreshing after such a warm day on the boat. Four of the five of us decided to swim to another boat that was about three hundred metres away, which was quite tiring but and awesome experience since the water was so nice. Halong Bay is known for its extremely salty water so my eyes were burning a little when I got out, but that hardly nullified the experience.
After a few drinks and some chatting, we all headed to our rooms where I had the best sleep I've had since I've been in Vietnam. The water was so calm it was just like being in a hotel on dry land (Mom, even you would have liked it). When our 7:30 breakfest call came around I hardly wanted to get out of bed.
For our second day on the water we got to go kayaking for a while. I've kayaked in some beautiful places, but this truly took the cake. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures because the boat didn't have a waterproof sleeve and I didn't want to risk getting my camera wet. One of our tour mates took a picture of us in the boat with her camera, but I will have to wait for her to email it to me before I can post it anywhere.
Overall, my trip to Halong Bay was fantastic and I would definitely recommend doing it to every person I know. Honestly, I wanted to stay there. Just make sure you go with a good company, because I do have friends who did not have such a good experience on their tours. It's one of those things that paying an extra ten dollars can really go a long way in ensuring you have a good time. I doubt I will get to go back during my time in Hanoi, but if I ever return to Vietnam I will most assuredly do it again.
I suppose that it is it for me this time around. I will be getting another blog up sometime within the next week because I'm travelling to Ninh Binh on Sunday (yay!) and my birthday is on Friday (double yay). So expect some other stories fomr the great beyond in the near future.
Until next time, remember: life is beautiful. Appreciate it.
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