HaLong Bay

I apologize for the delayed entry, but internet is becoming more limited. Perhaps in 2 weeks time, even more so. Currently, I am slipping on a banana and pineapple fruit shake at an open air cafe in Hoi An, the cultural capital of Vietnam, still haven't found my fancy drink with an umbrella yet. HaLong Bay was an adventure, we opted to go with Ocean Tours, the company totally sold me with green tea, cookies and pictures of their private beaches! In our group of 10, we were the only North Americans, which we have been finding very common in Vietnam, and set out on a Junk boat through the bay. The weather was not in our favor, thick fog and rain kept us mainly inside the boat but it did let up enough to go kayaking. Amazingly breathtaking--kayaked through the islands, passing in a dark tunnel and reached an enclosed pool. We could only hear the paddles of the kayak, almost everything stood still. It was also a sad realization with so much beauty around us, the presence of pollution. I put my hand in the bath warm water, only to realize when I pulled my hand out, the black stain on my hand from the diesel. Single shoes, nets, styrofoam (the boats are made of styrofoam and bamboo) pieces, bottles and cigarettes butts floating around. We kept thinking, if we were in America, the national park would be constantly patroling and only government boats would be allowed in the park. With being such a profitable venture, I wish they would maintain the area for the future.
After another boat ride to the private island, called Sunset island, we arrived to the bungalows! Amazing, we even forgot about the weather. We had a watermelon welcome drink and settled into our rooms. We had a nice seafood bbq dinner, played pool and feel asleep to the sound of the ocean. The next day we took a boat over to Cat Ba Island and rented a scooter to visit the National Park. It was quite cold, so our trip was interrupted with several stops to warm up with tea. We noticed quickly how similar the villages were to Ghana, small houses with open doors, children running around half clothed, women with stands selling powdered milk, but the most surprising was the amount of karaoke rooms! There was a little boy in ratty shorts singing some song at the top of his lungs with a microphone in front of his tv! Love it:)
We returned back to the bungalows late afternoon, enjoyed a relaxing evening on the beach and left early the next morning for our long journey back to Hanoi. It took about 8 hours between the Junk Boat and van to arrive back at Ocean Tours, only to arrive with 1 hour until we caught the night bus to Hue. My favorite city in Vietnam, so far...more later.