Family Time: 2 weeks with one of my favourite cousins, Part Two

Some more highlights from my visit with Amanda in northern Vietnam: Hanoi, Haiphong, Cat Ba Island, Halong Bay and Sapa....

Halong Bay

- Seeing the beauty of Halong and Lan Ha Bay via boat, and kayak. This was a great day, but ended in a bit of a bizarre way. We bought a tour that started on Cat Ba island where we were staying that included a typical tour through the islands. It was then supposed to move on to Halong City, where we planned to catch a bus back to Hanoi. The tour itself was beautiful -the limestone karsts rise eerily from the water, and we enjoyed a full day with kayaking, good food, a cave tour, and a fun group of people whom we met on the boat. However, when we transferred on to another boat which was supposed to bring us to Halong City, it became clear that we were being... smuggled? I'm still not even sure what was going on, but the 5 Westerners who transferred onto the new boat were corralled into the luggage spot when we pulled away, and when we arrived into port. The boat captain and employees on this boat spoke no english, but we gathered by their yelling, pushing and hand gestures that they wanted us to hide on exit and arrival. Other than that though, we were allowed to walk around freely with the Vietnamese tourists on the boat. It was so strange! It would have been easy to get frustrated, but we were all in a good mood, and it just became a joke. I do have to say though, it is frustrating feeling like complaining about a company's business practices will get you nowhere though, and this is a bit too common in the tourist industry here.

Corralled in the luggage area

- Motorbiking everywhere. I am addicted to this mode of transportation. With almost every city I go to, I try to keep my eyes out for a place that rents "moto's". There simply is no better way for seeing the countryside, getting to out of the way restaurants, and experiencing the true beauty of the country we are in. Thankfully Amanda was up for motorbiking with me, and even drove the automatic bike we had one day by herself. We've been really lucky weather wise as well -although it is technically wet season, most of the rain we've gotten has been at night and we've had lots of beautiful days weather wise. Hopefully things will continue this way.

- Getting on to one of the most luxurious sleeper trains on our way to Sapa. We didn't bother booking a train ahead of time, and instead chose to just show up at the station. Unfortunately all of the regular sleeper trains were already full, but we weren't sure if this was true or if there was just a lack of communication as the train employees barely spoke any english. Not wanting to spend an extra night in Hanoi, we redoubled our efforts to get on the train and ended up talking to an employee of a very fancy hotel in Sapa that has a private car attached to the regular train. Normally they only allowed hotel guests to book this car, and for a lot of money, but because it was so last minute and they wanted to fill the car they gave us a bargain. At the time we were travelling with two friends, and so the four of us enjoyed a very luxurious ride through the Vietnamese countryside, warm towels on a plate and free slippers included.

- Meeting hill tribe women in Sapa, and touring through a local village with the motorbikes where we stopped for lunch. Some of the traditional clothes they wore were very ornate and beautiful -even if tourism contributes to them choosing to still dress traditionally, it was pretty neat to see.

 

And that's it so far! It's been great to get in some cousin time. Hopefully in the last few days that she is here we'll be able to add to our list of highlights!

 

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