The Plan B Adventure

Unless you are looking for an amazingly long, arduous bus adventure in getting to Hanoi from Central Vietnam…then flying is the way to go. Although the $10 open tour bus ticket seemed financially appealing the $50 flight that took one hour from Danang to Hanoi was much better for our state of mind than 18 hours on a bus through winding, one-lane roads.

We arrived in Hanoi and moved swiftly to the “free” Pacific Airlines shuttle bus that whisked us away to the city center. In our opinion you just haven’t lived until you’ve gone into some of the most populous capitals of the world with no inkling of where you are, where you are going, or what to do once you get off the bus. Exhilarating, frightening, yet with solution-oriented Becca around, what could possibly go wrong….Now, we had been warned by other travellers and guidebooks about the Vietnamese taxi driver that listens to nothing you say and takes you where he wants. You see each taxi driver gets a special commission from specific hotels and tour agencies. So it is in their financial interest to dissuade you from your hotel reservation and drop you off in front of theirs for the hard sell on the street corner. In order to avoid all of that we (Becca) have been diligently making reservations and obtaining specific addresses for the hotels we frequent. Unfortunately in this case it wasn’t going to matter. As we stepped off the bus we were literally pushed into a taxi with Kylie Minogue blaring on the portable DVD player…..WAIT A DAMN MINUTE!! We are smarter than that….We questioned “Do you know our hotel, Camellia 2 Hotel?”, “How many Kms to Hotel?”, “How much $ per KM?”…..all of these questions are imperative (as we found out later) if you are getting into an unknown cab in Hanoi. Well, after taking us the long way to the Old Quarter as well as side-swiping a motorbike….we arrived at the wrong Camellia Hotel….it happened to be convienently located next to a hotel that our driver gets paid extra to drop unsuspecting tourist off in front of. Hey…we aren’t that stupid!! “Take us to our correct hotel and you aren’t getting a dime more than the $3 we originally negotiated.” Obviously, he wasn’t too happy with that as we found the only English he did know started with an “F” and ended with a “K”!! Oh, well we got there relatively unmolested…….but wait!! The next scam is for the taxi driver to tell the hotel receptionist he wasn’t paid (after you adjourn to your room) and for them to pay him and then just put it on your bill. Jeff thought this might be happening and played detective behind a pole in the lobby and stopped the scam from happening.

Seriously….this scenario happened to everyone we spoke with in Hanoi. It is HA-ANNOYING and if the authorities were smart they would nip this in the bud as it really drives tourists away from Hanoi toward the other more, appealing regions of Vietnam. Don’t get us wrong, Hanoi has great character and appeal but we were left with a bad taste in our mouths, only 10 minutes after arrival.

We decided to arrange a trip to Halong Bay for the weekend while our passports awaited Visa approval at the Pakistan Embassy. We opted for the 3 day/2 night adventure since we didn’t have to be back in Hanoi ’til Monday. This trip included one night’s accommodation on an original Vietnamese Junk Boat, another night’s accommodation on Cat Ba Island in the middle of Halong Bay, all meals, a 7km trek around Cat Ba island, and an hour of kayaking through the limestone peaks of Halong Bay. All this for $38 per person and we were very happy with our decision. The trip to Halong Bay from Hanoi is about 3-4 hours depending on the voracity of your bus driver. It was quite easy although for the uninitiated (a few on our bus) it was as white-knuckled as our trips through China and Laos. As you arrive in Halong Bay for your individual tour, you realize this is as big a tourist trap as Disneyland. Seas of Korean and Japanese tourists flank the docks while hundreds of ‘authentic’ Vietnamese Junk Boats float in the harbor. Oh well….we knew this wasn’t going to be isolated and remote, so let’s have a good time.

Our guide, Mr “Strong”, ushered us along with 12 others onto our boat and we pushed off into the overcast waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. Although the weather was quite dismal (Seattle-like) the landscape was breathtaking. Everywhere you look are giant limestone peaks protruding from the calm waters of Halong Bay. The boat trip is about 3 hours to our resting destination for the night yet the time is split up by a stop off at the biggest cave in Halong Bay….right inside one of the limestone mountains. This cave is amazing and well-procured for the tourist trade. It is amazing to think that years ago the Vietnamese drew the Chinese invaders in their ships into these caves and then when the tide let out the Chinese were stuck aground by an underwater spear network the Vietnamese had conveniently planted. Fascinating history…..As we set off from the cave we happen upon another famous claim of Halong Bay….a pearl farm. It was very interesting to see the houseboat communities that have developed around the pearl and seafood trade. These locals live on the water in small floating homes and commute from here to wherever via rowboat, powerboat, or canoe.

As we pulled into our resting spot for the night we both got to know a few of our fellow travellers. Meeting other travellers as well as locals has to be one of the most fascinating and educational parts of travelling. Teun…a well-travelled teacher from Holland; Alberto… a Genoa-born, Carvinal Cruise ship officer; Tanja, a brave 20-yr old woman from Germany travelling solo in SE Asia; Zulia and Christian…a rock-climbing couple from Spain; Chris…..an English chap beginning an unknown adventure thru SE Asia; and, finally, Andrea and Matt…..an English couple, fresh off two months in India with much to share about our upcoming visit. We had a great time getting to know them all and their individual stories of travel, life, and politics.

The night was fairly uneventful as we slept on the boat. The next morning we were up at 7AM in the rainy mist for our hike. Expectations weren’t exactly set properly on this one. We thought it would be a trail hike to the top of Cat Ba mountain where we would see an expansive view of all the limestone peaks. Well….we knew we wouldn’t see anything because of the weather but we didn’t realize the intensity level of the hike. Needless to say Jeff found a new hobby activity and Becca found something she’d rather avoid for the rest of her life. The weather made the conditions muddy and unbearably slippery. There was not a trail to be found and Jeff played trailblazer over the sharp, limestone rocks as the guide fell behind to help Alberto, the self-proclaimed mountain man, whom had a bit more trouble on this hike than his previous jaunts through the beatiful hills of Genoa. Well, after a couple slips and scrapes we headed back to clean off at the hotel and get ready for our kayak adventure. What a great time…..kayaking through the solemn waters of varying depth was a wonderful adventure. Some areas allow your voice to be echoed in the encompassing mountains and others allow you to see the sealife of the Gulf floor. A bit of advice….make your trip in September or October to this part of Vietnam and venture in a kayak for the whole day with a picnic lunch and guide map. It would be amazing……….Next stop Monkey Island….it’s self-explanatory with 60 monkeys as the only inhabitants of this sleepy island. They are quite fiesty so keep your distance!!!

Okay…..verbose Jeff has returned so we will leave you with our uneventful trip back to Hanoi and pick it up there when we return.

Tags: Cat Ba, Halong Bay, Hanoi, Travel, Vietnam

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 29th, 2006 at 11:21 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.