the world for more than it simply is

Việt Nam is truely a beautiful country–from Dọc Let to Hạ Long, the landscape never ceases to astonish. Our group guided tour this weekend was a much needed departure from the routine of attending classes. Thanks to the National Holiday which celebrates the independence of the country, our trip to Hạ Long Bay and Cat Ba Island lasted for three days and two nights.

The first day began on an early Saturday morning when the tourist van came to collect us from A2 at 0630. Still half asleep from the previous night’s snake dinner at Lệ Mật village, we boarded the van which took us to the Việt Nam Open Tour office. The funny thing here is that copyright infringements carry little penalty since we purchased our tickets from a Sinh Café knockoff for under half of the real one’s price. One would think that these infringements would start to matter more to the government as they are attempting entry into the WTO. After an hour’s wait and a breakfast of Bun Rieu, a three hour bus ride ensued towards Hạ Long with a stop over in Hai Duong for about 15 minutes. We had a lackluster lunch aboard our ocean cruiser before leaving the docks towards the bay.

Our first day in Hạ Long included a visit to a cave on one of the islands, swimming on an island, and sea kayaking. Sea kayaking was damn awesome–Michael did slip on some rocky steps onto his head, but nothing too serious. That night I slept on the top deck under the stars while docked in the center of the bay.

On the second day I awoke to a brilliant sunrise, followed by a morning swim off the side of the vessel. After a breakfast better than any of the other day’s pre-paid meals, our next stop would be Cat Ba Island. Some people tend to operate on receiving monetary compensation here rather than the kindness of their hearts. Such an instance was when two European tourists not on the same tour wanted to be dropped off in the center of the island. After an argument which lasted close to twenty minutes, the couple succumbed to the extra fees the driver wanted. This is of course a vast generalization to make, since these are only the actions of a minority. After everything was settled, the next part of our trip consisted of an unexpected three hour trek through the national park of Cat Ba Island. Not being experienced in forest trekking, I scraped my leg on a rock. That was remedied by one of the tour guides who found some forest herbs to patch it up. Likewise, some local tourists shared their water supply with us. Afterwards, we checked into our hotel and had some lunch before departing for nearby Monkey Island. With the ocean waters warm and the sun shining down, there were a scarce amount of monkeys sitting on tree limbs eating fruits and crackers.

The third day started with an early checkout, a drive back to the harbor, and enjoying the scenery on the boat back. On the way back to Hạ Long City, our boat stopped by a floating village nestled in the rock formations jutting out of the green waters. There we boarded a small blue boat powered by a single engine to view the grottos of Hạ Long. The weekend concluded with lunch back on the mainland, and then a van ride back to Hà Nội. The driver, who had the classic fat gangster haircut, refused to take us directly to our abode by stating that the police did not allow such vehicles onto our street. I think he was probably just lazy and late for his mahjong appointment.

  
At night after dinner at R&R, Jacob, Danielle, Katie, Hac and I met up Eric and Mr. Lee at a place called My Way to say goodbye as Eric would be departing the next morning to HCMC for work.