After a long ride back on the night train from Sapa (4 berth cart not as lux as the one we took up), we arrived early at the Handspan tour office before they were open. I needed to use the potty bad so when someone arrived they let me in. I stepped over a few sleeping bodies in the middle of the restaurant to get to the toilet. In Vietnam places of business tend to be situated under housing and since many generations of family members sleep in such a tight space, anywhere you can lay down some padding and a blanket becomes a bedroom. Often times the first floor business is also your garage for storing motorbikes.
Later that morning we boarded our 3 and a half hour bus ride to Halong Bay. Halong bay is on the north east coast of Vietnam close to the Chinese Border. The bay is geologically unique because of its more than 2000 limestone islands that jut out at sharp angles from the sea. As we boarded our junk ship for an overnighter and left the pier I was immediately blown away by the beauty of these limestone formations. I fired off a bunch of shots on the camera later to find that the first islands I viewed were only a few, and as we continued to cruise for hours out into this huge bay, and the islands just kept passing. It's hard to describe or even to show you how majestic and beautiful Halong Bay is, even the photos do it no justice. The fog made it difficult to show in photographs the depth of just how far the islands go.
Part of our day was spent kayaking between the islands. The crew took us to a very remote area where there was no other junk boats to disturb our peace. The water was so smooth with barely any movement. Between the islands you could hear our voice echoing off the cliffs.
The next day we were taken to a floating village that I guess wouldn't exist if it weren't for tourists. Life in the village is so remote and quiet many people would leave if the government didn't support the fisherman and encourage them to stay. We were freezing and dripping wet after the hour of being rowed around by a little lady in what I would describe as a giant woven basket, painted on the bottom with some kind of sealant, a few wooden benches and a pair of oars tied to it.
The trip back wasn't so pleasant. I had gotten into a disagreement with the tour guide who seemed to be cutting our trip short because he wanted to get home for Tet, the Vietnamese new years. We had our trip shortened before during our Sapa trek because of Tet. Apparently Tet is the best excuse for getting out of delivering the services we signed up and paid for through our tour company.
During our drive back two terrible things happened. One was that we lost a tire in the rear of the bus. There were extra tires so we could still drive but much slower. We spent at least an hour extra on the road looking for someone willing to change our tire. Because of Tet it seemed no one wanted to work, finally after our fourth stop someone changed the tire.
The second terrible thing was that we drove by an accident on the highway. On one side of the highway there was a wrecked scooter. On the other many other motorbikes and people had gathered. As we approached the group we saw a mat laid out over a body on the road. A pot with some incense sticks had been lit next to the body and people were paying there respects. The drizzly weather and insane driving practices in Vietnam made it hard for me to be surprised about the death; although still saddened. There were young children in our bus and we did our best to get them not to look. I could only imagine that the dead cyclist's family was not going to have a great Tet this year and I felt so bad for them.
