Halong Bay/ Cat Ba Island

Saturday morning a tour bus/van picked us up at our hotel at 8:00 am to go on a 2 day/1 night trip to Halong Bay, a beautiful natural wonder off the coast of northern Vietnam. It was a 3 1/2 hour drive, but they stopped 1/2 way there for a short break at a place where handicapped people work and make crafts to sell to tourists. In less than 30 minutes at this joint, Lauren managed to snag two new boyfriends, and one gave her a ring and a bracelet. Nicely done, Lauren!

Workers doing hand-embroidery:

Getting closer to Halong Bay, beautiful scenery fortells of things to come.

There were 2 young women from Korea on our tour van. They spoke very little English, and my Korean is a little rusty, but they made friends with sweetie-pie while we waited to board our boat. In addition to the American Family (us) and the Korean girls, there were people from England, Taiwan, Colorado, and Japan on our tour van.

Boarding our boat:

We were immediatly seated at tables inside the boat and served a (so-so) seafood lunch.

The squid was pretty good:

I told Anna I'd give her a dollar if she'd eat one squid tentacle; she contemplated and tasted a tiny bite:

The scenery was gorgeous, but unfortutnately, the weather was hazy and cloudy, so it wasn't as beautiful as it would have been on a clear, sunny day. We cruised on the bay during our lunch and for an hour or so after.

We stopped at one of the islands and climbed alot of stairs up to the opening of a huge cave and were given a tour of the cave with it's many stalagtites and stalagmites. The pictures didn't turn out very good, so I'll spare you. We got back on the boat, but because there were many other tour boats at the dock, we had to do a little boat-hopping to get across to ours. Not as easy as it sounds, especially with young kids and carrying a baby. But none of us fell into the water, and we felt a little like pirates. Here's a floating village on the bay; people actually live and work (fishing industry) here.

We had the option of sleeping in cabins on the boat, or at a hotel on Cat Ba Island; they recommended the hotel for us because of all the kids and baby. We got off the boat on one side of the island and boarded a jam-packed ancient bus for a slightly frightening, but with gorgeous views, 20 minute or so trip up the mountain and over to the other side of the island where Cat Ba town and the hotels were. They got us 2 rooms at this hotel, which was a little on the dumpy side. Ok, a LOT on the dumpy side.

We checked into our rooms, and then we had a couple of hours to kill before we were to meet in the hotel restaurant for the dinner included with our tour. Our tour guide, Hoi, told us where to go to find a beach. Here's the view down the street from in front of our hotel.

Walking to the beach. Cat Ba town is pretty much just a tourist town for the thousands of vistors to Halong Bay. Plenty of hotels, restaurants, and bars. Not much else that I could see.

Over the hill, and there was the beach. Actually it was one of two or three beaches nearby. I think they are all man-made beaches though, with the sand brought in. I don't think there are naturally occurring beaches on these islands, just muddy/rocky coasts. But tourists want beaches, so there you go.

The water was pretty cold, and we only had a short time before we needed to go back to the hotel for dinner, so we just waded a little.

We were instructed by Hoi to meet in the hotel restaurant for dinner at 6:30. The hotel was pretty scary, but the food was fantastic. Very similar to the meal we were served on the boat for lunch, but much better. The squid were the most tender I've ever had.

We were still eating and this dog comes sauntering in and makes himself comfortable on the floor beneath our table. I guess he lives here; never mind that this is a restaurant! The kids didn't mind though. I'm just glad he wasn't dinner.

After dinner, Hoi taught the kids some Vietnamese phrases and songs. Then Don and the boys and baby stayed in the hotel room because they were all tired, while Lauren, Anna, and I walked down to the waterfront to check out the Cat Ba nightlife. We stopped for a drink (chocolate milk and cocoa for the girls, a B-52 for me) at an outdoor cafe and watched the people go by. Lots of European tourists. Walked around for a little while and went back to the hotel and went to bed.

Next morning we had to be back in the restaurant for breakfast at 7:30am, then back on the Flintstones bus for another hair-raising, bone-jarring bus ride over the mountain and back to the boat docks. We were doing ok until about 5 minutes before we reached the other side, when all that bouncing around caused punkin to get sick and puke all over Don's lap, my back, the diaper bag and a little on the man in front of me. Fun to clean up while packed in like sardines with strangers all around. After that mess, we boarded the boat again for some more cruising on the bay. Hoi was such a nice and personable guy--he really helped us out alot with the kids and Thomas and Richard especially adored him.

Anna and Lauren enjoying the ride.

Hoi took Thomas and down to the pilot house to meet the captain. He even got to 'drive' the boat for a bit. He was ecstatic!

William and Richard got to go in to see the captain too.

We finally ended up back on the mainland and disembarked, then were led to a restaurant for our included lunch. This huge jar with all manner of snakes, lizards, and a few birds was fermenting in some kind of alcohol on the counter. You are supposed to drink it--good for what ails ya. I didn't have any ails, so I passed.

The dishes we were served were much the same in content as our previous 2 meals, but this meal was severely lacking in quality. Squid was very tough, and the spring rolls were just mush inside. Yuck. We didn't eat much here. Good think there's white rice.

There were several other tour groups at this restaurant as well, and Don met this guy and became buds. He was a colonel in the North Vietnamese army during the Vietnam-American war. No hard feelings though! Friendly guy, and Don was sufficiently impressed with his military credentials.

On the van ride back to Hanoi. I'm not sure what kind of face this is. Thomas sat on Hoi's lap almost the entire trip back. He kept asking if we could bring Hoi to live at our house. Hey! He'd make a great manny! I was amazed at the way Thomas took to him though; usually he's so shy around strangers. He totally loved Hoi though. Hoi gave us his email address so I can send him some pictures of the kids. Awesome tour guide.

It was a long two days, but I'm glad we did the trip. If I had it to do over, I think I'd book one of the more pricey tours and get a better place to stay; this trip only cost $236.00 US and that was for all 7 of us and the baby. It included everything--transportation, hotel, boat tour, cave tour, all meals. Only thing we paid for were beverages.

**Edited to add: By the way, although it seems from the photos that my 11 yr old daughter, Anna, has a neck-full of hickies, rest assured she does not. Those are bruises courtesy of Pinchy Patty.