Indochina Day 6: Heading out to Halong Bay
The luxury van for our Halong Bay cruise with Indochina Junk on the Dragon Legend was supposed to pick us up at 0740, so we did not have much time for breakfast. Maggie wanted to eat someplace other than the restaurant at the hotel, as the food there was, although free, pretty meh.
Unfortunately, there were no places open really at 0600 and we ended up going back to the hotel restaurant by default as it was open at 0630.
The luxury van picked us up a little later than expected, but it had something that I was surprised to find: Free Wi-Fi. I was in the midst of booking some train tickets with Vietnam Impressive for our trip down to Da Nang from Hanoi and our stay in Hanoi coincided exactly with the weekend, which was when the train ticket company was closed. I had sent e-mail earlier to book the tickets but they did not receive the payment and confirmation information until the weekend.
So I was a little apprehensive with the whole train situation as our arrival in Hoi An hinged on getting a decent overnight ticket down to Da Nang, and since we were being picked up before eight, I would not have any internet access to contact the company should they respond. So with Wi-Fi on the van, I was lucky. So lucky. I spent the next three hours on the van coordinating with the train ticket company, hotel that we had stayed at, and the cruise company to try to get the tickets in our hands at the right time.
Unfortunately, while I was trying to schedule all of the events, I was informed by the train company that the soft berth sleepers for our train were all taken! There were soft berth sleepers on an earlier train (at 1930) but I had originally told them that I would be arriving back in Hanoi at 1900 so that was not an option. I found out (or confirmed) later that we would get dropped off in Hanoi at 1700 so I told the train company to purchase the earlier tickets instead. I then scrambled to make sure that the hotel knew that the tickets were coming and that I would not be late in returning to Hanoi. While this was happening, I was informed by the Vietnam Impressive that the soft sleepers for the earlier time slot had just sold out a minute before they called. Argh! *pulls at hair*
I was told that the only other options now were the hard sleepers, or one of the sitting cars. I went with the hard sleeper. The beds may not be as soft, but at least you can lie down. It could have been worse I guess. If I did not have the internet connection, I would not have been able to get my tickets and may have been stranded in Hanoi for an extra day!
Before we left Hanoi, we talked with one of the hotel employees that was telling us that English speaking Vietnamese people looking for jobs are having a hard time, due to the fact that so many Vietnamese people speak English. But English speaking westerners who had no teaching background could get jobs teaching English in Vietnam for 6 million VND a month, which is more than the 5 million VND that one of them could make. Just so you know, 6 million VND is about 300 USD. Yeah.
The trip from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay was long and bumpy. There was a lot of construction on the roads, but the length was good. I needed the time to get all of my ducks in a row for those Da Nang train tickets. Hopefully nothing else goes wrong?
It was hot today, as it has been since we arrived, so I was in the hunt for one of those big cone hats that the farmers wear. Funny enough, one of the other cruise members was talking about getting one for himself. Another tourist next to us told us that there were plenty of those hats available at the souvenir shop, but I discounted that information since I did not expect us to be going past any on our trip to the boat. I was wrong. We found a store with hats. We each bought one for 90,000 VND. I guess we could have haggled, but we had to keep up with the group so we just paid and went.
Getting on the Dragon Legend II was fairly uneventful except for the realization, after passing by the other junks moored in port, that we were boarding one of the biggest and newest ships in the bay. When we got into our room, we were amazed to see how spacious and well decorated the unit was!
Our day had only begun, so after a ten course lunch (yeah, ten courses) we went on a kayaking trip through one of the caves and around one of the islands which turned out into a bit of a fiasco as the tide had lowered so much that the kayaks got stuck in the cave and the tour guide had to get out and haul the boats through the narrow gap. It became more of a fiasco when we got trapped in the lagoon we were in by the tide. A couple kayaks were pulled through the tiny opening, but the water had dropped so much that the rest of the boats had to be lifted over, requiring the passengers to disembark before the transfer. Good exercise though.
We had some free time to swim and explore the ship before having our nine course dinner after which we were wiped. Sleep sounds good now.
Unfortunately, there were no places open really at 0600 and we ended up going back to the hotel restaurant by default as it was open at 0630.
The luxury van picked us up a little later than expected, but it had something that I was surprised to find: Free Wi-Fi. I was in the midst of booking some train tickets with Vietnam Impressive for our trip down to Da Nang from Hanoi and our stay in Hanoi coincided exactly with the weekend, which was when the train ticket company was closed. I had sent e-mail earlier to book the tickets but they did not receive the payment and confirmation information until the weekend.
So I was a little apprehensive with the whole train situation as our arrival in Hoi An hinged on getting a decent overnight ticket down to Da Nang, and since we were being picked up before eight, I would not have any internet access to contact the company should they respond. So with Wi-Fi on the van, I was lucky. So lucky. I spent the next three hours on the van coordinating with the train ticket company, hotel that we had stayed at, and the cruise company to try to get the tickets in our hands at the right time.
Unfortunately, while I was trying to schedule all of the events, I was informed by the train company that the soft berth sleepers for our train were all taken! There were soft berth sleepers on an earlier train (at 1930) but I had originally told them that I would be arriving back in Hanoi at 1900 so that was not an option. I found out (or confirmed) later that we would get dropped off in Hanoi at 1700 so I told the train company to purchase the earlier tickets instead. I then scrambled to make sure that the hotel knew that the tickets were coming and that I would not be late in returning to Hanoi. While this was happening, I was informed by the Vietnam Impressive that the soft sleepers for the earlier time slot had just sold out a minute before they called. Argh! *pulls at hair*
I was told that the only other options now were the hard sleepers, or one of the sitting cars. I went with the hard sleeper. The beds may not be as soft, but at least you can lie down. It could have been worse I guess. If I did not have the internet connection, I would not have been able to get my tickets and may have been stranded in Hanoi for an extra day!
Before we left Hanoi, we talked with one of the hotel employees that was telling us that English speaking Vietnamese people looking for jobs are having a hard time, due to the fact that so many Vietnamese people speak English. But English speaking westerners who had no teaching background could get jobs teaching English in Vietnam for 6 million VND a month, which is more than the 5 million VND that one of them could make. Just so you know, 6 million VND is about 300 USD. Yeah.
The trip from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay was long and bumpy. There was a lot of construction on the roads, but the length was good. I needed the time to get all of my ducks in a row for those Da Nang train tickets. Hopefully nothing else goes wrong?
It was hot today, as it has been since we arrived, so I was in the hunt for one of those big cone hats that the farmers wear. Funny enough, one of the other cruise members was talking about getting one for himself. Another tourist next to us told us that there were plenty of those hats available at the souvenir shop, but I discounted that information since I did not expect us to be going past any on our trip to the boat. I was wrong. We found a store with hats. We each bought one for 90,000 VND. I guess we could have haggled, but we had to keep up with the group so we just paid and went.
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| Maggie relaxing on the couch in our room. The view from inside was very nice (and air conditioned). |
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| I am relaxing on the bed with my recently purchased Vietnamese hat. |
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| Maggie and I enjoying a kayak through the caves and islands of Halong Bay. |
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