Day Eight & Nine
Trip Start
Jan 26, 2008
1
9
Trip End
Feb 07, 2008
Cam Pha, Vietnam
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
The taxi arrived on-time and took us to the meeting spot for the tour. We met up with the other 12 members of our group which included a family of 4 from Australia, a couple from Denmark, a dude from Newcastle, England, 3 chicks from Germany and then some other Brits we didn't really talk to. We all boarded the bus and our tour guide began talking about our trip and pointing out some sights as we drove through Hanoi. He didn't speak English all that well, but if you paid enough attention you could decipher his lingo.
The bus ride through the country side was just like our ride to Cuc Phoung, just a bit longer. More rice paddies, more cattle, and more dogs running away from butcher knives. The port of Ha long bay is just like the rest of Vietnam, organized chaos. The port has one main dock which holds about 50 or so boats. Which isn't much of a problem unless you have 200 boats that need to dock. So, in order to get to or boat we had to climb through 3 others.
Our boat was one of the nicer ones in the bay. It had eight twin cabins each with their own shower and bathroom. After everyone boarded and got their room key we hoisted anchor and set off into the bay. Our destination was a limestone cave about two hours away from port. The name of the cave translates to "Amazing Cave". After our seafood lunch we docked at the cave and took a walking tour through the cave. The cave was pretty cool, it can't really compete with something as massive as the Carlsbad caverns though. In my opinion they kind of cheapened the experience by placing colored lights everywhere. It kind of felt like we were waiting on line at a ride in Disney. I took some interesting photos that I hope turn out well.
After everyone came back from the cave we traveled halfway to our next destination, Titop isle, and anchored there for the night. We spent the night drinking and cavorting with our travel mates. We also brought Uno along and taught the 2 little Aussie girls how to play, they were ten and eight. They couldn't count their points at the end of a round so well, but either could Julie so we forgave them. Everyone crashed semi-early because breakfast was at 7am.
Everyone awoke, ate breakfast and our boat headed off to Titop isle. They named the island after Vladamir Titop, but I'm not sure why. I think he helped them fight off the Chinese. At the top of the island there is an observation deck where you can get a nice 360 degree view of Ha Long Bay. I'm not sure how high the top of the island is but we had to climb up about 500 steps to get there. My thighs were burning like hell by the time I reached the top. It was worth it though, the view was pretty spectacular. We couldn't even see that far because of the fog so I can only imagine what its like on a clear day. We spent about and hour on the island and then we headed back to port.
This boat trip was a perfect way to end my trip to Vietnam. It was so peaceful and relaxing just chilling on the deck reading my book and having great conversations with our travel mates. After viewing all the poverty and poor living conditions of most of Vietnam I feel so lucky that I have the opportunity to travel the globe and absorb so much beauty and history.
One more night in Vietnam and it should be a spectacular one because at midnight the Tet celebration begins. They'll have fireworks and entertainment around lake Hoan Kien. I can't wait to see how Hanoi brings in the new year.
