Halong Bay

It was out of the city and into the Gulf of Tonkin to explore the limestone islands and caves of Halong Bay.  What parent with pirate-loving sons could resist a night aboard the "Black Pearl" sailing among the misty, towering islands.  We booked our night aboard a Chinese junk and headed out to sea with hundreds of other similar junks doing the same thing.  The junks themselves were pretty amazing - bearing a close resemblance to pirate ships, I kept waiting for a cannon to fire or a sword fight to break out on deck.

   

We checked into our two very adequate (if a tad musty) cabins, and I tried to banish all thoughts of the Titanic from my mind as I noted the handy life jackets next to the night stand.  Then we joined the rest of our crew in the dining room for a tasty seafood lunch.  The scenery was awesome once we managed to leave the smog of the mainland behind.  John remarked that we really need something similar on Lake Champlain.

If you know John, you know that his entrepreneurial gears are always turning.  His family doesn't cut him much slack on most of his ideas.  This was no exception.  First we asked why there would be a Chinese junk on Lake Champlain.  We are in the South China Sea.  A Chinese junk makes sense.  In Vermont?  Not so much.  His response was that it didn't need to be called a "Chinese" junk.  It could just be "John's Junk."  Too late he realized the potential for middle school humor in this.  We assured him that nobody really wanted to see his "junk" floating on Lake Champlain or anywhere else.  He quickly moved on to his next business  brainstorm.

Sooner than we wished (we were relaxing on the sunny deck watching the scenery go by), it was time to disembark for some kayaking.  We got about 45 minutes to paddle on our own before being shuttled off to explore an enormous nearby cave.  Then it was back to the boat for some junk-style cliff jumping.  The boat was three stories high, and this is Vietnam.  That means why not launch yourself from any railing on the boat into the blue water below.  Nolan took the challenge. He began with the first floor and worked his way up to the top (an 18-20 foot drop into the ocean).  Brianna and Foster stuck with floors one and two and just enjoyed their super-salty buoyancy.

       

Cool Cave

Nolan Soars

Bri Floats

Dinner was another tasty seafood meal complete with edible flower arrangement.  Then the karaoke began - A favorite Vietnamese pastime. Sadly (or fortunately) there were no takers on our boat apart from the Vietnamese staff who took the whole thing very seriously.  We listened politely through two songs and then went outside to try our luck at squid fishing.  To attract squid they shine an enormous spotlight into the water.  Then, in theory, it should be as simple as dropping your lure into the water and pulling up you next meal of crispy calamari.  Sadly the only thing our spotlight seemed to attract was the "snack" lady in her row boat.  It's hard to catch squid when this lady keeps rowing over to see if you are interested in buying some Oreos or beer.  There were no squid to be found anywhere.  Eventually one of the guys in our group (in an act of calamari desperation) bought the box of Oreos and dumped all of the crumbs into the water in front of the light - hoping to kill two birds with one stone: drive the pesky vendor away and attract some chocolate-loving sea creatures.  Still no squid, but John did have another idea...a Starbucks rowboat.  I decided it was time for bed.
 

 Fishing for Fictitious Squid

Lots of fresh air and exercise made it really easy to fall asleep.  The rats scratching inside the wall made it really easy to wake up for sunrise (and really difficult to go back to sleep again).  So, we embraced the early morning peace on Halong Bay and just enjoyed the scenery on our return to the port  in Halong City.  From there it was a long bus ride back to the clamor of Ha Noi where we celebrated clean sheets and quiet walls for our final night in the big city.




Sun Setting on a Spectacular Day