Today we were ready to go at 8 am. We returned at 8 pm. I was feeling a little taken advantage of because we paid $60 USD for our day trip, and I saw it advertised on the street for $29 USD. However, to be fair, we all decided we wanted a private tour.
Our same guide and driver picked us up at our hotel. To HaLong Bay is a 3 1/2 hour drive away. Of course there is a rest stop with unusual things to purchase and the ladies and men are working on the craft before your eyes. This makes the product more valuable. Don’t you agree? These are beautiful embroidered Vietnamese scenes with very tiny stitches. Carol, Cathy, and I all bought one. Maria got a beautiful topaz ring, Gerard bought a beautiful bowl and urn. He had the urn shipped. All I saw that Sandra bought was 2 ice cream bars. She doesn’t have to carry anything. Ron and Robbin also bought ice cream. ( I tried and tried to upload pictures of the gals working on the embroidery put, I just could not upload them.
It was quite different in the country than in Old Town. The traffic was thinner but still lots of motor scooters and now we add relatively large trucks. Very few semis. We passed luscious rice fields and learned that they are ready to harvest when the tops turn yellow. Most of the fields were green. We also saw a good number of water buffalo. Many of the homes we passed had pretty fronts with nice balconies. Also they are very narrow, but always more than one story. We understand it has to do with taxes per square meter. Makes sense! Just as nice as they were in the front, almost none of them had finished sides and I presume backs. They still had the bare concrete showing.
Ah, Ha Long Bay. First things first. Lunch. Now I realize what a private tour is. There were only the 8 of us on a boat that probably holds 100 or so. Our meal was a seafood dinner. The gals brought out plate after plate of delicacies of the sea, including dishes we were unsure about. I did not like the breaded squid. We had tiny clams and stuffed crab and shrimp, no cocktail sauce, and a wonderful regular fish with millions of bones. I liked it the best. See picture below. Our guide said HaLong Bay is one of the 7 wonders of the world. The mountains coming out of the bay were beautiful. There are about 2,000 large and small mountains. It was so peaceful and we took lots of pictures. See some above. Peaceful yes, but we learned they have 500 boats that ply the waters for tourists and Vietnamese vacationers. It’s a great place for wedding pictures.
Included in the tour was a walk to a gorgeous cave just below the earth’s surface. It was hot and humid in there.
Then we boarded our large van and headed home. Carol sat in the front and she was questioning whether we would make or not. She cannot figure out why they have a center line because no one observes it. Alas we made it back and we all had a smoothie on the street. FRESH and delicious and only $1.50 USD. Will I ever be able to pay $6.00 again for the price of a smoothie? The only
Our next day was a travel day. We went from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpor, changed planes and got into Deli at about 9:00 pm.
Thanks for traveling with us today. I wish you could be here to enjoy the sights, scenes, scents, and special audio sounds in person.