Last day in Ha Long Bay

Yesterday evening on the boat we had another excellent meal with a wide variety of seafood, including local oysters served in the half shell and warmed briefly with fried and dried onions and garlic on top. The prawns were interesting since they were served with shells, heads and tentacles intact. Catheleen is pretty good at removing the shells and everything else, but I find I'm not in the mood for shrimp once I've witnessed this carnage. When the tour guide asked us if we had any food restrictions, Elizabeth piped in that, while she is not allergic to seafood, she doesn't care for it. John only likes shrimp and tolerates fish, so after a few courses of seafood, while Elizabeth was getting substitute chicken and beef courses, John wished he had also made the same request as Elizabeth.

At dinner we spoke to two Canadians named Cory and Luke, the only Canadians we've seen for quite a while. They were on a ten day trip to Vietnam, and had just returned from trekking to a hill tribe village where they spent the night in a local villager's house. Their accommodations were like a rough bed and breakfast, with about twelve cots set up in a large room above where the family lived. They were the only travellers there on this night, but ate in a separate room from the family unfortunately. After dinner they were given rice wine and felt obliged to drink a shot with each family member, who introduced themselves one at a time. They weren't sure how many shots they did, but after awhile they wished the family had instead introduced themselves for group shots. They were able to interact more with the patriarch of the family, a 70 year old veteran from the Vietnam war. He told them stories of his time in Laos during the war, and could out-walk the Canadians down the muddy hill in Crocs, while the visitors were slipping down the hill in their hiking boots. 

I learnt later over perhaps one too many beers that Cory and Luke were a team. One was a pilot and the other an aircraft mechanic. They have spent the last year and a half working for a company that provides troop transport for a couple of UN missions in Mali and South Sudan. They have both suffered and have been treated for a round of malaria, but otherwise have not had many problems and have enjoyed their work. I asked them if their work is risky. Luke said not really, since they only provide the equivalent of civilian transport and follow civilian aviation rules, like no weapons on board the aircraft. If conditions were to deteriorate, then the military transports would need to take over. The worst incident they have witnessed was when a secret service official for a U.S. politician on board was disagreeing with the no weapons policy, and accidentally shot a bullet into the aircraft. Luckily no one was hurt and no aircraft components were damaged, but the incident did reinforce the no weapons policy.

In the morning, on our last day on the cruise, we visited a small floating fishing village, one of the last ones remaining in the bay. As I said previously, the government is closing them all down to better provide health and education services to the fisherman, as well as maintain a more pristine bay for the tourist industry. We were served tea and peanuts in a small fishing house made of basic wood and a sheet metal roof, with a bed, a TV, and not much else in the house. We were told that at a cost to build of around $10,000, the house was big and expensive by floating fishing village standards, where monthly incomes are $200 to $300 dollars a month. The cost of living is high here by Vietnamese standards too, where just about everything except fish needs to be shipped at two to three times the cost of mainland prices. Only the women and children were present during our visit, since the men were out fishing. The floating village also included a fish farm, where a variety of fish and shellfish were being raised. On site we saw another method to catch squid at night, where a large lightbulb is placed at the end of a long boom; attached to the boom is a large net around 20 feet square, which is lowered into the water and raised to catch the squid that are attracted to the light. 

We certainly enjoyed the cruise and time spent in Ha Long Bay. The place is very unique and beautiful, and deserves its UNESCO world heritage site designation. We departed from the cruise, returned to Hanoi for the evening, and will be flying to Da Nang tomorrow. 

Here is a picture of a rowing boat moored at the floating village, with the cliffs and islands in the background. 

Floating fishing villages in Ha Long Bay

Today was day two of our cruise within Ha Long Bay.  I started the day with Tai Chi on the deck. I can't say I did it any justice, but I followed the instructor's moves as best I could. It was good to start the day with a little light exercise.

In the morning we took a day boat through the bay past some of the two thousand islands that cover the area. Our destination was Cat Ba island for some biking and touring. At the island we took a newly built road five kilometres to a nearby village since the old lower road was still under water. There was a lot of rain and flooding in the area about two months ago that has yet to subside completely. The last time it happened was about 90 years ago, and it has really hurt the villages on the island, who are only now getting their houses and rice paddies back. 

We took three bikes out, with Elizabeth on the back of our guide's motorcycle on the way out and John on the way back. Riding on a motorcycle was again a highlight for the kids. Elizabeth wore a helmet on her ride but John was struggling to get this helmet to fit on the way back. I was insisting he wear it when our guide and driver Hung said he would take care of it. I went ahead only to see John zoom by on the back of the motorcycle without a helmet. I guess that's one way to take care of it. 

It was a hot ride but we brought along a lot of water. At the village we said hello to some local volunteers who were helping out. These dozen or so young people went gaga when they spotted John and surrounded him and touched his hair. John was holding a puppy at the time so he really had no choice but to take it, much to his chagrin. 

We saw some old houses built in the sixties when the walls were typically made with mud and straw. When we are touring these type of attractions the kids are usually not that interested and would rather occupy themselves finding a puppy or cat to pet, which happens oftentimes and happened again today. 

On the way back from the village Catheleen's bike was giving her some problems due to a loose peddle, so we switched bikes. I was taking a look at how to tighten the peddle bolt when a local on a motorcycle stopped to assist. After taking a look he flipped the bicycle over, balanced it on his motorcycle, and asked me to hop on. So I rode the rest of the way back balancing a bike upside down between me and the driver. We have yet to rent bikes without having some problem. We'll need to check them better before we rent any more, but sometimes the problems show up later, like today. 

We did some kayaking and swimming off the two deck day cruiser we're on today. The kids especially liked jumping off the top deck, and we kayaked around the islands and beaches. The swimming was good around the boat but not so from most of the beaches, which are covered in plastic bottles and other garbage. That's one of my biggest complaints - this country has a lot of garbage around, which takes away from the natural beauty.  

Today we saw a number of small fishing villages floating on the water. The islands here in the bay are so steep the there are no harbours around for a village on shore. So the locals have adapted over the last couple centuries to living and fishing from floating villages. The villages are basically floating rafts with houses on top. The government here has been trying to get rid of these communities for some time, and there is a deadline this year to try to relocate the last of them. The government wants them dismantled since it is expensive to provide services like health and education. If someone is very ill, for example, they need to be rescued to the mainland by boat or float plane.

The fishing boats run by the villagers are very small. On one boat we saw a family on board with clothes on the line drying. One person was winding up these nets around a big cylinder. The nets used square wires to form boxes when in the water and collapsed when wound up. I was told the nets were used to catch crabs.

Here is a photo of us with the volunteers at the village on Cat Ba. 

First day on Halong bay

We took the overnight train from Sa Pa to Hanoi, and then took a bus to Ha Long Bay to start a two night cruise.  Our guide Nam was very friendly and informative from the start of our trip. He tried to give us a sense of life in Vietnam in general and Hanoi in particular. 

He said people in Hanoi might wake at 4 or 5 AM and begin the day with some exercise. On our taxi ride from the train station in Hanoi around 4:30 AM we saw this first hand, when runners and cyclists dominated the traffic on the streets before the sun came up. After exercise, people might have a noodle soup called Pho for breakfast. At the hotel this morning while we waited for the bus to pick us up I watched the scene across the street, where two ladies had set up shop on the street for the breakfast crowd. A mother arrived with her young child and ordered something that looked like porridge, and sat down on one the ubiquitous small plastic stools that are everywhere. She fed herself and her child while a school age girl ordered the same thing and sat down for breakfast. Other people came and went, some ordering a coffee or drink to go. Everyone was chatting. I had the sense that the same regulars visit the same small spots here and elsewhere on the street. 

Our guide indicated that many people in Hanoi are considered not very hard working, because they have benefited from rising property values and increases in rental income over the last few years. I don't know if this is true, but I find his comment interesting since he is the second Vietnamese person to show some resentment or disdain for those who can rely partially or wholly on their property for income. Makes me wonder how the people here make sense of both the country's communist tradition and an emerging market economy.

Nam noted that there are not a lot of taboo subjects of discussion in Vietnam. People are quite open and get straight to the point when they meet. A typical introduction might include questions like how are you, how old are you, are you married, what do you do for a living, and how much do you earn. He said people still marry young, between the ages of 15 and 23, and have large families. About the only thing he said not to do is shake your fist in the air, which means you want to fight. I was thinking the obvious taboo subject is any criticism of the government, but kept that to myself. 

Our first day on the cruise has been great with excellent service and food. Our cruise boat holds about 20 passengers, and the rooms are a good size, with nice large balconies and big windows to enjoy the view. The bay itself is really spectacular. We passed by island after island in the bay, most a sheer cliff all the way around the island. Later in the afternoon we went kayaking around some of the islands, and we were able to pass though caves under a couple of the islands. One of the caves had bats flying and screeching above us. 

Here is Catheleen and Elizabeth at lunch on the cruise.