October Vacation, Part 4: Along Halong

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Halong Bay, Vietnam. GO.

Everyone reading should immediately locate Halong Bay on a map, then buy a direct plane, bus, and boat ticket there. 

The entire time we spent in Halong Bay, I was thinking to myself, I didn't know places like this actually existed in the world. Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and nominated as one of the world's "Seven Natural Wonders" - for very good reason. For as far as the eye can see, the bay is an endless plane of jade green water interrupted by thousands of huge craggy limestone cliffs and islands, that rise up like crooked various-sized skyscrapers balancing on the water's surface. Anna, Nicole and I signed up for a 3-day, 2-night tour of Halong Bay in the Hanoi airport (unfortunately, tourism is set up such that it's hard to visit without joining the dreaded Package Tour), and by Friday we were eager to get out of the hustle and bustle of the city for it. We set out early Friday morning, and were cruising on our sailing junk cruise ship in the Bay before lunch.  

Cruisin

The first day of our Halong Bay tour involved sailing on the ship all afternoon, visiting the "Suprise Caves" located inside one of the Bay's huge karst formations, kayaking, enjoying an afternoon beer on the top deck of our ship, and swimming off the boat at sunset. We ate a dinner feast of spring rolls, vegetables, rice, and pork, and spent the rest of evening chatting it up with our fellow package tourists. As a whole, they weren't the most lively bunch (post-dinner karaoke had to be forced down most of their throats, even when we started everyone with a rousing rendition of If You Wanna Be My Lover)... But everyone was very friendly and eager to swap travel stories. There was a Belgian woman who spoke 6 languages and had taken a 5-month leave from her marketing job in Germany to travel by herself through Southeast Asia; an Irish Gaelic couple who were traveling Asia and Australia for an indefinite amount of time (but were pining for the Guinness back home); two young girls from Spain, who mostly kept to themselves; and an older, very heavyset Russian couple, who smiled a lot and loved to swim in their speedos, and who required a Vietnamese "page boy" to tag along on the tour for translation help (they didn't speak one word of English - the Official Language of Tourism in any country, it seems).

Post-impromptu sandal hike. At least the view was worth it. 

On Day 2, we were dropped off at Cat Ba Island, the biggest of island in Halong Bay. Feeling a lot like sheep or herded cattle, we were passed off to a new tour guide in the morning (the gregarious "Won"), shuttled onto taxi boats, then tour buses, and finally dropped in front of Cat Ba National Park. We had actually signed up for the bicycle tour option, but had instead ended up with the hiking group - who were about to climb up through the island jungle to the tallest viewpoint on Cat Ba. We told Won we weren't really equipped for a hike, pointing to our sandals and beach gear. He apologetically promised he would rent bikes for us later in the afternoon, but that since we were now at the Park anyways, we could take an "easy hike" to pass the time. So hike we did: one hour, all the way to the very top, through the jungle, in shower-shoe flip flops. Sabai, sabai.

 

Eat your seafood IN THE SEA.

We spent the rest of the afternoon on bicycles and at Cat Ba beach, which had only a handful of other tourists on it and incredible panoramic views of the bay. The beach was breathtakingly beautiful, and Nicole and I stayed floating out in the green bay water until we were too pruney to stand it any longer. Around the land point from the beach, a small island bay is home to an entire "floating fishing village," which is exactly what it sounds like. Local fishermen live with their families in one room homes that float out in the water, about 100 meters from the shoreline. Alongside the homes are floating seafood restaurants, to which people can hire dinghy boats and eat what's gotta be the freshest seafood meal in the world: while you wait, you can watch your fisherman chef pulling nets up from the water beside you.

Cat Ba Beach: gorgeous.

The last day of the tour, we were shepherded back on a boat and taken to Halong City - the dirty, crowded, overdeveloped gateway port to Halong Bay. The tour company served us lunch there, and we sat at a table with a large group of Vietnamese tourists. In a typical display of Asian food-hospitality, they all reached over the table to serve us from plates of rice and chicken, and showed us how best to eat it, before even touching their own food. One guy even left the restaurant after we'd cleared our plates to buy chili-spiced guava from a street vendor, and fed half the bag to me. (I will never tire of being fed delicious food from total strangers in Asia).

From Halong City we headed back to Hanoi, and caught an 18-hour overnight sleeper bus to our next stop in Vietnam. ...More on that transportation adventure, and the marvels of Hoi An, in Part 5. 

Get Thee to Vacation

If anyone needs me in the next three weeks, you can hit me up here.

...or here.

Well, not sure how it happened, but I just finished an entire semester at Bandon Sriserm. It was a fantastic, if very busy, last week of school.

Eight of our co-teachers and one of the Assistant Directors is retiring this term, so we had a long day of good-byes yesterday. In the morning, there was a school-wide assembly to honor the teachers and have the students wish them good luck. This involved a ceremony of speeches, bringing flowers and gifts to the retiring teachers, having the students bow at their feet, embrace them, and sob tears of farewell. It was surprisingly emotional (I think it had to do with watching both grown adults and 6-year-old children crying for two hours), and an all around fascinating testament to the role of and respect given to teachers in Thailand. (I continue to feel undeserving).

Last night, the ajaans held a proper choke dii - good luck - party for the retirees. It was held at the nicest hotel in Nan city, and everyone was dressed to the Thai 9s. Much like the last ajaan party, it involved endless supplies of Spy wine coolers, delicious Thai food, and a full-scale karaoke set up. A group of about 10 staff members (ranging age 24 to 54) dressed in green tutus and masks and performed a hilarious dance skit for the whole party. Things I love about Thailand: most humor requires no translation.

But there were more serious moments, too. A Buddhist shaman opened the ceremony by giving a blessing for the teachers, and having everyone in the room tie a white string around the teachers' wrists - an offering of good luck for the next phase of life. Next, the retirees were lavished in gifts upon gifts from the whole staff. One of our co-teachers even delivered a poem she had written just for the occasion.  It was incredibly touching to see how much these ajaans mean to each other.

Although the rest of the students had their last day of class Thursday, the 6th graders had to be at school today to take a practice standardized English test called the "Ordinary National English Test" - which makes it sound so... ordinary... but as test proctor, I can say this exam was far from. The test is likely written by a Thai English speaker who was schooled by British teachers. I'm not kidding, "Cheerio" was an answer choice for about 25% of the practice exam questions. (Another 25% involved misspelled words, incoherent phrases, and mis-punctuated sentences. Maybe I'll look into careers in writing standardized English tests in foreign countries, because damn was it frustrating to figure out, much less explain answers to this test....)

I said goodbye to all the kiddies after school. I will sincerely miss them while I'm away.


But, on to the vacation deets. My fellow ajaans and I will be cruising Southeast Asia over the next 3 weeks, starting in Luang Prabang, Laos; taking a train through Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam; then hopping over to the beaches around Phuket and Ko Phi Phi, Thailand.

I will try to post while away, but depending on how technologically competent I find myself in Vietnamese Internet cafes, may be taking a rain check on the blog til October 25th!

My love to all. Cheerio.

CP