Friday, January 4, 2013

Vietnam Journal 01.05.11

09:26  Morning on the upper deck of the Hoa Binh 22.  I'm looking out across the water the the islands of Ha Long Bay.  They stretch into the misty distance on all sides under an open gray sky.  This place feels timeless, unchanged over millennia.  At least as long as I don't look the ferry dock in the distance or the other tour boats clustered here.  The mountains and formations rise from the sea, giving the impression of a vast submarine canyon not visible from the surface.  Under way again, I see a procession of ridges fading into the distance.  The wind has picked up.  Time to go below.

21:28  Back in Ha Noi.  The cruise ended around 11:00 when we landed back at Ha Long harbor.  We were all pretty much ready to be done.  One drawback of a tour is the sense of being herded.  By tour's end we were all ready not to be herded.  After lunch the eight of us from our boat boarded a van for the return trip.  Another Australian couple and their young son and daughter joined us.  We spent the entire trip in lively conversation.  The ride was more comfortable on this trip:  better padding on the seats and better suspension.  Only 14 in the van compared to maybe 40 in the bus coming down.  The trip was still tediously long with heavy traffic which became even heavier once back in Ha Noi.  The day was very hazy once we left Ha Long, much of the haze likely the result of the many trash fires we along the way and then the vehicle pollution in the city.

The Australian couple who joined us on the ride back from Ha Long, David and Sandra, suggested going for a 25 cent beer at a street pub they discovered on their previous night in Ha Noi.  The Australian woman and her son from our ship's company, Kath and George, Maggie and I plus  David and Sandra's daughter Indira and son Finn wandered around the corner from our hotel to the street pub which covers the sidewalk and spills onto the street outside a small shop.  The beer lasts until the keg runs out.  After the last beer we went for dinner with David, Sandra and their kids.  Now it's late and I'm tired.  Somehow I think I should be writing something more profound but about all I can do is record events.  Now to sleep.


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