20131131 Vietnam, Halong Bay

20131131 We managed to get in a couple of hours sleep before we had to catch a bus for our next adventure on the Marguerite cruising around Halong Bay for three nights, just what I need after a sleepless night on a rickety old train. The bus trip was three and a half hour of rough roads with lot of potholes and heaps of road works all the way but also we heard some interesting and the one store the captured me was the store of the flag.  We arrived at Bai Chay Wharf at 12.00pm to be transferred by tender to the Marguerite Junk Boat.

The Vietnam flag was officially adopted on November 30, 1955 and the gold five-pointed star symbolizes the five groups of workers in the building of socialism (intellectuals, peasants, soldiers, workers and youth), while the red symbolizes bloodshed, and the revolutionary struggle.

We arrived at our Junk to a welcoming drink then received Junk facilities and cruise instruction as well as cruise briefing before we check in to our cabin before we begin our first adventure off the beaten track to visit the Surprise Caves.

This is the Marguerite Junk Boat we toured the bay in except it was painted white only because the authorities of Quang Ninh asked that Ha Long Bay boats be painted white, saying the change befits the bay's recent international recognition, so all tourist boats except dragon boats, will be white with brown sails or have your licenses revoked.

"Who is this Nutter"

There’s a wonderful legend to Halong Bay that I just must tell and it goes like this: 

When the country was newly formed, the Vietnamese had to fight against invaders, feeling sorry for the country; The Jade Emperor sent the Mother Dragon and her children descending on the earth to help ancient Vietnamese people defend the country. While the enemies were attacking the main land, The Mother Dragon and her children appeared and incinerated the enemies with their divine fire and giant emeralds. The emeralds from the dragon’s month were scatted around the battlefield on the sea and formed an invincible defensive wall that left enemy fleet sinking.  Thanks to the dragon, the invaders were swept away and peace came back to South East Asian.  After thousands of years the wall of emeralds turned into islands and inlets of different sizes and shapes.  The Mother Dragon and her children never returned but stayed in the mortal world and turned into human form and helped people expanding the country.  In remembrance the bay was named “Ha Long or Halong and the bay where the children descended “Bai Tu Lony” which means “Thanks to the Dragon’s children”.

When it comes to scenery, Halong Bay is truly an amazing site, known for its thousands of rock and caves emerging out of emerald waters.

'Wow'

Sung Sot Cave: After climbing 100 steps we entered one of the most impressive caves I have ever seen, the cave is surrounded by thick jungle vegetation and was discovered by the French in 1901 who named it (Cave of Surprises) and it covers three main chambers covering an area of over 10,000 sqm and the mouth is about 25 metres above sea level.

Illuminated Stone Penis-Shaped Rock one of many bizarre formations in the cave, and of cause I had to pick this one to post.

From the top of the cave over looking Halong Bay, it is just breath taking.

Hạ Long Bay in Vietnam features nearly 2,000 majestic limestone karst formations, highlighted by tower karsts, hidden caves, and iconic islets like the Fighting Cocks. A world Heritage Site, this marine landscape was shaped by over 500 million years of geological changes and water erosion.

Here we go through the mountains caves to another part of the Island called Monkey Myer, where cute Monkeys scamper over the large rock.  Mr serious here needs a chill pill.

Our tour guide Thing Tin on board our Junk Boat, he was such a lovely guy.

Des and I had a surprise presented to us on board our cruise ship, we were made to stay outside until the table was prepared then escorted to our table and the hostess announced our 30th wedding anniversary to the dinning room, what could we say, Des and I were dumb founded, so we had no choice but to graciously accept the lovely bouquet and complementary wine, well! we didn't want to embarrass them after all

THE END OF A GREAT DAY

Sapa

29-10-2013  Our trip to Sapa was organised by our wonderful travel agent Doug who was more than generous with free tickets to the water puppet show and a cab once we returned from Sapa. We caught the train overnight from Hanoi to Lao Cai bunking in with two lovely Vietnamese who worked at an experimental Lab in Sapa.  The train looked as though it was left over from the war days and it creaked the whole 380 km, I thought it could fall to pieces at any moment, then to top it off some Vietnamese up the hallway talked in their high pitched voices all bloody night keeping us awake.  We arrived at La Cai then loaded onto a bus for another rickety trip up the Mountain range to Sapa.  I'm not real sure about these drivers they take a lot of risks overtaking on bends going up the range, it's a bit eerie but we made it.

Our balcony with a view over looking the smoggy town.

 The spectacular view from our balcony overlooking the valley and rice paddies.  Our room was bloody freezing and we hardly had any warm cloths, we didn't expect this cold.

 The morning fog rolls in over the valley blocking the view but the fresh air was delightful.

After a not so good breakfast and a shitty cup of tea we all meet in the lobby to meet our tour guide for a walk down to the village and I mean "down".  Sapa is a Mountainous area of Northwest Vietnam and the whole of Sapa district is dominated by the Hoang Lien Son Mountain range which is at the Eastern extremity of the Himalayas. 

Cat Cat Village is located on the Muong Hoa Valley where the H’Mong tribe live about 3km from Sapa and trust me it’s all down hill.  We tracked through the village with a couple of the local girls as our guides for the day and who told us many tails of there tribe. I asked if they learnt to speak English at school because they spoke perfect English, no she said we learnt from the tourist as they didn't go to school.

As you can see it was a drizzly day as we walked down the long winding path through Cat Cat Village checking out all the stores on the way down and there were many.  This is an example of the huts these people live in.

These hut are not just there homes but can also be their lively hood with stall set up inside.










Check out the wheelbarrow, what a classic and this is just one bit of equipment these poor people have to use daily and with a big smile on their face, they live a simple life and stress free.









The streets are lined with stalls as you follow the long narrow path in the hope to temp the tourist with their colorful wares.














Check out this little cutie, Des and I were eating some nuts and those big brown eyes were staring us down but of cause we couldn't give her nuts, I bet her parents trained her to look so cute.

Sapa is surrounded by many rice terraces and you cant forget the the mountain with the mist hovering at the peaks.

You just gotta love the creative ideas these guys invent and this water catcher is just one of many.

Now that's one ladder I would not like to be climbing after a few wines.

Hmong Woman repairing her mud wall the hard way.

Take a step back in time with this old corn grinder that still gets a lot of use.

I even managed a wink from this little guy who was carving items out of marble, I'm was very surprised he's wearing a face mask though.

As we arrive at Cat Cat Waterfall on this drizzly day we walk over the rickety bridge to more stalls, does it never end. Cat Cat Waterfall is 1 km from Sapa and is at the bottom of Muong Hua Valley. This is an age-old village of H'Mung ethnic group remaining unique customs and practices that are lost to other villages. Finally we made it to the bottom after walking down hundreds of stairs but as we all know it's going back up that's the killer.

On our arrival we were all greeted by some of the locals who put on a dance show with bamboo sticks, very impressive.

Finally we made it to the bottom after walking down hundreds of stairs but as we all know it's going back up that's the killer.











Now for the long walk up and between the pair of us and our skinny legs we are not doing so well but we soldiered on.  Up and Up we go but the top looks no nearer then we saw all these bikes going back and forth with people from the tour, now that's a great idea only we decided we needed the exerciser. We walked up taking in the scenery only our legs we about to give way "Fuck" the exerciser the next bike I'm catching so as a bike got closer we flagged him down and bargained a price, 30,000 vnd later ($1.50).  Three on a bike was a bit creepy and reluctantly we both hopped on and the driver rode us to the top and dropped us at our Motel in one piece, now that was an experience.

         
The view as we make our descend and each bend is different from the other.

The clouds drift over the mountain is just breathtaking

30-10-2014: I woke to a drizzly day and badly knotted legs and could hardly walk so there is no way I could manage a doing a 3 km track so Des and I decided to do our own thing and look for a massage parlor instead, well for me anyway.

Sapa Hmong Woman lined this wall weaving and sowing their little fingers off.  Flax is grown to get threads for weaving the brocade and fabrics for making garments, most of the woman have learned how to weave and sew cloths from their mother not only to make there cloths beautiful but also to prepare for their wedding.

The local woman watch on as some school kids perform in the park and I managed to sneak a quick photo.

These woman never stop but I must say they seam to live a stress free life spending their days happily weaving while keeping each other company.

Another common scene are the street markets where the hill tribes pick there products fresh daily then head to town to trade.

Food stalls are set up through out the markets and I must admit these looked so yummy but I just wasn't game enough to try them.

Sapa is a place set back in time and quite different from other parts of Vietnam and untouched by the outside world and such a pleasure to see.  As we leave Sapa I feel a bit sad to be departing this pleasant town but all good things must come to an end.  Our descend back down the mountain was as smooth as to be expected but not as bad as our rickety train ride back to Hanoi.  We arrived at 4.30am after another sleepless night listening to noisy Vietnamese then we had the added battle to try a catch a cab and all they want to do is con us but not this time I ended up phoning Doug who explained the details to the cabbie who eventually dropped us off at our motel.

Good By Sapa

Hoa Lu - Jam Coc in Ninh Bin

27-10-2013 Our tour from Hanio today starts of by loading everyone onto what they called a modern bus, NOT! traveling on a bumpy road to our tourist destination in Hoa Lu - Jam Coc in Ninh Bin to visit the Temples of King Dinh and King Le from the 10th century. 

For me, I'm not really into Temples I just find them a tad boring.

This old guy dressed up his Buffalo to coheres tourist to sit on her for a small fee but I managed to sneak a photo anyway, I didn't wont to sit on the smelly old beast. 

Beginning at the village of Van Lam you precede through the landscape of many rice fields followed by three caves, (Hang Ca, Hang Hai and Hang Ba).  The picturesque landscape is added by Tam Coc portion, which derives its name from its 3 caves  “Tam” means 3, “Coc” means cave.

Stopping along the way for lunch at one of the local restaurants then a walk in the garden.

 The garden housed many crocks and the Chinese loved to feed them.

 Now for our trip in what is 
are suppose to be Bamboo boats along Hoang Long River to visit Tam Coc 3 caves.  

 Crusing up the river to view the Tam Coc "Three Caves" in a canoe maneuvered by a young girl and tagging along was her son and 80 year old mother.  Once we reached our destination the locals go to work conning the tourist and poor Des got hit again, you by drink for old lady she very thirsty then the daughter and son he was not happy.

On our way back out comes the goods, god even on the canoe they carry items for you to purchase and there so persistent, it actually becomes annoying after a while and it didn't finish their, once we arrived at out destination that wonted a tip, we'll! that was it, no way so we jumped out of the boat, take it from me your barking up the wrong tree with this guy .  

This is such an amazing location and the boats just keep on coming, back and forth all day every day.  Along the river you can catch a glimpse of the occasional fisherman netting on the edge of the river, I can't imagine he could be catching to much in these waters. 

Our next excursion was a push bike ride 8 kl we were told, it was more like three but it was fun and as usual I left Des way behind, his skinny legs just cannot keep up with me.

Sleeping Buddha at Vinh Trang pagoda in My Tho city, Vietnam, very impressive.

 
These large Buddha's are the largest I have ever seen and quit spectacular.









The end of a wonderful tour.