to get on wi-fi to send a ton of pictures and posts for you all. We
don't get wi-fi in our room, but you can pick up a nearby signal from
the second floor. It is 11:30 at night though so I didn't expect
anyone to be up. The wife must have heard me coming down the stairs
though and turned on a million lights for me. She saw my computer and
realized why I was there. Despite my protestations, she woke up her
husband and made him turn on the hotel's wi-fi. I used every gesture
and charade I could imagine to try to convince them to let me sit on
the stairs, in the dark and wait for these emails to send. No luck.
They brought me chair to sit in. Then they stretched the router up the
stairs. Then they gave me a chair upstairs to sit in. I kept trying to
turn off the lights so they would have to go to bed, but there is a
switch downstairs too. Now I fully retreated into the room, turned my
stair light off and the room light, too. I am typing my head lamp to
convince them that I am asleep and no longer need Internet, but I can
still here them talking downstairs, seemingly about me! I feel
terrible, but the wi-fi seems to be working from the room!!
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Today we hung out in Cat Ba Town, getting the lay of the land here.
Cat Ba Island is just off the northern coast of Vietnam and Cat Ba
Town is the tourist town in the island. The island is small and most
tourists come through here only in conjunction with seeing Halong Bay,
where the ocean is emerald colored and giant limestone karst islands
pepper the landscape. Most of the island is Cat Ba National Park and
is protected wildlife area. We opted to travel independently to Cat Ba
Town and stay here for a few days to see topography similar to Halong
Bay without as many tourists as Halong Bay proper attracts and to see
the national park on the island.
Today though, we did very little and it was great. We got pho for
breakfast and Robert got a cup of coffee. Why haven't we tried the
coffee here yet? It was amazing. It was fresh coffee, brewed in a
small metal cup topper filter and there was two fingers worth of
creamer in the bottom of the cup. We weren't sure how long to let the
filter drip, and Robert was impatient to drink it, so he got a small
cup of coffee (increasing the ration of creamer to coffee!). I ordered
my own after my pho, it was that good. Next I got Internet for an hour
to book a flight to get me from Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok in time
for my flight home. Thankfully there was a late night flight so it
dovetailed perfectly with my other flight that leaves early in the
morning. So basically I will leave Robert in Vietnam, fly to Bangkok,
fly to Tokoyo, fly to Minnesota, fly to Houston...simple! They better
let me into grad school!!
Next we went to Slo Pony Adventures company to see if we could arrange
a trip out into Lan Ha Bay, the name of the southern extension of
Halong Bay. We were surprised to discover that they were primarily
rock climbing trip company, but if you just wanted to see the karst
formations, you can ride on the boat that takes the climbers to the
rock walls they will climb. They priced the trip on the number of
people going, which is finalized at a meeting at night, so we decided
to wait until the meeting to book the trip, hoping for more than eight
people so the trip would be the least expensive, $22.50 for a day on
the boat, kayaking and lunch, not bad if it works out!
The beauty of Cat Ba Island and this side of Halong Bay is that there
are beaches interspersed with the vertical cliffs. There are three
beaches within walking distance of Cat Ba Town, interestingly named
Cat Co 1, Cat Co 2 and Cat Co 3. Why? No idea. Cat Co 2 is the least
developed, so that was our destination. We followed signs and walked
past some giant resorts, one with it's own water park! We walked
through a construction site, which seems to be starting construction
on a giant resort to mar Cat Co 2, but its not finished yet. This is
low season, so the place is deserted. There was one small group of
people on the beach when we got there and another family came
eventually, but that was it. We came prepared with beers and chips, so
we made a great afternoon reading in the sand, drinking and snacking.
The only improvement would have been a bamboo mat to sit on. We
considered getting one in Thailand, but we didn't. We could have used
it a million times throughout the trip, note to self - bring a knife
and a mat on future travels.
Once the sun sunk far enough towards the horizon and we ran out of
brew, we got a little chilly and decided to shove off. On a whim, we
decided to detour on the way home to follow a staircase leading up to
what looked like a lookout point. It was a great decision because the
walkway actually followed the cliff all the way around to another
beach and then a gorgeous road leading a different way back into town.
We caught the sun setting spectacularly through some karst islands and
then made it back to the harbor and another seaside walkway to enjoy
the still setting sun over the boat filled harbor. Besides the
wonderful scenery, we observed loads of people running up the street
for exercise and a heated card game for money. We have actually seen
lots of street gambling, either with normal cards or these interesting
long and skinny card things.
We sat by the main pier in town waiting for our meeting to start at
six. I enjoyed watching a soccer game in the contiguous town square
area. Some barefooted westerners even joined in and it looked like
great fun. I am impressed with how many street pick-up games we see
over here. In Hanoi, every city park we passed one day was teeming
with people playing soccer or badminton or this hackysack game (maybe
called cua) or doing weird calisthenics. I like that the parks are
being used and that most games are communal.
At Slo Pony, there were more than enough people to make the trip fall
into the cheapest price bracket. So many that we almost didn't get a
spot. We were told that they cut the trip off at 20, but I think there
were actually 23 on our trip. We will see what it is like tomorrow.
This is our first organized tour of the trio so we are going in with
low expectations. Dinner, internet fiasco and sleeps, boat leaves at
nine tomorrow morning.
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