Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is one of the many beautiful places on the Earth. If you can imagine a range of mountains that are then flooded to create a bay, you basically have Ha Long Bay.

Legend has it that dragons ("Long" in Chinese, thus the Ha Long) placed the mountains in the bay to defend the land against Chinese invaders.

It's almost impossible to mess up Ha Long Bay... it is, after all, a natural wonder. However the tour operators that prey on tourists try awfully hard to taint the experience. You'll see as this trip unfolds...

We started by doing our homework online and visiting several tour companies in Hanoi. We liked the package this tour company provided, since it had more activities throughout the trip. We signed up for a three-day, two-night trip... one night on the boat in Ha Long Bay, one night in a hotel.

Here the girls were entertained by a worker at the tour company. Their various tour packages are on the wall behind them.

The girls were ready for their next adventure...

The day didn't start out well. The bus was supposed to pick us up at 7:45 am, it didn't come until 9:00 am. Nobody called us even though they had our cell. We called them a couple of times and they responded with "they'll be there soon."

Then things went from bad to worse as we were waiting outside our hotel an accident happened right in front of us. The gal in yellow opened the taxi door on the left to get out of the car, but didn't check to see if there was any traffic. She opened the door, a scooter hit the door sending him into another scooter knocking them down as well. Perhaps the worst part was that the gal in yellow yelled at the people on the scooters, no concern for how people were doing.

The minibus finally arrived, but there were only two seats available even so we had paid for four. As we were not going to make the ride in a minibus with three kids on our laps, we told them we were not going to board and asked for a refund. After calling the booking company and doing some rearranging, we had our four seats and were on our way.

Ha Long Bay is a three-hour drive from Hanoi. They're so proud to tell you that THE Mr. Eiffel designed this bridge, the Long Bien Bridge. This was a bridge that the U.S. tried for years to take out during the Vietnam War since it was a vital supply link to the city of Hanoi. Fortunately for Mr. Eiffel, he was a better tower designer than bridge designer because this bridge is ugly.Finally getting to the docks. There was chaos with all the boats (called junks) launch out at the same time it seemed.

About 20 minutes or so after setting out, we entered some of the most amazing scenery there is. Over 2,000 limestone peaks fill the bay...Sailing between these mountains in crystal clear water... just beautiful.

After a couple of hours, we stopped and debarked at one of the mountains to see its cave.

Going in...

We were "wow'd"

No "spelunking" needed in this cave. Although we did begin to wonder with series of caves this big how the mountain was being supported above. Unfortunately we were in the cave as we had those thoughts...

Somebody needs to teach us how to take pictures of people in the cave that both keep the brilliance of the colors of the cave and also keep people looking sharp...

Outside of the cave...

Locals selling a small pack of Oreos for $5/pack. Somebody must buy them...

This is where those Oreo sellers live. These are primarily fishing villages...

We got back on the boat and went to another area for kayaking. I took Tally out while Morgan stayed with Adayla and Ryann...

I thought we were just going around in the area for a little bit, but we ended up paddling at a good pace for about 20 minutes to get our destination.

I unfortunately hit Tally a couple of times in the head with the oar as I was paddling. She was a good sport about it, although she did get some faint bruises from it... I'm so sorry Tally!

Morgan stayed behind on the boat. Adayla and Ryann took naps in the pack-and-play.

This was the goal of our kayaking trip, entering this hole at the of the mountain...

and entering a cove completely surrounded by the mountain top. It was so peaceful in here... the water so clean and just the sound of birds and people jumping in the water for a swim!

Hanging out on the boat...

Watching the sunset where we spent the night on the boat...

Since the girls enjoy sleeping on the floor, we took the beds!

The next day we sailed a bit further to a larger island where our hotel was on. The entire time we just took in the scenery.

Once on the island we took the girls on a mountain hike...

After about an hour or so of uphill climbing, things went from steep to really steep, so we called it quits and came back down.

But we took a hero shot before coming down. If you only really knew how big of a climb these little explorers just accomplished.

Last chance... Oreos, five bucks

We got back on the boat to go to a private beach owned and operated by this tour company. They kept on trying to get those of us who signed up for the hotel to switch to stay in the bungalows. It would have been fun to kayak around here at you leisure, the wild monkeys and giant rat traps on all four corners of the bungalow were enough to make us not want to stay here. Plus, we just wanted to get away from our tour leader.

Leaving the private beach: Look at Morgan fully-loaded hiking up the plank (yup, she has Ryann, too!).

A view from our room on Cat Ba Island, one of the larger islands in the bay...

This was a beach less than 10 minutes from our hotel.

This hotel was closed until Spring. Looks like a fun place to stay and play.

Tensions were mounting between the tour guide and all of us on the boat. In some ways the conflict was good because it brought us together, gave us something to talk about and get to know each other. We befriended a couple from California who had just retired and were taking a vacation all around Southeast Asia, an engaged couple (he from France, she from Australia), three college students from Australia, and a young French Canadian couple who were both lawyers and the gal was the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants and spoke French, English, and Vietnamese fluently. It was a very fun group to be with.

The conflict between us and the tour guide arose because they did not deliver on all of the promised activities that were we had signed up with different tour companies in Hanoi. The tour guide said it was the tour companies fault for over-promising activities, but we all called our tour companies (cell phone coverage throughout Ha Long Bay, even in the caves!) and they said it was the tour guide's company responsibility to deliver on those activities. So we became frustrated, and our tour guide became mad.

The conflict came to a peak right at the end when we had to board a smaller boat to get back to shore at the end of the tour. As we were maneuvering between boats to get to the dock, I watched as we passed closely in front of a larger boat. I thought, I can't believe this... we're going to get "T-boned." A couple of seconds later I told Morgan to get to the other side of the boat and we grabbed the kids and got out of the way.

We watched as we subsequently got squarely hit by this bigger boat, and one of the tires on that boat used to protect the sides when it docks came inside our boat, wrapped around the pole where Morgan had been sitting, and bent the pole and broke the wood where it was connected. Just an awful sound.

We couldn't believe that neither the tour guide, nor the driver had given us any warning.

We subsequently went on to firmly hit three other boats on the way in. Each time boat operators from the other boats yelled at our boat, but again nothing from our boat. No apology, nothing. We felt as though these guys were intentionally trying to hurt us because of our conflict with them.

After finally getting off the boat I went to the tour guide to ask what was going to be done about the driver. He had just caused lots of damage to five boats. He told me it was none of my business and I became, well, enraged. It became my business as soon as they put our well-being in jeopardy. We got into a heated argument, but I subsequently relented as my wife and the group reminded me that time spent dealing with Vietnamese police wouldn't be worth it!

We had fun minibus ride back to Hanoi with our little group. It was just one of those chance things that such a random group could be put together and have so much fun. Then it was time to drop everybody off where they were picked up. There was no way that we were going to be the last folks on the bus, alone with the driver and the tour guide. So at the second to last stop, when it wasn't our stop, we got off. They tried to keep us on the bus to take us to our destination but that was enough. We could safely get off the bus here with friends and then take a taxi to our place.

That was the end of our Ha Long Bay trip. We still have fond memories of the natural beauty that we saw, but the shady practices to rip us off at every turn was frustrating. It was worth the time and cost, but just be honest about what the true total price is and what that includes. We just don't like the slimey business rip-offs...

And this was the end of our time in Vietnam. We totally enjoyed our time in Vietnam, but we were very ready to get the heck out of Hanoi!