Adventures By Design

In which the travelers cruise

After a great day hanging out with Nathan and Amy yesterday we woke up early this morning (Nathan and Amy are still a little jet-lagged, so they woke up really early) and headed back over to the Kangaroo Cafe to leave on our tour to Halong Bay. Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site; it is very beautiful there with thousands of small islands formed from limestone. The islands are mostly covered in greenery, but you can also see the striking rock formations showing through the plant cover.

On the bus on our way to Halong Bay, we realized that of the 17 people on our tour, 8 of us were teachers! There was the two of us, and Nathan, and then a bunch of Aussie teachers who are all on their winter vacation right now, and a woman from New Zealand who is teaching at an international school in Ho Chi Minh City. We had some great conversations about the different approaches to education around the world, and learned a lot about school in Australia.

Upon arriving at the Halong Bay harbor, we boarded our boat, and set off for our journey. The first order of business was lunch, which was served in the common room on the boat. The food was delicious, and the service from the staff on the boat was professional and friendly. The boat itself was beautiful too, and so far we were feeling pretty good about this trip. After lunch we checked into our rooms (somehow the four of us got two of the only double rooms… we think the tour guide must like us better, or else he’s making assumptions about young couples in love!). Our room was quite nice, but unfortunately it had a rather strong odor of diesel fumes, and the light in the bathroom wouldn’t work. The staff on the boat changed the light bulb pretty quickly, but there was nothing they could do about the fumes since our room was right next to the engine room (maybe our tour guide doesn’t actually like us after all?).

In the afternoon we went to a large tourist trap called the Surprising Cave. It is actually a pretty cool cave, it’s just that it’s too busy and obviously touristy. The stalagmites and stalactites are all lit up with colored lights, there are garbage cans shaped like penguins and dolphins (we think SeaWorld may have redecorated and auctioned off their old bins), and you can barely hear yourself think over the sound of tour leaders asking groups to guess what animals various rocks look like.

After leaving the cave, our boat headed to a cove to anchor for the night. Apparently there are only a few spots in Halong Bay where the boats are allowed to go so there were a lot of other boats in sight, but we didn’t feel too crowded. Once the boat stopped we all got our swimsuits on and jumped (or flipped, or dove, or climbed down the ladder) into the water for a swim. Ric and Nathan worked on a synchronized swimming routine, and Amy finally got up the courage to dive into the water from the side of the boat. Gin, being a wimp, just swam around and cheered for everyone else. Gin had a shock though when she climbed out of the water and looked down at her chest and belly. It looked as though she had suddenly grown thick, dark hair all over. Eventually we realized that it was dirtiness from the water sticking to her, probably diesel… ick!

After a shower to wash the fossil fuels off, it was time for dinner, which was fabulously delicious with lots of fresh seafood that the boat staff had purchased during the day. Later we relaxed on the deck of the boat with a couple of bottles of wine while Ric taught Amy how to tie her canoe to her car. We also had some interesting anatomical conversation (remember, Amy is a doctor so she can teach us tonnes) including whether or not dogs have belly buttons, and what exactly happens to you when you have altitude sickness. We never managed to answer these questions, so if anyone out there has any insights, please feel free to share them.