Halong Bay

Near death crossings/lala/CSI/jugs of joy.

To get the flavor of local commuting, fasten your bag upon your back and cross the bridge to the other side of Hanoi city. Careful though the traffic is heavy, and with motorbikes whizzing by carrying all sorts of odd passengers (eg. potted plants, chickens, window panels, styrofoam, etc) PLEASE stay as close to the railing and give way, I really don't think pedestrians were meant to walk on that bridge, only cheap skate ones =p

Upon reaching the other side, continue forward for....hmm...quite awhile. Along the way ask for some directions at the KFC (because Vietnam does not believe in McDonalds) and sooner or LATER you will arrive at the bus station! At this point do not dally too long as you will have to purchase a "bus'' ticket to the Halong Bay. Friendly ''bus'' drivers will escort you to your ''bus'' which is actually a magic van!

One of my most memorable bus/van rides in Vietnam, the first taste of local commute! It was truly amazing if not hilarious how along the way they found ways to fit more and more people into the van, i lost count after 20! And don't for a second think cramping people in meant they compromised quality. No sir. You get first class treatment, the co-pilot is well trained in his duties to call out to you from the door, read your mind, pick up your bags before you even knew you were going to board, give you his very affectionate hand and sometimes if you are really lucky even lift you up by your waist. No extra charges=p And the scenery was as colorful as the people are. Along the ''highway'', (well it is a main road but it is lined with shops and houses I don't know whether to call it a highway because it quite different from those we have back home) you can very well continue your shopping if you had not already in Hanoi. First we saw a someone selling baguettes, very nice for making ''Banh Mi" with liver pate, pork slices, spicy sauce and berlambak-banyak other things. Then we saw 20 other people selling baguettes. Can't help but wonder if the dust and exhaust added to the smoky crispy crunch I loved in my Banh Mi. Then we say someone selling sunglasses. Followed by 20 other people selling sunglasses. Further along the way were conical hatted people who occasionally peered up from their green green paddy fields. It is the greenest green you could ever imagine, almost neon!

Somewhere along the way after many "Oouhs" and "Aaaahs", I fell asleep.

When I woke up it was HALONG BAY!!! Not really because we were dropped of at the side of the 'highway' where we were brought of motorbikes into the HALONG BAY!!! At the first mention of motorbikes, flashbacks of riding a motorbike with Eunice around Pangkor Island reminded me how wobbly my sense of balance was. But golly my proprioception must have matured since then because the ride was a breeze! Felt quite yeng whizzing down the slopes, if only I had a leather jacket! And aviators! And a tattoo! And boots! And a beer belly!

"Hai San" means seafood. And seafood means good food. Had the bestest hugest lala soup and other sea creatures. Dining al fresco, I pretended we were dining in Italy, the breeze and checkered table cloth helped too! The weather was heaven sent. This was also where we continued our devotion to "bia hoi" and had draft beers by the jugs. One particular night we met a group of 4 young Vietnamese who embodied the spirit of ''bia hoi''. The happiest lot I have seen, who found amusement in everything, and were curious enough to invite us strangers next to them to join them and showed us how it was done.

After lots of Hai San and Bia Hoi it was time to set sail, across the Halong Bay for the Cat Ba Island....

*Took our time with the long walks and hearty food, the city mouse converted to a little town mouse*