Thursday, March 08, 2007

Halong Must We Sing this Song?

Ahoy from the deck of the "Jewel of the Bay", our faux junk boat enscripted to take us on our overnight to Halong Bay. The boat terminal is chock-a-block (crowded) with boats identical to our own. Well over one hundred, my nautical eyeball tells me, all looking quite similar to one another. Average capacity maybe fifteen or twenty people and the variety of trips lasting from one night to one week. Our boat guide tells us that Vietnam only started offering overnight trips on the Bay five years ago. making this slice of the domestic tourism industry a recent but very successful one.

The weather is a sleepy mist, enveloping the Bay with a grey haze. It is among the only real percipitation we've seen this trip. We've done a hike to the cave inside one of the rock outcroppings, which was a bit underwhelming. There are too many people crowding around and taking pictures, making one feel as if it is a cattle car instead of a geological wonder. Viet, our apropriately named guide, has got a future in public speaking. He tends to drone on and on for twenty minutes or so at every turn of the path, all done in somewhat shakey English. The Vietnamese consevators have labeled various stalactites and stalagmites to resemble dragons, turtles, men, women and their respective body parts. The male version of the latter was tastefully illuminated with a pulsing red light, attempting to provide a climactic end to any carefree cave romp.

We've been told that for lunch we will be having an eight course menu, and for dinner an eleven course menu. I hope that the quality will be as emphasized as the quantity. I think we're just a bit travel weary at this point, looking forward to returning to the familiar comforts of home. Although very pretty, the Halong Bay experience is somewhat dampered by the poor weather and our own jaded mindset. Perhaps it is just because I am under the weather, tomorrow looks to pick up.

I've randomly run into the third person I've known, the second girl from the same ad agency in Sydney. The first one I sat next to in a cybercafe in Cambodia, the second I met at a bus stop in Hanoi. For us, travelling requires a fine balance between seeing enough Western faces to give you a sense of comfort; that you are neither encroaching nor completely lost. This, in contrast to being on the mainstream tourist track with every Tom, Dick and Harry who can figure out how to book a package tour.

posted by ncawthon at 12:22 AM