Ha Long Bay, Gong Gai (Hanoi) Vietnam Day 1 of 2

Ha Long Bay, Gong Gai (Hanoi) Vietnam. We started the passage to the harbor at about 7:00 AM. It was very foggy/smoggy. It was misting and raining a little also. The fog/smog was so thick you could not see much. There were some weird rock formations as we crept along. The pilot got on at about 8:00 AM. We went very slowly and there were some very narrow channels. We finally docked at about 9:00 AM.

This is not a tourist dock. They are in the middle of expanding it and everything around is mud. All you see is industrial. There are huge coal boats going up and down the bay we are on.

The rock formations are unbelievable. The legends say that a huge herd of dragons came to their aid some time BC. The Chinese were trying to take their lands and the dragons protected them by chasing away the Chinese. They then left symbols of themselves by spitting out jewels and jade as reminders for the Chinese to stay away. These Jewels grew into the huge limestone mountains that populate the area today. The mountains really do look like dragon tails and other parts. They go on for many, many miles.

There was a tour to Hanoi offered but it was 10 ½ hours. About 7 of those hours was a bus ride. No way we could do 7 hours on a bus. They did not get back until 8:00 PM and many were coming in much later.

There was a free shuttle bus into the small town by the pier. After lunch we jumped on a shuttle bus and it did take us there. It was about a 15 minute ride mostly up hill. There is not very much traffic here as there are not many people who can afford vehicles. We passed building after building that said they were hotels. All were open for business and a lady stood in the doorway of all. I have no idea where this much business could possibly come from and if they were really houses of ill repute. There were no office buildings or high rises of any kind. The bus stops at a large real hotel and turns around in it’s parking lot. This hotel offers massages for $12 that some did take advantage of. All said it was very good. Others ate lunch there and were happy with that too. It was cold, rainy, and misty and we just went for the ride up and back.

As we exited the bus we were jumped upon by locals selling many kinds of junk. A lot of it was produce we had no use for. One lady came up to me carrying two huge pails of this produce attached to a rod she wore across her shoulders. I asked Bobbi if she needed an onion. It was a nice onion but Bobbi said no, she didn’t need any onions. They tried to sell us strings of, genuine I’m sure, pearls for $1.00. They attacked Bobbi with so much junk she finally did buy a coolie hat for $2.00. As we were leaving we did bargain for a couple of very nice kimonos. It was raining lightly and the bus was leaving so we did not get a chance to take a good look at them. Once on the bus we opened one and found it to be very nice. We were sorry we did not get more. They had beautiful designs, were reversible with two different colors, large sized and were pure silk. They would make very nice bath robes.

When we got back to the ship they had a stand in the parking lot on the dock. They were selling some there too but they were not the same and were highly over priced.

We met Art for dinner. Muriel was still sick.

Dragon Robe Sherm Out

(Posted on behalf of Sherman Rootberg)